(39) Rama's Extra Blueprint Nodes for You as a Plugin, No C++ Required!

[Rama]

New Node

Save String Array To File

The previous String File IO could only save a single line of text, even if you put "\n" into your string

So I've made a new node that lets you save multiple lines of text to file.

Each FString of the array is on its own line in the file!

See pic!

Enjoy!

Rama



Download Link (6.5mb)

UE4 Wiki, Plugin Download Page
https://wiki.unrealengine.com/File:VictoryPlugin.zip

[KITATUS]

Rama!

Are these compat with the preview 5 4.7? :>

[Rama]

Rama!

Are these compat with the preview 5 4.7? :>

I dont do Victory BP library upgrades until the official release, but Peter explained how you can upgrade to 4.7 early if you want to!

FYI if anyone is using 4.7.0 here are the steps you need to take in order to get the plugin to work. Latest version above:

1) In VictoryEdAlignMode.cpp (Line 602) change RV_TraceParams.IgnoreActors.Empty(); to RV_TraceParams.IgnoreComponents.Empty();

2) Comment out (temp measure) lines 220 & 883 in VictoryBPFunctionLibrary.cpp

3) In VictoryEdEngine.Build.cs add "Slatecore" (inc quotes) after "Slate"

Works perfectly!

Peter

Rama

[Rama]

New Release!

Rama' Suite of Custom Config Section BP Nodes!

Using my new suite of BP nodes, you can create as many of your own custom config file sections as you want!

You can both create and retrieve ini variables with any name and fundamental type that you want!

~~~

Supported Types:

Bool
Int
Float
Rotator
Vector
Color
String

~~~

Why Use a Config Var?

Config vars have several benefits

1. Persistent data storage without using a SaveGame struct or GameInstance, store simple quantities of data and player customization this way! Data is stored between level loads and even after the current instance of the game is shut down.

So in this way config vars have greater persistence than the GameInstance class!

2. Player-Driven Customization, Players of your game can tweak the config vars that you make available for them on their hard disk, by editing the .ini file directly, just like AAA games! This is the most significant advantage of using config files, and their real core purpose.

3. Simplicity, simpler to use than the BP SaveSystem (which is quite wonderful by the way), but not quite as powerful in that you can only store basic data types, not UObjects and Actors.

4. Organization, you can create as many config header sections as you want using my nodes, organizing all your custom settings this way!

~~~

Game.ini

All of your custom created config vars and sections are stored in:

Saved/Config/Windows/Game.ini

Players can navigate to this location on their harddrive to edit your ini files just like any AAA game would allow!

Here's what my Game.ini file looks like after running some tests!

[DebugWindows]
ConsoleWidth=160
ConsoleHeight=4000
ConsoleX=-32000
ConsoleY=-32000

[/Script/UnrealEd.ProjectPackagingSettings]
BuildConfiguration=PPBC_Development
StagingDirectory=(Path="E:/MYPROJECT_DELETE")
FullRebuild=True
ForDistribution=False
UsePakFile=True
UseOBB_InAPK=False
CulturesToStage=en

[Victory]
BoolVar=True
VectorVar=X=1.000 Y=2.000 Z=9000.123
StrVar=Yay For Custom Config Vars!!!
FloatVar=234.000000

Now you have fully featured ability to use config variables entirely in BP!

Rama

PS: Here's example usage!

[Rama]

Rama's Suite of Powerful UMG Nodes

Here are the 3 core BP nodes that I've been using to make all of my complicated interacting UMG menus, including an in-game file browser and a menu that allows you to change the materials on any skeletal mesh, while in-game!

These nodes are available to you now!

~~~

Get All Widgets of Class

Allows you to not have to store references everywhere to your widgets, making it easy to interact with the Player Controller and My Character blueprints

Also makes it easy to remove a loading screen after a level transition, without storing refs in Game Instance class

~~~

Remove All Widgets Of Class

You can find and remove any widget any time this way, no matter where you are in BP! (here I am in the Level BP)

Rama Tip:
If you make a general superclass for all your widgets (Reparent to a blank UserWidget of your own making), you can clear your entire UI system from the viewport with a single call to RemoveAllWidgetsOfClass, supplying the class that is your super class for all your user widgets!

So lets say you have 3 user widgets that you made, make a 4th that is blank, reparent your existing 3 to your new empty 4th widget ("WidgetMaster" for example).

Now you can just call RemoveAllWidgetsOfClass on your new 4th widget, WidgetMaster, and all 3 of your existing widgets will be removed automatically from the viewport!

