Able Ability System Info and Support Thread

[ExtraLifeMatt]

I'm currently at work so I can't test any fixes just yet but both of my pictures are from a freshly made top down template project. So unless the default code it starts with has issues that I couldn't catch, it would be something else.

Are you setting the Test ability on the Actor once you place them in a level? One of my test stages is the Top Down project, so it definitely works with that basic template.

EDIT: Just saw you have a variable named Test, and apparently an Ability named Test. That variable on your blueprint is just an empty class ID that happens to be called Test. It's not a valid reference until you set it on the actor instance (i.e. when you've placed it in a level).

[IronSuit]

You can use a shared base class for all your Bosses/Enemies and just cast to that.

ACharacter -> AStatsCharacter (Resistances, stats, etc) -> WhateverBoss

Then you just cast to AStatsCharacter within Able, do your math, and return the result.

Unfortunately, Epic's Damage system is limited to 1 damage value at a time. So, you'd either have to create a 2nd Apply Damage task for the elemental damage (which is a bit wasteful), or manually call ApplyDamage on your actor (in which case you likely don't want it to use Async Calculate since that's no longer thread safe behavior, or keep it Async but add a Custom Event that actually applies the damage), or create your own Damage method (DamageCreature(float damage, float elementalDamage, etc) on some base class and manually call that using a similar setup to the 2nd option.

I actually plan on showing how to setup a more diverse damage option in the next video that will likely touch on these various approaches.

Great tip, i will be using a shared class for the Enemies.
And I'm looking forward the next video.

Thanks

[IronSuit]

Also i forgot to mention that it would be great if you can include in your next video how to blend in animations, right now i get weird movement when attacking and walking at the same time. Or when doing combo attacks.

[ExtraLifeMatt]

Alright v1.5 has officially been submitted.

Also i forgot to mention that it would be great if you can include in your next video how to blend in animations, right now i get weird movement when attacking and walking at the same time. Or when doing combo attacks.

Sure I can look at doing something for that. That's all going to come down to how your Animation State Machine(s) are setup and how you blend your results. Ideally you want your locomotion in its own state machine, then you can put Able's Ability Animation Node in its own state machine, and just do a masked blend so Able's results only apply to above the waist, and locomotion is below the waist.

[ExtraLifeMatt]

v1.5 is now live. I'll be working on 4.16 support next. I'm hoping that only takes me a day or two, but you never know with these major revisions.

[TheQuiet1994]

So I'm pretty new to this but why is this error popping up when I try to launch the 4.15 showcase uproject file?

"Couldn't set association for project. Check the file is writeable"

[ExtraLifeMatt]

So I'm pretty new to this but why is this error popping up when I try to launch the 4.15 showcase uproject file?

"Couldn't set association for project. Check the file is writeable"

BAH, Sorry. Forgot to fix that. Just right click on the file -> Properties -> Uncheck "Read Only"

[TheQuiet1994]

Duh. I was afraid it wasn't that simple.
Just one more question for now. When an actor is placed in the level, I can make the abilities work. But how would I set the variable on an actor that is spawned from a player start, for example?
I'm also really sorry for so many simple questions. This is my first time using someone else's stuff from the marketplace.

[ExtraLifeMatt]

Duh. I was afraid it wasn't that simple.
Just one more question for now. When an actor is placed in the level, I can make the abilities work. But how would I set the variable on an actor that is spawned from a player start, for example?
I'm also really sorry for so many simple questions. This is my first time using someone else's stuff from the marketplace.

You could just manually set the variables using OnBeginPlay / Construction Script portion of the Character Blueprint. Ideally you'd have a data table (CSV/Excel Spreadsheet basically) or something somewhere, so when your Player spawns, it uses its Class/Level/Whatever to find what Abilities it should set to whichever variables.

[TheQuiet1994]

You could just manually set the variables using OnBeginPlay / Construction Script portion of the Character Blueprint. Ideally you'd have a data table (CSV/Excel Spreadsheet basically) or something somewhere, so when your Player spawns, it uses its Class/Level/Whatever to find what Abilities it should set to whichever variables.

Okay well clearly I'm not ready to tackle this. I can't get this to work at all. I'll have to just come back when I'm better able to.

[Hitsugen]

Hey Matt,

Reporting a bug,
When I add a Branch task on a brand new ability, the editor instantly crashes.

On older abilities that already have a branch task its no problem. From the stack trace it looks like it has to do with the new task descriptions feature.
Cheers

Access violation - code c0000005 (first/second chance not available)

UE4Editor_CoreUObject
UE4Editor_AbleCore!UAblBranchTask::GetDescriptiveTaskName() [d:\build\++portal+main+full\sync\localbuilds\plugintemp\hostproject\plugins\able\source\ablecore\private\tasks\ablbranchtask.cpp:150]
UE4Editor_AbleEditor!SAblAbilityTimelineNode::GetNodeText() [d:\build\++portal+main+full\sync\localbuilds\plugintemp\hostproject\plugins\able\source\ableeditor\private\abilityeditor\sabilitytimelinetrack.cpp:55]
UE4Editor_AbleEditor!SAblAbilityTimelineNode::OnPaint() [d:\build\++portal+main+full\sync\localbuilds\plugintemp\hostproject\plugins\able\source\ableeditor\private\abilityeditor\sabilitytimelinetrack.cpp:271]
UE4Editor_SlateCore
UE4Editor_Slate
UE4Editor_SlateCore
UE4Editor_AbleEditor!SAblAbilityTimelineTrack::OnPaint() [d:\build\++portal+main+full\sync\localbuilds\plugintemp\hostproject\plugins\able\source\ableeditor\private\abilityeditor\sabilitytimelinetrack.cpp:545]
UE4Editor_SlateCore
UE4Editor
kernel32
ntdll

[jwyuen]

Unreal Engine 4.16 now released!

[jwyuen]

Hi

This doesnt work. I fired it up in BTT But animation doesnt play.

[jwyuen]

My NPC runs up to me then stands there
I put print string Attacking with delay of 5 and its doing it fine.
Anything special has to be done for AI to use this plugin?

[Aumaan Anubis]

[MENTION=309280]jwyuen[/MENTION]

Did you set up the state machine and AnimGraph?