What is a Function?

Blueprint Functions are self-contained pieces of logic that you can create once and run from multiple places in your Blueprints. They allow input and output parameters for flexibility.

For example, instead of writing the same logic to calculate damage multiple times, you can create a function called CalculateDamage, call it wherever needed, and update it in one place if changes are required.

Note that a function is created for a specific blueprint actor and can only be used

In this guide we are going to start right from the beginning and create a simple function to help you understand this concept. We then expand upon this and show you more features that functions can have!

Creating a Function

To start, we are going to make a simple function that prints a string to the screen.

Firstly we need to open the blueprint actor that we want to add the function to. In this example we are using the FirstPersonCharacter blueprint from the First Person Shooter template provided by Unreal Engine.

As you can see in the image below, on the left side of the editor window, there is a drop down section named “Functions”. This section is where all of our functions live for this specific blueprint.

We can create a new function by clicking the circle with a plus symbol on the right side of the functions drop down as shown in the image below.

Next, we can then give our function a name. It is advised to give our functions readable and clear names to keep our project clean.

Messy names that are confusing make developing a large project difficult so it is best to keep this in mind.

Once the function is named either press enter, or click anywhere in the blueprint window, then click the “Compile” button as indicated in the image. This then creates our function and compiles it into the blueprint so we can start using it in our project.

Adding Basic Functionality

Now that we have our new function created and compiled, we can see it doesn’t do anything at the moment. We need to add some simple functionality!

In this first example we are printing a string to the screen. To achieve this we need to add that node to our function.

First, click and drag from the white sidewards triangle on our “My Custom Function” node. This is called an exec pin and allows us to add pieces of code together to run one after another (sequentially).

Once we click and drag then let go of the click, anywhere on the grey background grid, we then are greeted with a popup menu showing all of the blueprint nodes (these are functions!) we can add to our own function.

Click “Print String” in the menu, this creates the “Print String” node in our function graph.

As we dragged from the white exec pin, our Print String node is automatically connected to our MyCustomFunction as shown in the image below.

When our “My Custom Function” runs, it will now run the Print String node that is connected to it!

You may also see people talking about “call”, “called”, or “calling” functions. This is the same as running a function!

Testing our Print String

Now that our function is setup to print a string to the output log we need to run our function. The easiest way is to run our function on Begin Play!

Begin play is an “Event”. An event is similar to a function but cannot return values and can run a few special asynchronous nodes that functions cannot.

Begin Play is an event that is called when the actor is spawned into the game world. As our FirstPersonCharacter already is in the game world, this Begin Play event runs code when the game starts.

We first want to click the Event Graph button at the top of the blueprint editor.

Now our main blueprint event graph will appear again on the screen.

Find somewhere free and right click. In the box that appears search for Event Begin Play and click it to create the event.

Unreal Engine will automatically run the Begin Play event as described in the previous section so no setup is required.

Like before, drag from the white exec pin and let go of the mouse click in the grid. In the pop up menu, search for our MyCustomFunction and click it in the list.

Now our MyCustomFunction is connected to our BeginPlay event. The last step is to press the Compile button and save our blueprint.

Clicking play now in our FirstPersonMap will print “hello” in our output log.

Adding more functionality

Now we have text printing on the screen! That’s great for testing but not very useful for gameplay. Lets add some more functionality to our blueprint function.

In this next example we are going to make the CalculateDamage function we talked about earlier!

This function will take in a number called “damage“, seeing how much “armor” our character has, then finally subtract the amount of “armor” from our “damage” number. In short we are calculating how much damage is dealt after our “armor” has absorbed some of the damage.

Notes on advanced functionality

Delay nodes are not supported in functions. If your blueprint needs delay nodes, consider using Custom Events. Click here to read our guide on How to use Custom Events in Unreal Engine.

Making the CalculateDamage function

To achieve this goal of our CalculateDamage function, first we need to input data into our function.

Firstly, click the purple “My Custom Event” node. You should now see in the details window on the right side of the editor sections for Input and Output.

As we are focussing on Input, click the small add button to add a new Input Variable.

We now see a new input parameter for our function.

In this example we want to pass in a number so we change the “Boolean” to “Float”.

Next in the left text box give our new property a name. We are naming this “Damage”.