~~~

Is Widget Of Class In Viewport

Take action based on the dynamic lookup of whether a certain widget is currently visible!

No need to store refs or bools anywhere, just do a dynamic look up that is lightning fast!

♥

Rama

[martoof]

Hi there! Nice colors in your post!

You shouldn't be setting the mass directly, what I can do easily is give you a node to set the mass scale of any primitive component / static mesh / skeletal mesh.

By playing with the mass scale on a per-object basis you can get the object to have the effective movement/physics that you want in game.

If you are doing some kind of 3d weight scale game and you actually need 1 kg every time, it will require much more effort on my part

Mass scale is easy and universally useful!


~~~

Mass to Power 0 = 1



If you raise anything to the power of 0, the value is 1!

Conceptual proof:

This is because power implies Self-Multiplication, (x^2 = x * x), and the only thing you can multiply any number by and get itself is 1. So 1 is this Eternal Constant when it comes to exponential math, anything to 0 power is the same, constant, unchanged Origin of all exponential math. All numbers to the 0 power trace back to the same single point, the number 1, so this is Origin. And 0 represent the concept of Origin!


Conventional Proof:

                 X^y
 x^0 = x^(y-y) = --- = 1
                 x^y

So um, is that all you need then? A phys mat with power to 0?


Mass scale as a BP node would be much more useful to more people and gives you fine tuned control on a per-object basis, and does not require phys-mats to be set anywhere


Rama

Hi Rama,
Thank you for your answer ! sorry I took my time to respond and i did a lot of tests.
I understand all your explication about power, but English is not my native language, and i will try to explain better what i want

In fact, I have updated my blueprint from v4.6.1 to current version and I discover a wonderful parameter in the Physics category : the "Override Mass" parameter.
It's exactly what I want !!!! but is it possible for you to create a blueprint node to be able to :
- modify the "Mass in Kg" value
and optionnaly :
- set true/false for "Override Mass"
- be able to modify others parameters like "Center of Mass offset"

I hope it's a better explication !
Let me know if it's possible
Thanks a lot !

[rckt26]

Load String Array From Text File

This node is a compliment to the node that saves string to text file!

1. Loads a String Array from a Text File, where each entry in the array is one line from the file!

2. Option to specify that white space lines should be ignored, tested and working! (only checks spaces and newlines at moment)

3. Returns the size of the String array that was created!

4. Returns false if the file could not be opened


Picture:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]9709[/ATTACH]

Enjoy!

Rama

PS: re-download the plugin from the link in first post to get this update!



Node created as per this request:

https://forums.unrealengine.com/show...l=1#post121696

Does anyone know if this would work for an iOS game? I'm trying to find a way to use large string arrays with out having to add code to the project.

[Rama]

Load Texture 2D From File!

JPG, PNG, BMP, ICO, EXR, and ICNS are Supported File Formats !

With this node you can load a Texture 2D from a file during runtime!

I output for you the width and height of the loaded image!

Now you can easily create Texture 2D's from image files in Blueprints, during runtime!


Special Note!

Tim Sweeney liked this node!


Enjoy!

Rama

PS: Make sure to include the file extension when you use this node!





~~~

C++ Code For You

Here is the core C++ function involved, entire source is in the download! I wrote my own Enum for the file formats.

