How to set different pawns for different characters in game?

[anomaly_a]

So I have a pawn for my bots, and a pawn for my player. I also have an AI controller for my bots and a PlayerController for my player. When I hit the "Play in View Port" button (alt+F8) what I get is all my bots working well and dandy but I too am the pawn that the bots use, this is because I set the DefaultPawnClass to my bot pawn.

So my question is simply, where/how do I notify the game that my player pawn is not the same as the default pawn. Where do I put the code for a particular player to be a particular pawn? In the end I will have something like 10 players in a game and there will be a character selection screen so I am trying to figure out how to create different characters for players to choose from.

Thanks in advance!

[anomaly_a]

I don't know if this was the wrong place to put this or what but someone has to know how to manipulate pawns? Should I post this under characters and animation?

[IrishKilter]

Pawn's all have a variable inside their code labeled "Mesh". This Mesh is what the pawn's look like, if you want to change that inside your Pawn's default property's you assign Mesh to a new one, however you can't just assign a mesh, you have ot creat it first, to do that inside your defaultproperties of the pawn you use a Begin Object (basically says, Create!) and assign it information. Here is your example:

Begin Object Class=SkeletalMeshComponent Name=Pawn_PlayerBaseSkelMeshComp
        SkeletalMesh=SkeletalMesh'CH_Sullivan.Mesh.Sullivan_RegularOutfit' //This is your model here!
        bCacheAnimSequenceNodes=FALSE
	AlwaysLoadOnClient=true
	AlwaysLoadOnServer=true
	bOwnerNoSee=false
	CastShadow=true
	BlockRigidBody=TRUE
 	bUpdateSkelWhenNotRendered=false
	bIgnoreControllersWhenNotRendered=TRUE
	bUpdateKinematicBonesFromAnimation=true
	bCastDynamicShadow=true
	RBChannel=RBCC_Untitled3
	RBCollideWithChannels=(Untitled3=true)
	bOverrideAttachmentOwnerVisibility=true
	bAcceptsDynamicDecals=FALSE
	bHasPhysicsAssetInstance=true
	bEnableFullAnimWeightBodies=true
	TickGroup=TG_PreAsyncWork
	MinDistFactorForKinematicUpdate=0.2
	bChartDistanceFactor=true
        RBDominanceGroup=16
	Scale=1.0
          End Object

  Mesh=Pawn_PlayerBaseSkelMeshComp
  Components.Add(Pawn_PlayerBaseSkelMeshComp)

Now you can take the first line inside it (SkeletalMesh=) and assign a mesh from the editor by right clicking your Skeletal Mesh in the editor and hitting Copy Reference or something similiar, then past that entire line right after the = sign.

[anomaly_a]

Thanks for your response.

I think I understand the concept of changing characteristics of a pawn, my question is how to I set that pawn as the one to use for a player (or bot). When I click play, it selects the wrong pawn basically. How would I set 5 different players to 5 different pawns?

[Carsten]

Thanks for your response.

I think I understand the concept of changing characteristics of a pawn, my question is how to I set that pawn as the one to use for a player (or bot). When I click play, it selects the wrong pawn basically. How would I set 5 different players to 5 different pawns?

just make different pawn classes

[Geist]

Take a look in UTPawn.uc, looking for SetCharacterClassFromInfo( )... or you could probably call SetCharacterMeshInfo( ) directly, or even Mesh.SetSkeletalMesh( ) if you want to set the materials manually (or if you're not extending UTPawn).

[anomaly_a]

Hmmm I stated in my post that I have made multiple pawn classes. I want to know how to set those pawn classes for different players, I understand how to change the meshes and such in the pawn, but i have 3 pawns and don't know where to tell the game I want to use them.

[anomaly_a]

I think what I am gathering is that this is a lot harder to do then I thought it was. I had assumed there was a way to set any characters pawn from a list of pawns and that the pawn stored all the information for different characters (one pawn runs faster, or has different abilities).

Is it more along the lines of you have a pawn class and you just changed it during run time to meet the requirements of the character? If you select a different character it just changes their inventory and runspeed rather then swapping out an entire pawn?