So far the function should look like this.

Now we are adding some other nodes to calculate our damage value.

To do this first, drag from the green Damage pin into the grid and let go of the mouse click. In the popup search “-” or “subtract” to find the subtract node.

Next we click and drag from the bottom subtract node pin and let go, in the menu we then click “Promote to variable”. This will create a new variable that we name “Armor” to store our character’s armour number.

Next, click the new armor variable in the graph and on the right side details panel and set the armor value to any number you want. In this example we set armor to 15.

Our MyCustomFunction now takes in the Damage value and subtracts Armor from itself, this is then printed into the output log.

Returning our value

Our function now calculates values but does not send those values anywhere! We need to “return” this value out of our new function.

Returning a value is the word used to describe the output of our function. In Unreal Engine Blueprints we can have as many input and output values as we like.

First click our MyCustomFunction and look to the details panel on the right side of the editor again.

This time we are clicking the plus button on the Output section.

In the newly created Output result, change the type to Float and set the name to Result.

After creating the new output parameter a “Return Node” will be created automatically in the graph.

This Return Node result pin is where we can “return” our values out of the function.

We then delete the print string from the function as we no longer need it inside the function.

Our final function now looks like this.

In the event graph our function now looks like this. We can give it a “damage” value and get a “result” value out from the function!

To test this is working we set damage to 20.0 and connect our returned result value to a print string node.

Demonstration

Finally, with our damage set to 20 and our armor set to 15, when we call our MyCustomFunction we get the value 5!

20 – 15 = 5

In the output you can see that our returned value of 5 is printed to the log!

Conclusion

You’ve now taken the first steps in getting started with Blueprint Functions in Unreal Engine 5! These essential aspects of programming allow you to separate logic into reusable nodes, cleaning up your blueprint actors and making your dream game easier to manage.

The basic concept and example covered in this guide provides a foundation to build upon. Whether you’re building gameplay mechanics, working on core technology, or cleaning up your existing code, Blueprint Functions are a fundamental aspect of Unreal Engine development.

Further Reading:

• Click here to read the official blueprint function unreal engine documentation
• Click here to watch Mathew Wadstein’s in depth blueprint function guide on YouTube (Not affiliated or associated with CouchLearn)

The post Getting started with Blueprint Functions in Unreal Engine 5 appeared first on Couch Learn.

Before we Start

This guide continues on from the CouchLearn guide “Setting up a NavMesh in Unreal Engine 5”.

Our previous guide explains how to set up a basic NavMesh and AI character in your Unreal Engine 5 project. Follow the previous guide found here or download the project files here.

Chasing the Player

In the previous “Setting up a NavMesh in Unreal Engine 5”. guide, we finished off with these blueprint nodes to move the AI character around the level.

Firstly, delete the “Get Actor Location” and “GetRandomReachablePointInRadius” nodes from the graph.

These nodes are currently trying to find a random position around the AI. We want the AI to use the player’s location so it is safe to delete these two nodes.

Next, add a new “Get Player Character” node to the blueprint graph.

Then, connect the blue “Return Value” pin to the blue “Target Actor” pin on the “AI MoveTo” node.

This will now get our “Target Actor’s” location for the AI movement.

As our AI might fail to move, if the player isn’t reachable in the navmesh, we now connect the “On Fail” pin to the “Delay” node.

This now retries the movement if the player is unreachable or the AI fails the nav mesh movement for any reason. This step will keep the AI following the player no matter the situation.

Lastly, make sure to Compile and Save the blueprint editor. This will ensure the changes are applied when we play in the editor.

Use Cases

Even thought these steps are easy and only a few blueprint nodes are used, this basic system can enable many types of AI in modern games.

A few examples of this could be:

• Companion AI following the player around an open world like Skyrim (Using the Unreal Engine dynamic open world navigation).
• Zombie AI chasing the player (Using the Unreal Engine damage system).

Demo Video

Download the Project Files

Conclusion

Now your AI character / enemy is following and chasing the player character around the level in Unreal Engine 5!

As explained in the previous step, this basic system can be expanded to implement many modern game AI behaviours into your Unreal Engine project. To learn more about the capabilities of AI and Navigation in Unreal Engine, consider reading further using the links below.

