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

[Rama]

Supporting Pre-Release Engine Builds

@John Alcatraz;468711

I would be absolutely fine with compiling your plugin myself (I do that anyway since I use a custom build of the engine), so if you could provide only source for preview versions that would already be very helpful, if it saves you time because you don’t have to compile them.

I have tried to manually compile your plugin for 4.11, but there were a few errors and I don’t know how to fix them

Compiling is not the issue, constantly adding to and updating two engine versions worth of updates every time I want to add a node:

1. victory plugin editor version
2. victory plugin packaged binaries
3. victory plugin editor + packaged on media fire

is what takes the time

It is the distribution of the software that is taking me the time, not the software itself

@RhythmScript;469466

Rama, is there usually a high labor cost associated with updating nodes to work with the newest engine versions?

The labor is in having to maintain two versions of updates. And I really am not getting very many donations at all, so maintaining Victory Plugin for two engine versions is just beyond my capacity when offering this whole plugin for free to the community.

Epic really needs to think about this issue when it comes time for marketplace plugins, because if everyone is so impatient to be on the not-entirely-stable-supposed-to-be-test branch, rather than the stable tested branch, it is going to bother everyone if all plugin makers dont always upload for the test branch.

But as I said, having to maintain two versions of the plugin becomes ridiculous.

I wonder why everyone wants the unstable-declared-to-be-test branch more than the official release?

The point of a test branch is for testing, not mainline development!

Yet everyone seems to move over to the latest and supposedly greatest, even though it is just a test branch.

What to do?

Perhaps for certain pre-release builds that are highly preferred, I would simply stop supporting the previous engine version and move on to the pre-release version.

I am under the presumption that this discussion will become a moot point within a few days, when 4.11 is released, but if it seems to be taking too long I will do the upgrade.

Rama

[Rama]

Victory Plugin Source Code

@teak421;469223

Hi Rama…

Curious… I went to your github and it says that its not been updated since September. Are you still allowing access to the source? Honestly, I learn by reading other people’s code and if I do use it anyplace, you will get credit. Thanks for all your work!

teak

The latest source code is included in every download of my plugin from the links I include in my posts!

I have not had time to update the Git in addition to every other step involved in releasing a new victory plugin version.

You can always find the latest source code in the plugin download itself!

Rama

[Rama]

@Dannington;468782

Hi Rama, i’m such a dummy with C++!

I’ve hijacked your blueprint function library tutorial code to try to get my machine’s local IP address with this:

//Happy Message
virtual UMyBlueprintFunctionLibrary::GetHappyMessage()
{

	return GetLocalHostAddr(FOutputDevice & Out, bool & bCanBindAll);
}

But it just winds up not compiling and throwing up problems with the SocketSubsystem.h include.

The sample code from the docs is

virtual TSharedRef< FInternetAddr > GetLocalHostAddr
(
    FOutputDevice & Out,
    bool & bCanBindAll
)

Any chance of a nudge in the right direction? This is the kind of bodgy assemblies I can return in python - I just don’t get it with C++ (But i’d love to!)

In your build cs (either plugin or project level depending where you wrote your code), you have to add a public dependency to “HTTP”,

Then that code should compile fine

rama

[Rama]

Animated Vertex Locations

Dear Community,

This node lets you obtain the actual animated positions of a character, taking frame rate and physics/visual update into account!

**Latest plugin download on the UE4 Wiki: (7.16 mb) **
https://wiki.unrealengine.com/File:VictoryPlugin.zip

**Plugin Release Dates and UE4 Engine Versions**
https://wiki.unrealengine.com/Rama%27s_Vertex_Snap_Editor_Plugin#Plugin_Release_Dates_and_UE4_Engine_Versions

Victory Plugin Binaries for Packaged Games

A new, community-hosted Unreal Engine Wiki

**Donations**

Donations can be sent to me via:
http://lightningfitness.org/donate/

Enjoy!

