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How the player character works

The player is BP_FriendslopCharacter, a child of Character, driven by BP_FriendslopPlayerController. The character has no variables of its own. Everything it does is a component, and each component can go on your own pawn too.

  • The character and its controller: Content/MPFriendslop/Blueprints/PlayerCharacter/
  • The components: Content/MPFriendslop/Blueprints/ActorComponents/

This page is the map. The pages after it are the recipes.

The controller

BP_FriendslopPlayerController receives every gameplay key. It handles the five that belong to any pawn itself: move, look, jump, crouch and the pause menu. It only uses Pawn and Character functions for them, so it drives any Character you give it.

When the local player starts, it adds its mapping context and creates the HUD. These are its fields:

Field What it does Shipped value
Default Context The Input Mapping Context added for the local player, at priority 0 IMC_Default
Gameplay Widget Class The in-game HUD WBP_Gameplay
Recap Widget Class The end of run recap screen WBP_RunRecap
Pause Widget Class The menu shell opened on pause WBP_MenuRoot
Pause Page Class The page shown inside it WBP_PausePage
Loading Widget Class The loading screen, shown until the clock starts and the level is visible WBP_LoadingScreen

Every other key is passed to the component that owns the system, on the pawn it controls. The controller finds it with Get Component by Class and calls one of its functions. A pawn without that component, such as the spectator, simply ignores the key. The components read no key themselves, so they work on your own pawn with nothing to wire.

Action Component Functions called
IA_Interact BP_InteractionComponent BeginInteraction, UpdateHold, ReleaseInteraction
IA_Sprint BP_StaminaComponent StartSprint, StopSprint
IA_Grab BP_GrabComponent TryGrab, TryRelease
IA_ScrollSlot BP_GrabComponent, then BP_InventoryComponent AdjustHoldDistance, CycleSlot
IA_UseItem, IA_Reload BP_InventoryComponent PressUse, ReleaseUse, PressReload
IA_DropItem, IA_SelectSlot BP_InventoryComponent Server_DropSelected, SelectSlotFromAxis
IA_Ping, IA_PingDanger BP_PingComponent RequestPing, RequestDangerPing
IA_Emote, IA_EmoteWheelPage BP_EmoteComponent OpenWheel, CommitWheelPick, StepWheelPage

The one exception is the shop screen pointer: BP_ShopPointerComponent reads IA_Interact itself. To change a key, change it in IMC_Default. See The controls, and adding an input.

What the character is made of

Component What it does Page
ViewRoot > ViewCamera The first person camera, at eye height Movement, stamina and the camera
BP_ViewMotionComponent Head bob, sway, lean, landing dip, crouch smoothing, sprint FOV same page
BP_StaminaComponent Sprint, and what sprinting and jumping cost same page
BP_VitalsSystem Health and stamina values, damage and death Health, damage and new vitals
BP_DamageFeedbackComponent The hurt sound, camera shake and red screen edge on your own machine. The edge is WBP_DamageVignette in the HUD, bound to this component's OnDamageTaken same page
BP_FootstepComponent Footsteps and landing sounds Sounds, footsteps and surfaces
BP_NoiseComponent The noise enemies hear How the enemy AI works, and what it hears
BP_InteractionComponent Looks for what you aim at and uses it How interaction works
BP_GrabComponent Picks up and carries physics objects, pulls levers How grabbing works, and tuning the weight
BP_InventoryComponent, BP_ConsumableComponent The item slots, and items that restore a vital How items and the inventory work
BP_ShopComponent, BP_ShopPointerComponent Buying from the shop terminal Add an item to the shop
BP_DeathComponent What happens when you die Death, revive and the spectator
BP_EmoteComponent, Face (a BP_FaceComponent) Emotes, and the screen face Add an emote or a face
BP_CosmeticVisualsComponent Draws the hat, accessory and pattern How cosmetics work
BP_PlayerColorTintComponent, BP_NameplateComponent, BP_PingComponent Player colour, the name above the head, pings Player colours, nameplates and pings

Three more components are not on the pawn: BP_CosmeticComponent and BP_PlayerColorComponent on BP_FriendslopPlayerState, and BP_SpectatorComponent on the controller.

The character also implements BPI_VitalManagerInterface. Other systems reach the vitals through its GetVitalComponent, never by casting to the character.

The native values

Walking, crouching and jumping are plain Character Movement. The template only adds sprint on top.

Where Field Shipped value
Character Movement Max Walk Speed 200
Character Movement Max Walk Speed Crouched 130
Character Movement Jump Z Velocity 420
BP_StaminaComponent Sprint Speed 500
ViewCamera Field Of View 90

The eyes sit 168 cm above the floor: ViewRoot is 80 cm above the centre of an 88 cm half height capsule. Crouched Eye Height is also 80, on purpose, so traces that start from the eyes stay right when crouched.

The body is SKM_Robot_Courier, animated by ABP_FriendslopLocomotion. The local player never sees it: Owner No See is on and Cast Hidden Shadow is off. The other players see the body and its shadow.

Put it on your own character

There are two ways in:

  • Keep the template's character, change the body. A child of BP_FriendslopCharacter with your mesh. Nothing is lost.
  • Your own Character Blueprint. You add the components you want. Each one works on its own, and a system you leave out is not there.