Further Reading:
How to smoothly rotate AI characters in Unreal Engine
Open world navigation in Unreal Engine
Dynamically generated navigation in Unreal Engine
Official Unreal Engine Navigation documentation

The post AI Following the Player in Unreal Engine 5 appeared first on Couch Learn.

Setting up the NavMesh

Firstly, click Window, then Place Actors. This will show the Place Actors window in the editor. This window allows you to spawn basic objects and volumes into your Unreal Engine 5 level.

Then, add a NavMeshBoundsVolume actor to your level. This can be found in the Modes panel under the “Volumes” category.

Scale and position the NavMeshBoundsVolume to fit around the area that you want the AI to be able to navigate.

This can be as large or as small as you require. Bigger nav meshes take longer to generate unless you use dynamic generation. Click here to read about dynamic nav mesh generation.

Now to confirm your Nav Mesh is setup correctly for your level, Press the “P” key on your keyboard to see the mesh visualized in the level.

Moving the AI Character

For this guide we are using the third person template that Unreal Engine 5 provides.

This means we can have an animated character to test the AI Navigation.

To enable our third person character blueprint to navigate the level, first drag your character into the level.
This can be found in the “Third Person / Blueprints” folder in the Content Drawer if you created your project using the Third Person Template.

In the blueprint editor of the character, create a “Begin Play” event and connect the “AI MoveTo” node as shown in the image below.

Next, create a “GetRandomReachablePointInRadius” node and connect the output yellow vector pin to the yellow “Destination” pin on the “AI MoveTo” Node.

Then create and connect a “Get Actor Location” node to the “Origin” yellow vector pin. This Origin position is where the random movement is calculated around.

Set the green “Radius” pin value to the distance you want your AI to roam around. In this guide we are using “2000”.

Create a “Reference to Self” node and connect this to the blue “Pawn” pin of the “AI MoveTo” node.

Finally, create a “Delay” node then connect it to the “On Success” pin. Connect the end of the Delay back into the AI MoveTo node. This will continuously navigate the AI character around the Navigation Mesh.

Now you can click “Play” and the character will then begin moving towards random locations in your level using the NavMesh.

Demo Video

Download the Project Files

Conclusion

Now your character is moving around the level all by itself! This AI behaviour is very basic but can be expanded upon greatly using many of the great AI features in Unreal Engine 5. To learn more about AI and Navigation in Unreal Engine consider reading further using the links below.

Further Reading:
How to smoothly rotate AI characters in Unreal Engine
Open world navigation in Unreal Engine
Dynamically generated navigation in Unreal Engine
Official Unreal Engine Navigation documentation

The post Setting up a NavMesh in Unreal Engine 5 appeared first on Couch Learn.

Unreal Marketplace Plugins

Firstly, open the Epic Games Launcher and navigate to the Unreal Marketplace.

Next, in the “Browse” tab, click the “Code Plugins” option.

Then, choose the plugin you want to install. For this guide we are using the VaRest network plugin.

If you do not already own the plugin, click add to cart and complete the purchase.

Free plugins still need to be “purchased” but you are not charged.

As these plugins are installed to the engine, we need to click the “Install to Engine” button.

Then, choose the engine version you would like to install the plugin to.

Lastly, the plugin is now shown in the downloads tab of the Epic Games Launcher. Once the plugin has been successfully installed continue to the final step.

Enabling the Plugin

New plugins are not enabled in the project by default. This is to prevent all projects building unnecessary code and increasing your executable size. In this final step we need to enable the plugin on your project.

Firstly, to enable the plugin, click “Edit” then “Plugins”.

Once the Plugins tab has opened, type the name of the plugin in the search box to find the newly installed plugin details.

Finally, click the check box for the plugin, then click the “Restart Now” button. This will restart the editor and allow use of the plugin in C++ and Blueprints.

Manually Installed Plugins (Advanced)

Disclaimer

BE CAREFUL when downloading untrusted files and code online.

Only download Unreal Engine plugins from trusted sources.

CouchLearn is not responsible for any damage caused by downloading unknown files.

Make sure the plugin you are downloading is compatible with the version of Unreal Engine 5 that you have installed.

Installing the Plugin

To demonstrate the steps of installing a UE5 plugin manually, we will be using the Victory BP plugin by Rama.