:)

Rama

![AnimatedVertexLocations.jpg|1280x960](upload://xif0tb713gyoLicF4HX0LQGUChw.jpeg)

![AnimatedVertexLocations2.jpg|1280x960](upload://7R9xFuIwIbZiD46nmLHl54K8r57.jpeg)

![AnimatedVertexLocations3.jpg|1280x960](upload://cfEH9JuoDvsoTKEtoJEj4XuyR2L.jpeg)

[John_Alcatraz]

@Rama;472174

Compiling is not the issue, constantly adding to and updating two engine versions worth of updates every time I want to add a node:

1. victory plugin editor version
2. victory plugin packaged binaries
3. victory plugin editor + packaged on media fire

is what takes the time

It is the distribution of the software that is taking me the time, not the software itself :)a

What if you would only update your plugin once for a preview and only upload the editor version or only the source? You would add new nodes only to the stable one, and never touch the preview version again (unless Epic changes some C++ functions in a new preview that would make your plugin not compile). So you would only have to upload one single version once when Preview 1 is released.

@Rama;472174

Epic really needs to think about this issue when it comes time for marketplace plugins, because if everyone is so impatient to be on the not-entirely-stable-supposed-to-be-test branch, rather than the stable tested branch, it is going to bother everyone if all plugin makers dont always upload for the test branch.

But as I said, having to maintain two versions of the plugin becomes ridiculous.

I wonder why everyone wants the unstable-declared-to-be-test branch more than the official release?

The point of a test branch is for testing, not mainline development!

Yet everyone seems to move over to the latest and supposedly greatest, even though it is just a test branch.

What to do?

Have you ever seen anyone who wants to do serious development on a Preview release? I think I made very clear that I only need your plugin to work with the Preview to be able to test the preview with a copy of my project and report new bugs to Epic so that they are fixed once I switch my real project to the new stable version. And I think this is how everyone handles it, since this is what previews should be used for

@Rama;472174

Perhaps for certain pre-release builds that are highly preferred, I would simply stop supporting the previous engine version and move on to the pre-release version.

I am under the presumption that this discussion will become a moot point within a few days, when 4.11 is released, but if it seems to be taking too long I will do the upgrade.

Epic said 4.11 will be released in March, so its still quite a while, way more than a few days

[Dannington]

I can get Victory running fine on my mac - with a little adjustment. Rama probably won’t like this solution but…

There are a couple of functions where there’s an error about a class not being allowed to return a ‘False’ bool - I think it’s some node which finds sockets on a character or something. My solution - because I never use these nodes - is to just comment out the class from the .h and the .cpp files.

This also applies to compiling for 4.11 For my purposes I just commented out the functions which didn’t work - it’s a bit of a nasty hack, but it works perfectly for me as I don’t use these character based nodes.

Get your hands a bit dirty is my suggestion! I keep tinkering hoping I’ll suddenly understand C++ (It hasn’t happened yet)

What would probably help Rama is a copy of the error messages from X-code. I think it’s only about 3 classes which all return this error about bools (for Mac 4.10).

Dan

[teak421]

Rama… I just download the latest version and all I see is the binaries directory. But, I’ve got an older version that has a source directory. Am I missing something? Thanks.

teak

[RhythmScript]

@John Alcatraz;472188

What if you would only update your plugin once for a preview and only upload the editor version or only the source? You would add new nodes only to the stable one, and never touch the preview version again (unless Epic changes some C++ functions in a new preview that would make your plugin not compile). So you would only have to upload one single version once when Preview 1 is released

Cosign.

Far be it from me to look a gift plugin in the mouth, and however Rama wants to do what he does is fine by me because it’s a marvelous gift to get.

But if—IF—the issue is the work spent updating/maintaining the plugin on two separate branches, I would THINK (again, not the expert here) that doing a single preview-compatible release just once when the preview first drops, and then just ignoring it, without worrying about keeping it updated with the rest of the main Victory Branch (until it gets replaced with the most recent Victory Plugin once the release goes official), would satisfy the general desire to test projects for bugs in preview releases without adding a particularly large amount of workload on your end, Rama.

