UDK Gems

[Solid Snake]

units don't stay selected

The control scheme was designed for the mobile platform. With that said, it was much easier to drag and "drop" where you wanted units to go. It's not particularly hard to implement it so that units always stay selected; and to convert the existing code base into more of a PC interface.

nor can you select a group

You can select multiple units by simply using more fingers on the touch screen. Thus I suppose up to ten units can be selected; unless you want to use toes on your touch screen.

so it's painfully slow to move any kind of force whatso-ever across the map to confront the enemy base

You can also use the mini map for movement. Drag and "drop" the unit onto the mini map and they will go there.

I still don't know what the boxes along the bottom are for, they don't track construction, units, or anything else really.

They are for managing groups. You select any number of units, and then tap one of the boxes. Units from there on are bound to that box, and you can reselect them all by dragging and dropping the box.

As I have said a number of times already, this Starter Kit was primarily designed for the mobile platform; so it's interface was designed with a touch screen in mind. When I originally implemented a PC like interface for the touch screen, it was very difficult to use because you don't have the distinction between a left click and a right click. You also don't have hot keys, and thus having to move units by selecting -> then selecting the move command -> then pressing where to go was not at all intuitive. It makes sense on the PC because you have a mouse and a keyboard.

With that said, there are various people working on a PC control scheme for the Starter Kit. I'd be interested to see how they are developing...

[Mougli]

You can select multiple units by simply using more fingers on the touch screen. Thus I suppose up to ten units can be selected; unless you want to use toes on your touch screen.

According to UDK Remote, you can't register more than 5 fingers at the same time.

[Solid Snake]

That'll be a limitation of the touch screen then I suppose.

[Farina]

Have questions about starter kits, RTS and Platformer

I begin my study of unrealscript, i program in C#, Delphi, Php, Java and study C++ now.

1 - Simple question in platformer kit, how to move my camera in script more far of player ? Or have this option in editor?

2 - How to play RTS kit in PC? I play "In Editor", but not move, mouse does not appear.

Sorry my poor english.

[Effregy]

@Solid Snake
I don't own a mobile phone with the ability to play games. Guess I didn't mention that.
I was giving my impression of the game through the use of mobile emulation.
None of my comments were meant as complaints, merely observations from my perspective.

I'm not 100% on how easy or not it would be to change the game into a pc version, as I've only recently
begun to learn unreal scripting. I imagine, it would be rather simple to exhange touch for mouse control though.

Having said that, I'm sure it would come as no surprise, that such well documented and open
examples of popular game types is very exciting to me.

Edit:@Farina - its to the left of the green "play level in editor button"
"emulate mobile emulation" and its' icon is orange

[Solid Snake]

The concepts of how you play a game using just a touchpad vs mouse and keyboard are pretty different. Just as much as how you play an FPS using a keyboard and mouse and a game pad should be different (there are good and bad examples of this). Exactly how hard/difficult it will be to create a PC interface is depending on your skill set. But there are a few people here developing a PC interface.

[charliethetall]

Just picked up the RTS Gem. Great Job! I'm to modify the "finger pick scroll" for the camera. And I can find some mentioning of it it code, but I can't find the specific line(s) where it actually takes the users input and scrolls the camera according to how the user drags their finger. If anyone could point me in the right direction, I'd greatly appreciate it!

[charliethetall]

Figured it out. It's in this line.

UDKRTSCamera.CurrentLocation = UDKRTSCamera.Location + (HitOriginWorldLocation - HitCurrentWorldLocation);

Trying to add rotation to this so that I can orbit the camera around what I'm looking at. I'm definitely affecting something. If anyone has tips I'd appreciate it!

[redbox]

Hi. I have question about Creating distorted reflection Gem
Tutorial describes 2 ways for avoiding bright green areas in reflections.
So, the question is - why Epics use green color for fill render target? is it not simpler to fill clear color with grey, and not use additional instructions?
Another question - looks like in 1280*720 resolution it fills with grey, but why in other resolutions it green?

[Solid Snake]

Catch 22 really, as any color would be wrong to someone.

[redbox]

any color would be wrong to someone.

yeah, but grey is not really noticeable, and neutral.