Firstly, we need to make sure your project folder contains a “Plugins” folder.

If this folder does not exist, simply create a new folder named “Plugins”.

Then, copy your plugin’s folder into the Plugins folder shown above.

For example we copied the VictoryPlugin folder compatible with Unreal Engine 5.0 into the Plugins folder of the project.

Inside this folder is the plugin files downloaded from the Victory Plugin Unreal Engine forums page.

Enabling the Plugin

Plugins are not enabled by default. This is to prevent all projects building unnecessary code and increasing your executable size. In this final step we need to enable the plugin on your project.

Firstly, to enable the plugin, click “Edit” then “Plugins”.

Once the Plugins tab has opened, type the name of the plugin in the search box to find the newly installed plugin details.

Finally, click the check box for the plugin, then click the “Restart Now” button. This will restart the editor and allow use of the plugin in C++ and Blueprints.

Conclusion

Now your Unreal Engine 5 project has new functionality!

Plugins can infinitely extend the functionality of your project, the engine, and even the editor itself! The Unreal Engine Marketplace has hundreds of quality plugins that can give your project the features you need to realize your vision!

Further Reading:
Click here to read the official documentation for making your own plugins in Unreal Engine
Click here to see the code plugins on the Unreal Engine Marketplace

The post How to Install Plugins for Unreal Engine 5 appeared first on Couch Learn.

Accessing the MetaHuman Library

Firstly, click the Window tab in the Unreal Engine editor and click “Quixel Bridge”.

Once the Quixel Bridge has opened in the editor, click the MetaHumans tab.

Now you see all of the preconfigured MetaHumans available to download and add to your project.

Before you can download your chosen MetaHuman to the opened project, click one of the avatars in the grid. You should see the Sign In button on the bottom right of the window.

Continue logging into your Epic Games account to access the full Quixel Megascans and MetaHuman library.

Adding the character to your Project

Now that you are fully logged into the Quixel Bridge tab, click one of the MetaHuman avatars and click Download. Once the MetaHuman is downloaded successfully, click the Add button.

The editor will now be importing your chosen MetaHuman into the open project. If any notifications pop up in the bottom left of the editor, press “Enable Missing” to allow the editor to configure your project for MetaHumans.

Once you have enabled the missing settings and plugins, press the “Restart Now” button to restart the editor with the new settings applied.

In the Content Drawer, click the “MetaHumans” folder and find the folder name of the MetaHuman you chose in the previous step. Your downloaded MetaHuman can now be found setup in the asset starting with “BP_”.

Conclusion

Now your project has a ready to use MetaHuman blueprint! As you can see in the blueprint, there are multiple meshes that make up the full character. These meshes can be used as your player character as they are fully rigged!

In the future you will be able to make your own custom MetaHumans using the MetaHuman creator tool.

Further Reading
Custom MetaHumans using the MetaHuman creator

Official MetaHuman Unreal Engine page

Unreal Engine 5 MetaHuman documentation

The post How to add MetaHumans into your UE5 project appeared first on Couch Learn.

Before we Start

To make this guide easier to understand for new developers, we are using the Unreal Engine 5 Third Person template which is found in the New Project window.

If you already have your project setup with a Character blueprint, skip to the “Adding our Double Jump” section below.

Creating our template project

Firstly, we want to click Third Person, choose a project location on your computer in the bottom left, then give the project a name in the bottom right. Once this is done, click the blue “Create” button in the bottom right of the window.

Once the Unreal Engine editor has opened your new project, open the “Content Drawer” in the bottom left of the editor and find the BP_ThirdPersonCharacter object in the Content/ThirdPerson/Blueprints folder.

Adding our Double Jump

The first step to add double jump functionality is to open our Character blueprint and select the name.

In our case this is the text labelled “BP_ThirdPersonCharacter (Self)”. Once this is selected the text will go blue as shown below.

On the right side of the blueprint editor you will find the “Details” tab. Look through the details tab until you find “Character” and the “Jump Max Count”. This value is set to 1 by default.

Now as we want to have our character double jump, change this value to 2. If you require more than 2 jumps for your character, change this value to whichever suits your needs.