So don’t go

4.10 ------------------------ 4.11
           \4.11p--------------/

Go

4.10 ------------------------ 4.11
           \4.11p-

Theoretically avoids the maintenance work.

Again, just a thought, I would not presume to instruct Rama how to provide us with a gift like the Victory Library if that’s not how he wants to do it.

[Detilium]

Sry but I’m about to go nuts. I can’t get this to work. Is there a new installation guide for 4.10 version of UE? In my windows tab I don’t have a “Plugins”?

[Dannington]

Detilium,

Make a folder in your project folder called ‘Plugins’
Copy the VictoryPlugin folder into this folder (not the zip file, but the contents of it)
Right click on your project file (With the 'blue ‘U’ icon) and select ‘Generate Visual Studio Files’
Open the solution file (ends with a .sln) - VS will open (make sure you’ve installed this first)
Make sure at the top you’ve got ‘Development Editor’ and ‘Win64’ selected.
In the right hand pane, beneath ‘Games’ (not ‘Engine’), right click on your project name and choose ‘Build’
When it’s built you can close VS and start your project from the launcher or wherever.

[vijaykam]

Hi Rama,

Is there a C++ version of this? The file unzips to a Windows binary - I am on a Mac. I’ve been trying to write some simple code to attach a camera to a pawn, take pictures from the camera and save them to disk. I can’t find anything in forums or Github that shows me how to do this. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Rama]

@teak421;472218

Rama… I just download the latest version and all I see is the binaries directory. But, I’ve got an older version that has a source directory. Am I missing something? Thanks.

teak

@vijaykam;473667

Hi Rama,

Is there a C++ version of this? The file unzips to a Windows binary - I am on a Mac. I’ve been trying to write some simple code to attach a camera to a pawn, take pictures from the camera and save them to disk. I can’t find anything in forums or Github that shows me how to do this. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I believe you downloaded my PackagedBinaries instead of the actual UE4 Editor plugin which includes the source

Correct link for source code:

A new, community-hosted Unreal Engine Wiki

Rama

[QUOTE=Dannington;472200]
What would probably help Rama is a copy of the error messages from X-code.  I think it's only about 3 classes which all return this error about bools (for Mac 4.10).

Dan
[/QUOTE]


Yes that is exactly what would help me, someone can PM me the XCode error list, I can update the 4.11 version to fix the xcode errors.

I fixed emscripten errors for HTML builds recently.

Rama

[Rama]

@John Alcatraz;472188

What if you would only update your plugin once for a preview and only upload the editor version or only the source?

Epic said 4.11 will be released in March, so its still quite a while, way more than a few days

@RhythmScript;472276

Cosign.

Far be it from me to look a gift plugin in the mouth, and however Rama wants to do what he does is fine by me because it’s a marvelous gift to get.

But if—IF—the issue is the work spent updating/maintaining the plugin on two separate branches, I would THINK (again, not the expert here) that doing a single preview-compatible release just once when the preview first drops, and then just ignoring it, without worrying about keeping it updated with the rest of the main Victory Branch (until it gets replaced with the most recent Victory Plugin once the release goes official), would satisfy the general desire to test projects for bugs in preview releases without adding a particularly large amount of workload on your end, Rama.

Again, just a thought, I would not presume to instruct Rama how to provide us with a gift like the Victory Library if that’s not how he wants to do it.

See my next post!

Happy Valentines Day!

Rama

[Rama]

4.11 Upgrade ~ Happy Valentines Day!

Dear Community,

As per popular request I have upgraded my plugin to 4.11 preview!

[FONT=Comic Sans MS]Happy Valentines Day!

