Able Ability System Info and Support Thread

[ExtraLifeMatt]

Great. The versatility of this system is downright amazing. I've already pulled the trigger and purchased the ability system. I have one more question, and this one is short and simple to make up for last time lolz.

• Will animation notifies that are in an anim montage still fire off when the able ability system plays the animation within an ability?

If that is possible then I've found quite a few ways to recreate my system much more easily than originally anticipated. That combined with all of the great features within the ability system should allow me to not only drastically improve the quality of what I've already done but make it much more manageable as well.

Yes, any animation notifies will fire like normal.

[Kelen]

I think I'm missing something badly but I can't get it to work when I set Targeting > Target Logic to "Blackboard" and set Dynamic Properties > Identifier to the name of the Blackboard key where my target actor is. When I check the Blackboard, that object is set properly, it's just not being forwarded to Able.
Is there any chance you could post some more demos/videos, they help a lot but most of them are from 2+ years ago. Thanks!

Happy holidays everyone!

Edit: doing a custom targeting and fetching blackboard value manually is working perfectly.

[ExtraLifeMatt]

I think I'm missing something badly but I can't get it to work when I set Targeting > Target Logic to "Blackboard" and set Dynamic Properties > Identifier to the name of the Blackboard key where my target actor is. When I check the Blackboard, that object is set properly, it's just not being forwarded to Able.
Is there any chance you could post some more demos/videos, they help a lot but most of them are from 2+ years ago. Thanks!

Happy holidays everyone!

Edit: doing a custom targeting and fetching blackboard value manually is working perfectly.

I'll dig into that and make a local repro to see what I find. Thanks for the report and glad you found a temporary work around.

[AngeIV]

is your blackboard key public? you sure get self actor returns the character? does the character have access to blackboard or maybe you need to run it from owner (controller) ?

[TotallyKuro]

For some reason the engine crashes when i try to open a ability if i have this on my character

https://www.unrealengine.com/marketp...ct/smooth-sync

[ExtraLifeMatt]

For some reason the engine crashes when i try to open a ability if i have this on my character

https://www.unrealengine.com/marketp...ct/smooth-sync

Unfortunately, I don't own Smooth-Sync, so I can't tell you why they aren't playing nice together. There's a couple things you can try to narrow it down.

1.) Disable Async Tasks to prevent any thread safety issues that might occur between the two.
2.) Try and narrow down which Task doesn't like working with Smooth-Sync.

If you post the callstack (you'll find it in your logs) of the crash, that may help as well.

[TotallyKuro]

this is the callstack


Unhandled exception

UE4Editor_SmoothSyncPlugin!USmoothSync::adjustOwnerTime() [d:\build\++portal+dev-marketplace+full\sync\localbuilds\plugintemp\hostproject\plugins\smoothsyncplugin\source\smoothsyncplugin\private\smoothsync.cpp:2352]
UE4Editor_SmoothSyncPlugin!USmoothSync::TickComponent() [d:\build\++portal+dev-marketplace+full\sync\localbuilds\plugintemp\hostproject\plugins\smoothsyncplugin\source\smoothsyncplugin\private\smoothsync.cpp:728]
UE4Editor_Engine
UE4Editor_Engine
UE4Editor_Engine
UE4Editor_Engine
UE4Editor_Core
UE4Editor_Core
UE4Editor_Engine
UE4Editor_Engine
UE4Editor_Engine
UE4Editor_Engine
UE4Editor_AbleEditor!FAbilityEditorViewportClient::Tick() [d:\build\++portal+dev-marketplace+full\sync\localbuilds\plugintemp\hostproject\plugins\able\source\ableeditor\private\abilityeditor\ablabilityeditorviewportclient.cpp:230]
UE4Editor_UnrealEd
UE4Editor_UnrealEd
UE4Editor
UE4Editor
UE4Editor
UE4Editor
UE4Editor
kernel32
ntdll

[TotallyKuro]

i fixed it for now by changing the preview character to another one which doesnt have the smooth sync component

[ExtraLifeMatt]

i fixed it for now by changing the preview character to another one which doesnt have the smooth sync component

Yea, looks like Smooth Sync doesn't like how the Editor is ticking the Viewport. Not shocked, I move the time around as you scrub the timeline which Smooth Sync probably isn't happy with.