UTexture2D* UVictoryBPFunctionLibrary::Victory_LoadTexture2D_FromFile(const FString& FullFilePath,EJoyImageFormats ImageFormat, bool& IsValid,int32& Width, int32& Height)
{
	IsValid = false;
	UTexture2D* LoadedT2D = NULL;
	
	IImageWrapperModule& ImageWrapperModule = FModuleManager::LoadModuleChecked<IImageWrapperModule>(FName("ImageWrapper"));
	
	IImageWrapperPtr ImageWrapper = ImageWrapperModule.CreateImageWrapper(GetJoyImageFormat(ImageFormat));
 
	//Load From File
	TArray<uint8> RawFileData;
	if (!FFileHelper::LoadFileToArray(RawFileData, * FullFilePath)) 
	{
		return NULL;
	}
	
	  
	//Create T2D!
	if (ImageWrapper.IsValid() && ImageWrapper->SetCompressed(RawFileData.GetData(), RawFileData.Num()))
	{ 
		const TArray<uint8>* UncompressedBGRA = NULL;
		if (ImageWrapper->GetRaw(ERGBFormat::BGRA, 8, UncompressedBGRA))
		{
			LoadedT2D = UTexture2D::CreateTransient(ImageWrapper->GetWidth(), ImageWrapper->GetHeight(), PF_B8G8R8A8);
			
			//Valid?
			if (!LoadedT2D) 
			{
				return NULL;
			}
			
			//Out!
			Width = ImageWrapper->GetWidth();
			Height = ImageWrapper->GetHeight();
			 
			//Copy!
			void* TextureData = LoadedT2D->PlatformData->Mips[0].BulkData.Lock(LOCK_READ_WRITE);
			FMemory::Memcpy(TextureData, UncompressedBGRA->GetData(), UncompressedBGRA->Num());
			LoadedT2D->PlatformData->Mips[0].BulkData.Unlock();

			//Update!
			LoadedT2D->UpdateResource();
		}
	}
	 
	// Success!
	IsValid = true;
	return LoadedT2D;
}

~~~

Download Link (6.5mb)

UE4 Wiki, Plugin Download Page
https://wiki.unrealengine.com/File:VictoryPlugin.zip

[CarlosCoronado]

Hi again Rama! I asked what you told me in the answer hub. Here it is: https://answers.unrealengine.com/que...ime-witho.html

I hope someone solves this because well... I've been messing around with your binding Bps and ohh boy! They work soo good! Here is a picture of my Menu. But I have one question. What if a input have 2 or more bindings asigned? For Example. SHOOT; Left Mouse Button and Gamepad Left Trigger. Next week I'm going to buy a compatible gamepad with ue4 and try it out but I would like to know your point about it.

About my experience with the bindings bp: The menu you see below is not a widget hud menu. They are indeed static meshes and the mouse is not a mouse, but another static mesh projected on a plane. Why? Because VR, that's why. In short, I had to cheat all the menu functionality. What does that means? well, I used the bindings with UE4 savegames for the strings and had no problem with them and also the info from the bindings BPs can be easily used anywhere.

In the other hand, I hope Epic Games will put more time working on the localization management. I don't remember where, but they said this is not their main area because big companies use their own localization systems and they haven't asked them to work on that but... what about the indies? I know a lot of developers don't pay too much atention to localization but in a sales perspective... it is HUUUUGE.

Anyways, thanks for the awesome work Rama

[Rama]

~~

2 Two Nodes For You

Create UObject

Create Primitive Component, Added to Scene at Location!

These two nodes let you create UObjects at runtime!


I recently needed to create UObjects in Blueprints for a special inventory system! Please note you can use my node to create UObjects that you make Blueprintable via C++ !


Please note you absolutely must save off the return value to a variable or UE4 will Garbage Collect your new UObject within a short time!


Please especially note that if you create a Primitive Component, I actually add it to the world for you so it is visible and has collision!

~~~

C++ Code For You

Here's the code!