[MonsOlympus]

If you search for where DefaultPawnClass is used you can filter bots from humans using a cast of the controller like so:

if(AIController(Controller) != none){
	//This is a bot
	defaultPawnClass=class'yourbotpawn';
}else{
	//This is a human
	defaultPawnClass=class'yourhumanpawn';
}

[anomaly_a]

Yeah, that is helpful but it's only really step one of what I was hoping for. This would cause all the bots to be a certain pawn and all the players to be another. I was hoping for a different Pawn for each player, but this might not be how it was intended. It seems like most people think it should just be a change of properties to the pawn depending on which character was picked. Am I right in this assumption?

[MonsOlympus]

Just use FamilyInfo's then

[anomaly_a]

I got it working I think. Heres what I did:

My player controller class:

class MyPlayerController extends UTPlayerController;

var int team;

simulated function PostBeginPlay()
{
	super.PostBeginPlay();
	local PlayerPawn0 NewPlayer;
	NewPlayer = Spawn(class'PlayerPawn0');
	super.Possess(NewPlayer, false);
	team = 0;	
}

function int getMyTeam()
{
	return team;
}


DefaultProperties
{
}

and my pawn class:

class PlayerPawn0 extends UTPawn
	placeable;

var int team;

simulated event PostBeginPlay()
{
	super.PostBeginPlay();
	team = 0;
}

function int getMyTeam()
{
	return team;
}

DefaultProperties
{
	Begin Object Name=CollisionCylinder
		CollisionHeight=+44.000000
    	end object
    	bJumpCapable=true
    	bCanJump=true
    	GroundSpeed=300.0	
}

So this pawn can jump and runs faster then my bot pawn. Also I give them different inventories. At some point I will work on setting the pawn in game or at a menu or something.

[MonsOlympus]

You'll have the same issue as what I suggested, all human players will use that class.

[anomaly_a]

Hmmmm I guess you're right, so what is the solution. There has to be a way for there to be different characters in a game.

[MonsOlympus]

There is! You use UTFamilyInfo, to set pawn defaults hook SetPlayerDefaults in your GameInfo and assign them through a static function in your UTFamilyInfo subclass. Its exactly the same as the species code in UT2004.

[anomaly_a]

I only understood about half of that, you mind if i send you a private message for some additional details?

[anomaly_a]

There is a way to set different bots as different pawns in kismet. Are kismets capabilities based on the capabilities of unreal script? If so you should be able to set different pawns for each instance of a player. Along those lines is there a way in kismet to set the pawn of a players (not a bot, I already know that can be done).

[MonsOlympus]

Keep the posts on here please then anyone can view them later and the PM boxes are tiny.

class mGame extends UTDeathmatch;
	dependson(mFamilyInfo);

var class<UTFamilyInfo> DefaultFamily;

function SetPlayerDefaults(Pawn PlayerPawn)
{
	local class<UTFamilyInfo> FamilyC;

	FamilyC = UTPawn(PlayerPawn).GetFamilyInfo();
	if(class<mFamilyInfo>(FamilyC) != None)
		class<mFamilyInfo>(FamilyC).static.SetPlayerDefaults(PlayerPawn);

	PlayerPawn.AirControl = PlayerPawn.Default.AirControl;
	PlayerPawn.GroundSpeed = PlayerPawn.Default.GroundSpeed;
	PlayerPawn.WaterSpeed = PlayerPawn.Default.WaterSpeed;
	PlayerPawn.AirSpeed = PlayerPawn.Default.AirSpeed;
	PlayerPawn.Acceleration = PlayerPawn.Default.Acceleration;
	PlayerPawn.AccelRate = PlayerPawn.Default.AccelRate;
	PlayerPawn.JumpZ = PlayerPawn.Default.JumpZ;
/*	if ( BaseMutator != None )
		BaseMutator.ModifyPlayer(PlayerPawn);*/
	PlayerPawn.PhysicsVolume.ModifyPlayer(PlayerPawn);
}

function AddDefaultInventory(Pawn PlayerPawn)
{
	local class<inventory> inv;
	local class<UTFamilyInfo> FamilyC;
	local UTFamilyInfo Family;