[JimPhoenix]

Hey there Matt,

I really like your work with the Plugin so far, but I ran into a "build failed" problem yesterday; after uninstall and reinstall the ABLE plugin in the Epic Launcher for the 4.22.3, my project unable to build with "Exclusive Nativization" (no ABLE assets in my "List of Blueprint assets to nativize" array, just a Blueprint Function Library, nothing else), because of this:

Building 13 actions with 16 processes...
UATHelper: Packaging (Windows (64-bit)):     [1/13] Default.rc2
UATHelper: Packaging (Windows (64-bit)):     [2/13] SharedPCH.Core.cpp
UATHelper: Packaging (Windows (64-bit)):     [3/13] Project_Alvus.cpp
UATHelper: Packaging (Windows (64-bit)):     [4/13] PCH.NativizedAssets.cpp
UATHelper: Packaging (Windows (64-bit)):     [5/13] Module.NativizedAssets.gen.6_of_6.cpp
UATHelper: Packaging (Windows (64-bit)):     [6/13] Module.NativizedAssets.gen.3_of_6.cpp
UATHelper: Packaging (Windows (64-bit)):     [7/13] Module.NativizedAssets.gen.1_of_6.cpp
UATHelper: Packaging (Windows (64-bit)):     [8/13] Module.NativizedAssets.gen.2_of_6.cpp
UATHelper: Packaging (Windows (64-bit)):     [9/13] Module.NativizedAssets.gen.4_of_6.cpp
UATHelper: Packaging (Windows (64-bit)):     [10/13] Module.NativizedAssets.gen.5_of_6.cpp
UATHelper: Packaging (Windows (64-bit)):     [11/13] Module.NativizedAssets.cpp
UATHelper: Packaging (Windows (64-bit)):     F:\Unreal Engine 4\Engine\UE_4.22\Engine\Source\../Plugins/Marketplace/Able/Source/AbleCore/Classes/ablSettings.h(46): error C4800: Implicit conversion from 'const float' to bool. Possible information loss
UATHelper: Packaging (Windows (64-bit)):     F:\Unreal Engine 4\Engine\UE_4.22\Engine\Source\../Plugins/Marketplace/Able/Source/AbleCore/Classes/ablSettings.h(46): note: consider using explicit cast or comparison to 0 to avoid this warning
UATHelper: Packaging (Windows (64-bit)): Took 28,5399801s to run UnrealBuildTool.exe, ExitCode=5
UATHelper: Packaging (Windows (64-bit)): ERROR: UnrealBuildTool failed. See log for more details. (C:\Users\Jim\AppData\Roaming\Unreal Engine\AutomationTool\Logs\F+Unreal+Engine+4+Engine+UE_4.22\UBT-Project_Alvus-Win64-Development.txt)
UATHelper: Packaging (Windows (64-bit)):        (see C:\Users\Jim\AppData\Roaming\Unreal Engine\AutomationTool\Logs\F+Unreal+Engine+4+Engine+UE_4.22\Log.txt for full exception trace)
UATHelper: Packaging (Windows (64-bit)): AutomationTool exiting with ExitCode=5 (5)
UATHelper: Packaging (Windows (64-bit)): BUILD FAILED
PackagingResults: Error: Unknown Error

I don't understand why is this happening right after the plugin reinstall, because before that everything was just fine... : (

By the way, I reinstalled the Plugin because the ABLE crashes really often in various scenarios, sadly.

For example; I run into a crash a lot when I'm working with the Plugin assets opened in a window while creating a combo system and recompile an other, completely different type of Blueprint, like an Actor Component and not even an ABLE Graph:

Unhandled exception

UE4Editor_AbleEditor!FAblAbilityEditor::Tick() [d:\build\++portal+dev-marketplace+full\sync\localbuilds\plugintemp\hostproject\plugins\able\source\ableeditor\private\abilityeditor\ablabilityeditor.cpp:374]
UE4Editor_UnrealEd!FTickableEditorObject::TickObjects() [d:\build\++ue4\sync\engine\source\editor\unrealed\public\tickableeditorobject.h:47]
UE4Editor_UnrealEd!UEditorEngine::Tick() [d:\build\++ue4\sync\engine\source\editor\unrealed\private\editorengine.cpp:1411]
UE4Editor_UnrealEd!UUnrealEdEngine::Tick() [d:\build\++ue4\sync\engine\source\editor\unrealed\private\unrealedengine.cpp:403]
UE4Editor!FEngineLoop::Tick() [d:\build\++ue4\sync\engine\source\runtime\launch\private\launchengineloop.cpp:3967]
UE4Editor!GuardedMain() [d:\build\++ue4\sync\engine\source\runtime\launch\private\launch.cpp:168]
UE4Editor!GuardedMainWrapper() [d:\build\++ue4\sync\engine\source\runtime\launch\private\windows\launchwindows.cpp:145]
UE4Editor!WinMain() [d:\build\++ue4\sync\engine\source\runtime\launch\private\windows\launchwindows.cpp:275]
UE4Editor!__scrt_common_main_seh() [d:\agent\_work\3\s\src\vctools\crt\vcstartup\src\startup\exe_common.inl:288]
kernel32
ntdll