Keep the template's character, change the body

  1. Right click BP_FriendslopCharacter and pick Create Child Blueprint Class.
  2. In the child, select Mesh and set Skeletal Mesh Asset to your mesh.
  3. Leave Anim Class on ABP_FriendslopLocomotion if your mesh uses SKEL_Mannequin, the UE5 Manny skeleton.
  4. Open BP_FriendslopGameMode and set Default Pawn Class to your child.

Your mesh has to carry the names the systems look for:

Name on your mesh Used by On SKEL_Mannequin
FlashlightSocket The flashlight in hand On the skeleton, you get it for free
ShotgunSocket The shotgun in hand Only on SKM_Robot_Courier. Add it to your mesh, in the same place
HatSocket (bone head), BackSocket (bone spine_04) Hats and accessories On the skeleton, you get them for free
FaceScreen (bone head) The Face screen On the skeleton, but not where the robot's screen is. Add FaceScreen to your mesh, on your character's face
Bone head Where the head appears on death Manny bone
Material slot named M_Robot_Shell Player colour and pattern Name your slot this way, or change Tinted Slot Names on BP_PlayerColorTintComponent

A socket on the mesh wins over a socket of the same name on the skeleton. To move a hat, an accessory or the face on the robot, edit the socket on SKM_Robot_Courier, not on SKEL_Mannequin.

Your own Character Blueprint

The parent must be Character: the camera motion, stamina and landing all read Character Movement.

  1. Under the capsule, add a Scene Component at eye height, and a Camera under it, like ViewRoot and ViewCamera.
  2. On the camera, turn Use Pawn Control Rotation off. BP_ViewMotionComponent writes the camera rotation itself.
  3. Set Base Eye Height and Crouched Eye Height to the height of that Scene Component.
  4. On your body mesh, turn Owner No See on and Cast Hidden Shadow off.
  5. Add the components you want, from the table in What the character is made of. BP_ViewMotionComponent needs Motion set to DA_ViewMotion_Default, or it does nothing.
  6. Add the interface BPI_VitalManagerInterface. Make GetVitalComponent return your BP_VitalsSystem, and put in OnDeath what your pawn does when it dies.
  7. Forward the events of the table below.
  8. Set Default Pawn Class on BP_FriendslopGameMode to your character. Keep BP_FriendslopPlayerController: it drives any Character.

Warning

Leave Crouched Eye Height at the engine default and the camera still looks right, but every trace that starts from the eyes starts from the wrong height when you crouch. Interaction and grab then aim lower than the camera, with no error.

These are the whole event graph of BP_FriendslopCharacter. Copy the ones for the components you added.

Event on your character Call
On Start Crouch, if locally controlled AddCrouchTransition on BP_ViewMotionComponent, with Scaled Half Height Adjust
On End Crouch, if locally controlled AddCrouchTransition, with minus Scaled Half Height Adjust
On Landed NotifyLanded on BP_FootstepComponent, and if locally controlled, ApplyLandImpact on BP_ViewMotionComponent with the velocity Z
On Jumped NotifyJumped on BP_StaminaComponent
OnGrabbed of BP_GrabComponent If IsAxisMode is true (a lever or a door), GetGrabAttachment, then LockView on BP_ViewMotionComponent
OnReleased of BP_GrabComponent UnlockView on BP_ViewMotionComponent
NotifyRunEnded and NotifyArenaStarted, from the interface BPI_RunControl added to your character EndBleedoutNow on BP_DeathComponent

LockView makes the camera follow the lever or the door instead of turning the body.

Three pieces do not go on the pawn: BP_CosmeticComponent and BP_PlayerColorComponent live on the PlayerState, BP_SpectatorComponent on the controller. To replace those classes too, see Use your own game framework classes. The HUD needs nothing: each piece of WBP_Gameplay looks for its component on the possessed pawn, and stays idle when it is missing.

Use your own animations

ABP_FriendslopLocomotion only casts its owner to Character, so it runs on any character. Its two fields are in Settings|Animation: Standing Blend Space (BS_Locomotion_Standing) and Crouching Blend Space (BS_Locomotion_Crouching).

On SKEL_Mannequin:

  1. Put your clips in the samples of the two blend spaces. Or make your own, and set them in the two fields.
  2. For the up and down aim of the upper body, replace the samples of BS_AimOffset_Pitch.
  3. The jump and fall clips are set inside the Jump and Fall states of the Locomotion state machine.
  4. Add BP_FootstepNotify at each foot contact of your walk and run cycles, with Foot Socket set to foot_l or foot_r. Other players hear your steps only where a clip carries it.

Keep the speeds in step with your clips or the feet slide: walk at 200, run at 500, crouch at 130 (the crouch clips play at a rate of 0.65).

If you write your own AnimBP instead, keep two slots: DefaultSlot after the locomotion, for AM_Land and any full body montage, and UpperBody, for the emotes and the third person reload. Implement BPI_HandIKSuspend as ABP_FriendslopLocomotion does: count PushHandIKSuspend and PopHandIKSuspend, and fade the hand IK out while the count is above zero. Without it, the left hand stays glued to the grip during reloads and emotes. What a held item gives the AnimBP is in Make a held item, its hold pose and hand IK.

For another skeleton, retarget the animations with Unreal's IK Rig and IK Retargeter, or build a new AnimBP on your skeleton. Every name of the socket table then has to exist on your skeleton or your mesh.

Where to go next

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