Once this is done, remember to click the “Compile” and “Save” buttons in the top left of the blueprint editor.

Simple Double Jump Demo

Your character is now able to double jump! As you can see in the demo video below the character is double jumping successfully.

However, one problem you can see is the animation only plays once. In the next section we will be fixing the animations so they play correctly for all jumps.

Animation Improvements (Intermediate Difficulty)

As the double jump doesn’t look right in the previous demo, we now are fixing the animations.

Firstly, open the “Content Drawer” and find the ABP_Manny object in the Content/Characters/Mannequins/Animations folder.

Now the animation blueprint editor is open, find and double click the AnimGraph text in the left of the editor window.

Next, with the animation graph now open, click the “Main States” state machine. This is where all of the animation transitions are held for our character.

Inside the Main States state machine, drag from the state named “Fall Loop” to the state named “Jump” as shown in the image below. If done correctly you should see an arrow and text stating “Create a transition”.

With our transition now created, click the icon to open the transition editor.

Finally, in the transition editor add the blueprint nodes shown in the example image below.

These nodes allow the animation state to return back to the jumping animation once you trigger the double jump.

Advanced Animated Double Jump Demo

Your improved double jump is now complete! As you can see in the video below, the animations are much better and the player now gets visual feedback when they double jump.

Download the Project Files

Conclusion

Your Unreal Engine 5 project now has a double jump capable character! For a challenge, do try to follow the optional animation improvement steps as it really make a difference to the experience!

Further Reading:
Official blueprint guide to setting up a new character mesh in UE5
Full ACharacter documentation for advanced jump settings in C++

The post How to add Double Jumping in Unreal Engine 5 appeared first on Couch Learn.

Before Installation

To reduce the install size of a new install of Unreal Engine, firstly click the plus button next to “Engine Versions”. This is found in the Unreal Engine / Library tab of the Epic Games Launcher.

From there select the engine version you would like to download and click the “Install” button.

In the popup box, choose the directory to install the engine to then click “Options”.

Finally scroll through the list of options and remove the ones you do not need in your install then click “Apply” and “Install”.

We recommend keeping the templates and editor symbols to aid in development and debugging.

The easiest to remove are TVOS and HoloLens2 as most users do not build for these platforms.

After Installation

It is still possible to reduce the install size even if you have already installed a version of Unreal Engine.

First find the version you would like to reduce in size then click the arrow next to “Launch”.

Next click the “Options” button in the drop down menu underneath the editor version you are editing.

Finally scroll through the list of options and remove the ones you want to remove in your current install then click “Apply”.

We recommend keeping the templates and editor symbols to aid in development and debugging.

The easiest to remove are TVOS and HoloLens2 as most users do not build for these platforms.

Conclusion

Your Unreal Engine 5 editor install size is now reduced!

Newer versions of the editor are considerably larger than older Unreal Engine 4 installs and this most likely will continue to grow as more features are added.

For the best development experience, we recommend installing Unreal Engine to a separate 512GB SSD. This improves the speed of the editor and allows you to have all the features and files installed in case you begin to develop for separate platforms or need to use the standard assets.

Click here to read the official UE5 install documentation
Click here to read the official required and recommended hardware for Unreal Engine 5

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Accessing the Quixel Megascans Library

In Unreal Engine 5, Quixel Megascans can now be accessed directly in the editor through Quixel Bridge.

Firstly click “Window”, then click the Quixel Bridge option.

Quixel Bridge should now pop up in a separate window. From here you can look through the wide range of assets and find one that you would like to add to your project.

Downloading Megascans Assets

Once you have found the asset you want to add to your project, simply click the image of the asset.

This will then open a menu on the right side of the Quixel Bridge window.

To download the asset, choose the quality level you want and then click “Download”

To view the progress of the download, click the the down arrow icon the top right corner of the Quixel Bridge window.

Adding the Assets to your Project

Now that the download is complete, we can click the “Add” button to add the asset directly into our project folder.

Next open the Content Drawer and navigate through the “Megascans” folder to find your newly downloaded asset.

As you can see in the image below, the asset is extremely high quality and is preconfigured with Nanite for the best performance.

Finally, to add your new asset to your level, simply open the Content Drawer and drag your asset into the level!