What do you think? Any suggestions?

[ExtraLifeMatt]

Hey there Matt,

I really like your work with the Plugin so far, but I ran into a "build failed" problem yesterday; after uninstall and reinstall the ABLE plugin in the Epic Launcher for the 4.22.3, my project unable to build with "Exclusive Nativization" (no ABLE assets in my "List of Blueprint assets to nativize" array, just a Blueprint Function Library, nothing else), because of this:

Building 13 actions with 16 processes...
UATHelper: Packaging (Windows (64-bit)): [1/13] Default.rc2
UATHelper: Packaging (Windows (64-bit)): [2/13] SharedPCH.Core.cpp
UATHelper: Packaging (Windows (64-bit)): [3/13] Project_Alvus.cpp
UATHelper: Packaging (Windows (64-bit)): [4/13] PCH.NativizedAssets.cpp
UATHelper: Packaging (Windows (64-bit)): [5/13] Module.NativizedAssets.gen.6_of_6.cpp
UATHelper: Packaging (Windows (64-bit)): [6/13] Module.NativizedAssets.gen.3_of_6.cpp
UATHelper: Packaging (Windows (64-bit)): [7/13] Module.NativizedAssets.gen.1_of_6.cpp
UATHelper: Packaging (Windows (64-bit)): [8/13] Module.NativizedAssets.gen.2_of_6.cpp
UATHelper: Packaging (Windows (64-bit)): [9/13] Module.NativizedAssets.gen.4_of_6.cpp
UATHelper: Packaging (Windows (64-bit)): [10/13] Module.NativizedAssets.gen.5_of_6.cpp
UATHelper: Packaging (Windows (64-bit)): [11/13] Module.NativizedAssets.cpp
UATHelper: Packaging (Windows (64-bit)): F:\Unreal Engine 4\Engine\UE_4.22\Engine\Source\../Plugins/Marketplace/Able/Source/AbleCore/Classes/ablSettings.h(46): error C4800: Implicit conversion from 'const float' to bool. Possible information loss
UATHelper: Packaging (Windows (64-bit)): F:\Unreal Engine 4\Engine\UE_4.22\Engine\Source\../Plugins/Marketplace/Able/Source/AbleCore/Classes/ablSettings.h(46): note: consider using explicit cast or comparison to 0 to avoid this warning
UATHelper: Packaging (Windows (64-bit)): Took 28,5399801s to run UnrealBuildTool.exe, ExitCode=5
UATHelper: Packaging (Windows (64-bit)): ERROR: UnrealBuildTool failed. See log for more details. (C:\Users\Jim\AppData\Roaming\Unreal Engine\AutomationTool\Logs\F+Unreal+Engine+4+Engine+UE_4.22\UBT-Project_Alvus-Win64-Development.txt)
UATHelper: Packaging (Windows (64-bit)): (see C:\Users\Jim\AppData\Roaming\Unreal Engine\AutomationTool\Logs\F+Unreal+Engine+4+Engine+UE_4.22\Log.txt for full exception trace)
UATHelper: Packaging (Windows (64-bit)): AutomationTool exiting with ExitCode=5 (5)
UATHelper: Packaging (Windows (64-bit)): BUILD FAILED
PackagingResults: Error: Unknown Error

I don't understand why is this happening right after the plugin reinstall, because before that everything was just fine... : (

By the way, I reinstalled the Plugin because the ABLE crashes really often in various scenarios, sadly.