UObject* UVictoryBPFunctionLibrary::CreateObject(UObject* WorldContextObject,UClass* TheObjectClass, FName Name)
{
	if(!TheObjectClass) return NULL;
	//~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
	
	//using a context object to get the world!
    UWorld* const World = GEngine->GetWorldFromContextObject(WorldContextObject);
	if(!World) return NULL;
	//~~~~~~~~~~~
	 
	return StaticConstructObject( TheObjectClass, World, Name);
}

UPrimitiveComponent* UVictoryBPFunctionLibrary::CreatePrimitiveComponent(
	UObject* WorldContextObject, 
	TSubclassOf<UPrimitiveComponent> CompClass, 
	FName Name,
	FVector Location, 
	FRotator Rotation
){
	if(!CompClass) return NULL;
	//~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
	
	//using a context object to get the world!
    UWorld* const World = GEngine->GetWorldFromContextObject(WorldContextObject);
	if(!World) return NULL;
	//~~~~~~~~~~~
	 
	UPrimitiveComponent* NewComp = ConstructObject<UPrimitiveComponent>( CompClass, World, Name);
	if(!NewComp) return NULL;
	//~~~~~~~~~~~~~
	 
	NewComp->SetWorldLocation(Location);
	NewComp->SetWorldRotation(Rotation);
	NewComp->RegisterComponentWithWorld(World);
	
	return NewComp;
}

♥

Rama

[Tea-Rexx]

any one getting a error of missing Dll files?

[Rama]

any one getting a error of missing Dll files?

Until 4.8 or so you need to include even just an empty C++ class, to get the plugin to compile in a packaged game.

If you are having missing dll errors in editor build, make sure you are using 4.6.1 with my plugin. I will release 4.7 version when 4.7 is released. The current 4.7 in the launcher is for testing only, not commercial development.



Rama

[Rama]

New Nodes

Combine Multiple Strings & Append Multiple Strings


With these latest nodes you can combine as many strings as you want!

Note the "Add Pin" option!


Combine Strings Multi = I put a space between each string for you!

Append Multiple = Strings are combined without any additional formatting.

~~~

Special Thanks

Special thanks to Key To Truth for contributing the Append Multiple node!

I was inspired by Key To Truth's offering to make Combine Strings Multi

~~~

Download Link (6.5mb)

UE4 Wiki, Plugin Download Page
https://wiki.unrealengine.com/File:VictoryPlugin.zip

Enjoy!

♥

Rama

[Rama]

Two New AI Nodes

Get Closest Actor Of Class In Radius of Location

Get Closest Actor of Class In Radius of Actor


These nodes are great for use with AI calculations!






~~~

C++ Code For You

Here's my c++ code for Get Closest Actor of Class In Radius of Actor!

AActor* UVictoryBPFunctionLibrary::GetClosestActorOfClassInRadiusOfActor(
	UObject* WorldContextObject, 
	TSubclassOf<AActor> ActorClass, 
	AActor* ActorCenter, 
	float Radius, 
	bool& IsValid
){ 
	IsValid = false;
	  
	if(!ActorCenter)
	{
		return nullptr;
	}
	
	const FVector Center = ActorCenter->GetActorLocation();
	
	//using a context object to get the world!
    UWorld* const World = GEngine->GetWorldFromContextObject(WorldContextObject);
	if(!World) return nullptr;
	//~~~~~~~~~~~
	
	AActor* ClosestActor 		= nullptr;
	float MinDistanceSq 		= Radius*Radius;	//Max Radius
	
	for (TActorIterator<AActor> Itr(World, ActorClass); Itr; ++Itr)
	{
		//Skip ActorCenter!
		if(*Itr == ActorCenter) continue;
		//~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
		
		const float DistanceSquared = FVector::DistSquared(Center, Itr->GetActorLocation());

		//Is this the closest possible actor within the max radius?
		if (DistanceSquared < MinDistanceSq)
		{
			ClosestActor = *Itr;					//New Output!
			MinDistanceSq = DistanceSquared;		//New Min!
		}
	}

   IsValid = true;
   return ClosestActor;
}

~~~

Download Link (6.5mb)

UE4 Wiki, Plugin Download Page
https://wiki.unrealengine.com/File:VictoryPlugin.zip

Enjoy!

♥

Rama

[Rama]

Using these nodes in my plugin you can now easily make your own translation animations for 2D games and UMG!

I realized the need for these animations while trying to manually animate UMG widgets in BP.

I am in process of submitting this as a pull request for the main engine.

UE4 Wiki, Plugin Download Page
https://wiki.unrealengine.com/File:VictoryPlugin.zip

Enjoy!

Rama