[redbox]

another question - can you create gem about Directional Lens Flares, because I can't find any working example about this feature.
or maybe you can answer in this thread - http://forums.epicgames.com/threads/...nal-Lens-Flare

[Solid Snake]

What happens if the scene is mostly blue, purple or green? Then grey would very noticable.

[redbox]

It's very big point to discuss. And, is this discussion really have some influence on Epics?..
I saw few(~10) scenes with realtime reflections, and often it was water or ground reflections. In 1280*720, when clear color is grey, I am not feel any discomfort, but when clear color becomes green, it's always looks like some kind of bug or warning.
Ok, it's just my opinion...

[TheAgent]

So I finally got around to trying out the Kismet Achievements and it all "works" fine, however I cant get the Steam overlay to show at all?

It used to be able to show up when I ran UDK game on other builds. It also showed up on my buddies computer same build as the one i'm using. I want to make sure that the achievement pop up shows up when an achievement is unlocked.

Any clue on what could stop it from showing up? I checked the Ini's and I have SteamEnabled set to true. I made sure I was in gamemode and that Steam was running.

Thank You.

Edit: It was on steams side. I had to enable the overlay.

[White Paper Games]

Hey guys, having a bit of trouble with the SaveGameStates Gem.

I'm not really a programmer but am trying to dissect the code. I have a console command in my level saying 'SaveGameState TEST' which works great. It tells me the level has saved to TEST.sav which I think is the correct extension from what I read in the documentation. However when I try to run 'LoadGameState TEST' further in the level nothing happens, not even a message log. Am I using the system in the wrong way? I've even tried killing the pawn when I've used a Matinee sequence after the save game and its still open instead of reset when loaded level.

Possibly an obvious answer but just hoping someone could shed some light on it for me Thanks!

[Solid Snake]

Does it work vanilla?

[Dragon666]

I know this question has probably been asked multiple times before, but I trashed the forum and could not find an answer (not even a topic where it's mentioned), so I'll just ask here in the hope that someone will find the time to help out.

I'm following the http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/Devel...ndicators.html and it's perfectly great.
I can't seem to be able to get it working on iOS device though ... I just can't get the material right.
I removed the whole opacity chain and set the material to additive. It shows perfectly with emulate mobile features, but does not show in the mobile previewer, nor on the iOS device.

And one more issue I'm having is the rotation. I'm aware that dynamic rotation based on the material would not be possible on mobile, but I can't wrap my head around how to simulate similar behavior on mobile.
I know it's possible because "Dungeon Defenders - Second Wave" has it done in quite attractive fashion.

Would someone be interested in updating the GEM with "Mobile version instructions" ?

[Solid Snake]

Materials don't work on iOS. You'll have to use DrawRotatedTile() to do this.

[Dragon666]

Thanks, looks like Canvas can do nice wonders. I'll dig into that for some time and I hope I'll come out with something usable on mobile.

[thewildnative]

Hey Mougli, Thanks for the heads up about the Gems. I haven't installed them yet, but i do have a question concerning installation of the starter kits. It seems that if I must install them into the UDK directory containing the Engine source, then it would replace or rather delete most of the code, and put in the starter kits codes. I'm not sure i want it all erased, but i do want to test out the starter kit such as the Platformer kit. How do i keep the regular engine source and run the starter kit at the same time without having to copy data here and there all over my comp or to reinstall the engine to resort to its full form - or am i mistaken all together about how the starter kits must be installed.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. And thanks for your time.

[Solid Snake]

The Starter Kits do not override any of the original files, other than possibly the config files.

[Jazen]

Has anyone tested the RTS gem with the latest build?

I've only just tried it on a fresh install. It loads up fine, but I only get one click, that is, I can move the camera at start up but as soon as I release the mouse button I can no longer move or select anything? Debug is telling me that I'm in the Dead state with instigator none and Owner none. Is this an error or just because there is no typical player pawn?

Is this more mobile funkiness? It is possible to play on PC with mobile emulation isn't it?

I hope this is a simple oversight on my part, looks like a lot of fun.

[zhucehao]

thanks for the information, i have missed that !!!! very good !!!!