(post is a little late cause it took a long time to do the upgrade)

**Download Link:**

**Victory Plugin 4.11 For Editor (7.23MB)**
https://wiki.unrealengine.com/File:VictoryPlugin.zip

Git Update!

I have updated my Victory Plugin Github to 4.11

I would like to take this opportunity to thank community member Stormwind for inspiring the setup of this Git version!

GitHub - EverNewJoy/VictoryPlugin: Rama's Victory BP Plugin

**4.10 vs 4.11**

To resolve the issue of having to support two versions, I have concluded that **my last supported plugin version for 4.10 is February 6th.**

All future plugin releases will be for 4.11, preview or full release.

4.11 Known Issues

Please note that 4.11 has not been released yet and my support of 4.11 is in beta just like 4.11 is.

A few things have changed in 4.11 preview:

1. Packaging Victory Plugin requires ability to compile C++.

If you can compile C++ via Visual Studio 2015, then here’s how you package the plugin:

a. In visual studio,** rebuild** all for your chosen build, such as Development (Game) x64
b. Load editor and package game for your chosen build, such as Development x64

Again please note you have to first compile for your correct final build in Visual Studio itself.

Reason: The plugin intermediate folder is not optional and is not regenerated within the Editor during packaging. I cant include it in the wiki file links since it is 135mb of stuff. Intermediate folder is supposed to be optional, and was until 4.9/4.10. I presume it is a bug that currently UE4 does not regenerate the plugin intermediate folder if it is missing, and will have to consult with Epic once 4.11 is released to see if this has been addressed, as it would affect every C++ plugin that was put on the marketplace.

My life will be easier once plugins are officially on the marketplace and the way in which BP-only users can package C++ plugins has been fully ironed out.

**EDIT: **Solution currently is to move the plugin to the Engine folder: How To Package Victory Plugin

Because 4.11 is in Beta/preview, I can only presume this fix is on the way.

So please note there’s nothing I can do presently to resolve this matter of requiring C++ to package for 4.11, and you should not expect to be able to package Victory Plugin for 4.11 unless you have Visual Studio 2015 or are willing to give C++ compiling a try

If you are, you can download Visual Studio 2015 here:

Download Visual Studio 2019 for Windows & Mac

Please note you want the Community version.

**Technical**

Please note that Classes folder was removed, I am using only Public/Private now which compiles faster.

Internal code structure of the plugin has been updated to 4.11 standards.

Summary:

Have fun playing with my Victory Plugin in 4.11 !

**Donations**

Donations can be sent to me via:
http://lightningfitness.org/donate/

Enjoy!

Rama

[Dannington]

Donated - with great appreciation.

Dan

[John_Alcatraz]

Awesome! Thanks Rama

Unfortunately, I can’t see the new version in the Wiki. I only see the old version from 6th February, and it does not work in 4.11, gives me errors if I try to compile it.

[Netrve]

A “little” request: I’m not sure if it’s within the engine already or not, but I would be happy to see a delay node with a float output of how much time is remaining on the delay. I hope it’s ok that I ask for that ^^

Greetings,
Dakraid

[Axtel_Sturnclaw]

Rama -

Seeing as I needed the functionality and your ISM PR has been sitting untouched for almost a year now, I went ahead and converted it into a editor plugin which can be found here: https://github.com/Web-eWorks/ISMPlugin. Figured I should let you know, as most of the important code is yours. Currently it’s a little buggy, but I plan to fix it up to a production-ready state.

[mayaping]

Is there any template available to make a plugin?

[GraphicsMode]

Hello Rama/everyone

I’m trying to get the closest actor of my variable type and set it to it, using the Closest Actor in Radius node but I can’t get it to work.

I feel like this should be something I already know but I can’t figure it out. Why is the actor class I’m feeding into it not compatible with itself? I’m making sure I’ve selected the correct type by plugging it in instead of choosing from the list, but it won’t connect up. I’ve tried a bunch of nodes in between them as well but they don’t connect either.

Does anyone know how it works?

Cheers.