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[UMG] Working with Controller Input

Development Discussion Blueprint Visual Scripting
#1

Now that 4.6 is officially out, along with controller support, I’m curious about how to get it working. I guess this is a tips/tricks/basics thread.

Some stuff I’ve figured out so far:

If you want to focus on a widget, after construct use “set input mode UIOnly” and specify a button (or widget that can take focus), then you can navigate with a controller. If you specify the whole widget, focus won’t take and you need to click on a button or element to get the focus.

It looks like widgets still can’t take actual input, so I’ve got a ‘key bind’ dispatcher in my HUD blueprint that listens for the “use” key and “cancel” key (A & X on a 360 controller), which are relayed to the HUD. Clunky, but it works OK.

What I don’t understand at all: “Set User Focus” and the “event reply structure” it produces. I have no idea what this is, how it works, or what to do with it.
EventReplyStructure.JPG

I don’t see any way to change a widget based on focus. They all get a generic engine style dotted line when focused, but I don’t see any way it can be user specified.

Overall, it seems like controller support is technically workable in a bare minimum fashion, but is far from an actual working solution for shipping a game with controller support.

Some things I’d like to see in the future:

  • Focus works like ‘hovered’
  • the ability to detect ‘hovered’ or ‘focused’ so I can change elements within an element (for example: the color or font on a text element within a button)
  • the ability for a widget to actually take input. It seems nuts that a button can be clicked, but if I want a player to be able to execute an action with a controller button, I need to put the logic elsewhere and send it to the HUD.
#2

Basic controller support is only in so far as Slate is concerned. Styling work and exposing it to the visual editor is still on the TODO list.

#3

Can’t wait to see where it goes. Thanks Nick :slight_smile:

#4

Can you explain what you did for that? I’m trying to do something similar.

#5

Same problem! I’ve been working on this for hours and it’s driving me mad. How did you bind for A & X on the controller? Can you share your blueprint(s) please so we can see how to get focus? I’ve even set the keyboard focus like this:

30ffccb958aef35c2b40dc2210ac1b2037a4a754.png

Thanks,
Doug

#6

Sorry, just catching up on old threads.

So to get input, 1st I added input under Project Settings -> Action Mappings.

I then use those action mappings in my global HUD blueprint (not a UMG blueprint) to catch & distribute the input. For example, I have an input mapping labeled “ToggleJournal” which accepts input from both the “i” key and the “triangle button”. On use, I check if the journal is open, and if it’s not I create the journal widget & add it to the viewport and assign it to a UIJournal variable. If it is open, I grab that variable and remove it from the viewport.

I’m doing similar with “use” interactions. I’m using the global HUD blueprint to manage them. So when the player is near a usable object, I use an interface to tell the HUD blueprint you’re near a usable object, and listens for input on the “use” action mapping. If I detect a use, and the player is near a usable object, I pass along the event to the object via a variable sent to the HUD when the object declared itself to be usable.

Does all this make sense? Basically it’s functional when I need to grab a single button press, but doesn’t work for stuff like navigating a list or using a UI with multiple buttons.

#7

This thread is 4 years old, I am running into the exact same thing as the original user stated. Has anything been added in 4.18 like listed below? I am so not wanting to rebuilt my perfect mouse widget menus to work with a console controller.

Some things I’d like to see in the future:

  • Focus works like ‘hovered’
  • the ability to detect ‘hovered’ or ‘focused’ so I can change elements within an element (for example: the color or font on a text element within a button)
  • the ability for a widget to actually take input. It seems nuts that a button can be clicked, but if I want a player to be able to execute an action with a controller button, I need to put the logic elsewhere and send it to the HUD.
#8

We had to build our own mouse / keyboard / gamepad system from scratch after investigating further into the base systems Unreal provides.

Maybe there are proper ways to use the built-in systems but we did not found them.

PS: And I indeed had to rebuild my buttons animations & juice :stuck_out_tongue:

#9

Glad I found this thread.
I have the same problem as stated here, and was wondering if I was missing something.

I guess I will find a solution like Stuckbug did, since Im not into c++
using blueprints to prototype.

#10

Here is the fix :slight_smile: Hope it helps!

https://answers.unrealengine.com/questions/748127/umg-gamepad-backbutton-bxbox-one-and-ops4.html

#11

This video is quite long but may help shed some light on UMG controller inputs and best practices. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JbFZI1Zdc4