Conclusion

Now you know how to use Megascans Assets in Unreal Engine 5!

Your Unreal Engine 5 project now has full access to the wide range of free Megascans content! This content is extremely high quality, and supports Nanite out of the box!

Click here to learn how to use Nanite in Unreal Engine 5

To learn more about Quixel Megascans and the incredible library of assets that are free to download, here are some links to Megascans resources:

• Megascans website: https://quixel.com/megascans/
• Quixel Bridge tutorial videos and examples: https://quixel.com/blog/2021/5/26/bridge-is-now-a-part-of-unreal-engine-5-early-access
• Quixel Bridge for Unreal Engine 5 frequently asked questions: https://help.quixel.com/hc/en-us/sections/360005846137-Quixel-Bridge-for-Unreal-Engine-5

The post How to use Megascans Assets in Unreal Engine 5 appeared first on Couch Learn.

Enabling Nanite on your Meshes

First, open your mesh in the editor. As you can see in the image below, this Megascans mesh has 1 million triangles!

Click here to read our guide on using free Quixel Megascans assets in Unreal Engine 5

Next, on the right side of the editor you can see the details panel. In the “Nanite Settings” section you should see all of the settings related to Nanite functionality for this mesh.

From there, to enable Nanite for this mesh, tick the “Enable Nanite Support” box and click the “Apply Changes” button.

For most meshes you can leave the settings at their default values.

Lastly, after applying the changes we can see “Triangles: 999,999” has changes to “Nanite Triangles: 999,999”.

This means our mesh now is handled and rendered by Nanite!

Comparison

Finally, we will compare the same scene with Nanite disabled and with Nanite enabled.

The first image below shows hundreds of rock meshes before nanite was enabled. The framerate stayed between 6 and 9 frames per second. Having many meshes on screen at once without Nanite makes the game unplayable.

Conclusion

Your meshes are now setup and are now rendered using Nanite!

From our results you can clearly see huge performance improvements with all of your meshes by following these easy steps.

To learn more about Nanite we recommend these links to official Unreal Engine 5 resources.
Nanite Overview: https://docs.unrealengine.com/5.0/en-US/nanite-virtualized-geometry-in-unreal-engine/
Nanite demonstration video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUUSsXswyZM

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Creating the Custom Event

To create a custom event, right click anywhere in your actor’s event graph and write “Custom Event”.

Then click “Add Custom Event”.

Once created, name the new custom event.

It’s good practise to name your custom event based on its purpose.

Your event has now been created!

For this guide we named our custom event “My Custom Event”.

Adding Inputs

Similar to functions, custom events can have input variables attached to them.

These are used to send information to the nodes running from the custom event.

To add an input firstly click your custom event in the event graph and look to the right side of the screen.

Click the “New Parameter” button shown below to add a new variable to the inputs list.

Then change the name of the input. The left side text box is the name that will be displayed inside the custom event.

On the right side we can then change the input variables type.

We are changing this variable from Boolean to String. This means we can use text values in our input.

The finished custom event input should now look like this.

The custom event in the event graph will now look like this.

Using your Custom Event

Now that are custom event is created and the input variable has been setup, we can now create a “Print String” node to display the value of “My New Input” on the screen.

This is the easiest way to test if the custom event is working correctly.

Once the “Print String” node is created, connect the “My New Input” variable from your custom event to the In String pin on the Print String node.

To run your custom event simply create a “Event BeginPlay” node, drag from the execution pin and type the name of your new custom event. In our case this is “My Custom Event”.

As your custom event is connected to an execution pin, it is now being called by the other event.

Now that your custom event is being called by the BeginPlay event you can see the input variable.

This input variable pin can be connected to any variable with the same type.

We can now write any text into the My New Input variable.

Testing the Custom Event

Running the game will now show the text that we wrote in the custom event.

Conclusion

Now you have the knowledge to create and use custom events in Unreal Engine 4!

Custom events are an essential component of Unreal Engine and are especially important for multiplayer game creation using blueprints.

Below are a few links for the full custom event documentation and a guide for using custom events and other Unreal Engine 4 features to make a multiplayer damage and health system.

Click here to read the official documentation on Custom Events in Unreal Engine 4

Click here to see our guide on making a multiplayer ready damage and health system with custom events.

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