Why does networking not work in the Top Down Template

Development Programming & Scripting Multiplayer & Networking
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1

Branch: Binary

Build version: 4.10.1-2791327+++depot+UE4-Releases+4.10

Detailed description of the issue: Where applicable, the template projects on the create a project screen generally include networking support. For example creating a side scroller or third person project and increasing the number of players works as expected out of the box. However, the Top Down Template includes most of the necessary setup like a network player spawn and replication turned on by default, but client players are unable to actually control their characters.

Repro Steps

  1. Open Unreal Engine or select New Project…
  2. Select Top Down (Blueprint or C++, neither work)
  3. Name the project and create it so it opens in the editor
  4. Click the Play dropdown and set Number of Players to 2 or tick “Run Dedicated Server”
  5. Run the project
2

Hi Puck,

This is not a bug. The Top-Down template is simply not designed for networked multiplayer out of the box, because Character movement relies on Simple Move To, which does not work on Clients. There’s a request in to change how the template works, using another movement method, but there is no timeline for this update. For now, if you’d like to convert this project to network multiplayer, you’ll need to change how the click-to-move functions, understanding that the nav mesh does not exist on the Client by default. You can turn this on for Clients in Project Settings, but I don’t believe it’s fully functional yet (a fair amount of lag on characters using this by default).

3

Thanks Ben! In the mean time maybe it would be wise to remove the network spawn and replication from the template to avoid confusion about its networking compatibility?

4

I will mention that to the Samples team. Thanks =)