[Jazen]

Ok, I tested it on the march build (RTSgem) and it worked perfectly. Whoot!
DirectX was also failing to install for me with the may version. March, no problems at all. But that's another forum.

[Jazen]

In the previous pages of this thread it was mentioned that the harvesting units in the RTS gem sometimes come to a stop.
I've noticed that this happens when two units are virtually on top of each other and intersecting, when you reposition them slightly they get back to work. Shouldn't be too hard to fix.

Someone also mentioned the endgame function, I had the same result, no ending after destroying all enemy units and structures. Has this been implimented?

Awesome stuff though, thanks very very much!!

[Solid Snake]

Nothing really happens when all of the buildingd and units are destroyed. This will be up to you to implement.

[mikez69]

Im not sure where to ask specific questions RE the Platformer Starter Kit so I will ask here...

I have created a new projectile for the player and it is a bit large. When he fires it, the projectile spawns well over his weapon. When he fires to the right it looks closer to normal but when he fires left it spawns above and a little behind his head.

Any thoughts on what can be adjusted in the script to fix that?

[Solid Snake]

Sounds like an offset problem. Is your particle system set up correct? This doesn't appear with the particle systems that come with UDK.

[mikez69]

Sounds like an offset problem. Is your particle system set up correct? This doesn't appear with the particle systems that come with UDK.

Im not use what you mean by that? In what capacity - based on the scripts - is the particle system controlling this? I looked around in there and I am likely missing something. In fact what I did, just to get the prototype working because I had to submit something for class today, is shorten the pawn collision so it will at least pass over his head.

I have an example here: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/13147503/Good%20Test%201.m4v

[JerichoholicRus]

Hi guys, mind helping me with the Platformer kit? I've made a level and put a PathNode there for an enemy AI and it actually spawns ingame although it's invisible and doesn't attack me at all. When I switch to the utgame game type, the enemy IS visible but still doesn't attack me.
Edit: I've made a top-down view as a separate mod on a new map and now I can't actually see my own model.

[attila135786]

Did you set your bot up in Kismet? If so, open kismet, select the appropriate actor factory, in its properties you should find a force death match option, make sure that is selected. I'm not sure why your bot doesn't show with your custom game type. Let me think about that.

[fingolfin]

I know Epic is quite busy at the moment and I am not sure if this has anything to do with the Gems but, I have been trying to implement a two player game on single computer, like Dungeon Defenders, using GameViewportClient and all other stuff. I partly succeeded in that job but searching all around the forums, I have seen that there is no clear information about achieving it and there are still some issues that I could not overcome.

Long story short, a single computer two or more player game gem would be great for both the community and Epic Games. I am sure that this will show us another potential usage of UDK and get as much interest as RTS or Platformer kits.

[Solid Snake]

MOBAKit

MOBA Kit is something I've been working on for a while and I'm happy to say that's mostly finished now and ready for everyone to have a look at. Have fun and give it a go and let me know what you think.

[Chosker]

whoa that's very nice Snake

[Prea]

MOBAKit

MOBA Kit is something I've been working on for a while and I'm happy to say that's mostly finished now and ready for everyone to have a look at. Have fun and give it a go and let me know what you think.

Looks very interesting! I don't intend to create a game that fits within the kit, but I will try it nevertheless, nice job.

[Solid Snake]

Looks very interesting! I don't intend to create a game that fits within the kit, but I will try it nevertheless, nice job.

Thanks, there are also sub systems in that Starter Kit which will probably be useful in other games too.

[RNG]

MOBAKit seems to extend primarily from Engine package. If you don't mind me asking, was there a particular reason to extend from those packages over UDKBase (mobile support, performance concerns etc), or did you just liked the idea of starting with a clean(er) slate (than UDKBase)?

[Solid Snake]

I did not need most of the functionality in UDKBase. Thats pretty much the only reason.

[Zortalas]

Solid Snake, I am loving your MOBA Starter Kit... I am having trouble with one thing though. I am trying to keep FPS controls but keep all MOBA elements. So instead of a point and click like most MOBAs are, it plays like an FPS. Also, everytime I try to add in keybindings to make 1-4 be the abilities, i keep getting errors. Any suggestions?