For example; I run into a crash a lot when I'm working with the Plugin assets opened in a window while creating a combo system and recompile an other, completely different type of Blueprint, like an Actor Component and not even an ABLE Graph:

Unhandled exception

UE4Editor_AbleEditor!FAblAbilityEditor::Tick() [d:\build\++portal+dev-marketplace+full\sync\localbuilds\plugintemp\hostproject\plugins\able\source\ableeditor\private\abilityeditor\ablabilityeditor.cpp:374]
UE4Editor_UnrealEd!FTickableEditorObject::TickObjects() [d:\build\++ue4\sync\engine\source\editor\unrealed\public\tickableeditorobject.h:47]
UE4Editor_UnrealEd!UEditorEngine::Tick() [d:\build\++ue4\sync\engine\source\editor\unrealed\private\editorengine.cpp:1411]
UE4Editor_UnrealEd!UUnrealEdEngine::Tick() [d:\build\++ue4\sync\engine\source\editor\unrealed\private\unrealedengine.cpp:403]
UE4Editor!FEngineLoop::Tick() [d:\build\++ue4\sync\engine\source\runtime\launch\private\launchengineloop.cpp:3967]
UE4Editor!GuardedMain() [d:\build\++ue4\sync\engine\source\runtime\launch\private\launch.cpp:168]
UE4Editor!GuardedMainWrapper() [d:\build\++ue4\sync\engine\source\runtime\launch\private\windows\launchwindows.cpp:145]
UE4Editor!WinMain() [d:\build\++ue4\sync\engine\source\runtime\launch\private\windows\launchwindows.cpp:275]
UE4Editor!__scrt_common_main_seh() [d:\agent\_work\3\s\src\vctools\crt\vcstartup\src\startup\exe_common.inl:288]
kernel32
ntdll

What do you think? Any suggestions?

Hmmm, the first one looks like a legit type conversion error. That should be a bool, no idea why it's a float (probably dumb copy and paste error on my part). I'll get a fix out for that.

The 2nd one looks like it's failing to create a context, which a null check would fix. Let me get in a fix for that as well.

Thanks for the report and sorry for the temporary headache.

[ExtraLifeMatt]

I think I'm missing something badly but I can't get it to work when I set Targeting > Target Logic to "Blackboard" and set Dynamic Properties > Identifier to the name of the Blackboard key where my target actor is. When I check the Blackboard, that object is set properly, it's just not being forwarded to Able.
Is there any chance you could post some more demos/videos, they help a lot but most of them are from 2+ years ago. Thanks!

Happy holidays everyone!

Edit: doing a custom targeting and fetching blackboard value manually is working perfectly.

Kelen I think I see what happened.

The "Dynamic Property Identifer" is specifically for Able usage when you have a dynamic property bound (you'll see '+' signs on certain fields in Able, where you can bind some Blueprint logic to get a value at runtime). The Dynamic Property Identifier is there in case you have multiple Tasks / Targeting / Etc all using the dynamic property values so you can determine in your blueprint function which Task is calling that function.

For BB Keys, you just want to add the key to the "Blackboard Keys" array under the targeting properties. When I did that, it worked as expected.

JimPhoenix I've gone ahead and submitted a fix for those crashes (should appear hopefully sometime this week). Again, sorry for the hiccup.

Able v3.23

• NATIVIZATION FIX: Changed Force Server Activation field to be a bool, as was always intended.
• CRASH FIX: Added defensive code when the Editor isn't able to create an Ability Context.

[JimPhoenix]

ExtraLifeMatt thanks a lot, I will try the fixes out and if you don't mind I will report other bugs or crashes, may even be QoL suggestions in the future here to further improve and polish the Plugin.

Keep up the good work Matt, I truly appreciate your effort with ABLE, it's a really powerful and useful system.

[ExtraLifeMatt]

ExtraLifeMatt thanks a lot, I will try the fixes out and if you don't mind I will report other bugs or crashes, may even be QoL suggestions in the future here to further improve and polish the Plugin.

Keep up the good work Matt, I truly appreciate your effort with ABLE, it's a really powerful and useful system.

Absolutely. I love feedback. Lots of features have come from users like yourself.

[Kelen]

is your blackboard key public? you sure get self actor returns the character? does the character have access to blackboard or maybe you need to run it from owner (controller) ?

Thanks for the tips, it turns out I was looking at the wrong thing.

For BB Keys, you just want to add the key to the "Blackboard Keys" array under the targeting properties. When I did that, it worked as expected.

I appologize for the stupid question but I can't find Blackboard keys array? Is it somewhere else? It's a 4.23 project by the way.