	FamilyC = UTPawn(PlayerPawn).GetFamilyInfo();
	if(FamilyC != None)
	{
/*		foreach mFamilyInfo(FamilyC).FamilyInventory(inv)
			if(PlayerPawn.InventoryMgr.FindInventoryType(inv) == None)
				PlayerPawn.InventoryMgr.CreateInventory(inv);*/
		Family = new(PlayerPawn) FamilyC;
		if(mFamilyInfo(Family) != None)
		{
			foreach mFamilyInfo(Family).FamilyInventory(inv)
				if(PlayerPawn.InvManager.FindInventoryType(inv) == None)
					PlayerPawn.InvManager.CreateInventory(inv);
		}
	}
	else
	{
		foreach DefaultInventory(inv)
			if(PlayerPawn.InvManager.FindInventoryType(inv) == None)
				PlayerPawn.InvManager.CreateInventory(inv);
	}
	PlayerPawn.Controller.ClientSwitchToBestWeapon();
//	PlayerPawn.AddDefaultInventory();
}

class mFamilyInfo extends UTFamilyInfo;
	
var float	AirControl,
			GroundSpeed,
			WaterSpeed,
			AirSpeed,
			Acceleration,
			AccelRate,
			JumpZ,
			DodgeSpeed,
			DodgeSpeedZ;	

var array< class<Inventory> > FamilyInventory;

static function SetPlayerDefaults(Pawn P)
{
//	if(SkeletalMesh(P.Mesh) != none)
//		SkeletalMesh(P.Mesh) = default.CharacterMesh;

	if(UTPawn(P) != none)
		UTPawn(P).SetCharacterMeshInfo(default.CharacterMesh, default.BaseMICParent, default.BaseMICParent);

	P.AirControl = default.AirControl;
	P.GroundSpeed = default.GroundSpeed;
	P.WaterSpeed = default.WaterSpeed;
	P.AirSpeed = default.AirSpeed;
	//P.Acceleration = default.Acceleration;
	P.AccelRate = default.AccelRate;
	P.JumpZ = default.JumpZ;
	UTPawn(P).DodgeSpeed = default.DodgeSpeed;
	UTPawn(P).DodgeSpeedZ = default.DodgeSpeedZ;
}

defaultproperties
{
	GroundSpeed=350.0	//440.0
	AirSpeed=380.0		//440.0
	WaterSpeed=220.0
	DodgeSpeed=450.0		//600.0
	DodgeSpeedZ=245.0	//295.0
	AccelRate=1024.0
	JumpZ=322.0
}

[anomaly_a]

And so using this method you could have says 10 different characters with different speeds, health, mana etc, just by checking maybe what character it is and then setting the stats for that character?

[anomaly_a]

So if I understand this correctly, this would allow you to set the properties of the any give pawn to the values provided in the FamilyInfo. But unlike my method, it would not change the properties of the pawn for all instances of that pawn in the game?

Are you sure my method wont work? If each person selects at a menu which character they want, and it spawned each of the corresponding pawns into the game and for each of them they possessed their pawn, you think it would be the case that the last pawn spawned would be the one that every player was playing?

[Pike]

We're doing a very similar thing. I made a base pawn with our special abilities that all characters should have (sprinting and regenerating armour) and I was going to extend these to the other custom pawns for our classes. The FamilyInfo route seems like it might be easier though.

I'm still a little unclear as how to implement this though. Presumably the character would be selected from some sort of menu and then that value would be assigned to a variable so that when you spawn you'll have the correct family with the correct attributes. Where do these scripts actually receive the player selection of which pawn to use? For testing I don't even mind just assigning it to a key press, but I need to know where the value should be passed.

I'm still pretty green at scripting, but I've got our custom gameinfo, playercontroller, and base pawn created with unique abilities.
Can anyone shed some more light on this for me?

Thanks very much