How did you learned C++?

Hi.
My question is: how did you learned ue4 c++ enough well to make anything you can imagine?

I started learning UE4 year and half ago and i think i can do any logic with blueprints. I “done” one unfinished game including multiplayer but i found just blueprints are not enough for me.
But before i jump into UE4, i read 1000 pages book of c++ and now im finishing udemy unreal c++ course. Its good course but i feel like it learned me maybe 1% of engine api.
I want to be able to go through source code and modify some code or fix some bugs. I found many bugs in my journey and something its tilting me to not be able to deal with it.
Some days ago i dig into source code and wanted to try fix something but im still c++ noob and its so overwhelming, one command goes here, from here there (like ui -> controller -> playersomething) its like spaghetti for me… im lost in that…

So guys, any recommendations what mostly helped you with learning c++ and be able to modify/create code?

For those of you who are beginner and struggling to game programming, please read this below.

I have found out the reason most people are not able to game program in Unreal Engine 4 is that there are so many different things to deal with in Unreal Engine 4 and you are new to game programming.

So how did I learn?
I learnt game programming from SFML. It won’t take long to finish the course. It requires basic C++ background. I highly recommend it. Game From Scratch C++ and SFML Edition! – GameFromScratch.com
You can just read and understand it IF you are not a newbie. However, IF you are a newbie, I recommend doing it instead of just reading it.

What if I don’t want to follow that course?
Because you are a newbie to game programming and majority of C++ Unreal Engine 4 game programming crash course NEVER explain why they do certain things the way they do because they expect you to know some stuff, you will be wasting your time… You will never end up learning game programming… I have yet to find a C++ game programming crash course on Unreal Engine 4 that explains like the tutorial I have linked. You will also learn things that are never taught in documentation. They are things like how to arrange classes, how many functions and what function should be in certain class to make it easier and cleaner for you, coding style…etc Yes, it is important to arrange your classes and have a good coding style!

After that tutorial, I am sure you will be more confident with game programming.(Keep in mind that you will be learning some of the things in SFML that Unreal does it for you for free.)

Good luck!

One of the most important steps is to install visual assist - it helps you navigate through the engine code and makes way better suggestions.

Thank you guys for ideas.

That cpp sfml course looks promising, ill do that.

Classes - well, unfortunately i live in middle EU and there are none programming schools, at best i found 2 day courses… but thats like norting + im out of school few years so …
But anyway i really enjoying game development so i hope one day ill be able to code well.

Visual assist - yeah i found some people recommended this so im going to try/buy it.

Your question really isn’t that much about how to learn C++. If you read a 1000 pages book, and understood it, you know quite a bit about C++.

Your question is how to learn the unreal engine source code, and that’s a fully different thing. It’s like, if you learned English and you can read it well, that helps you to “understand” some English book about quantum mechanics, but it doesn’t really mean that you’ll understand it.

Since UE4 is huge, there is probably not a single person that understands everything in the source. Rendering guys don’t know why the audio code is doing exactly what it does, and audio guys don’t know why the rendering code is doing exactly what it does. And they probably both don’t know why the navigation code is doing exactly what it does.

Unfortunately the concepts of many things in the source are never really documented anywhere, so that can make it very hard to understand specific things. The only thing you can do is look at the code for many hours and try to understand what it does, or ask people in the forums or the discord if they maybe know something about that specific code you try to understand :slight_smile:

FYI - posted a short introductory blog article on UE4 Source Code:

http://www.casualdistractiongames.com/single-post/2017/04/22/Getting-Started-with-UE4-Source-Code