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UE-78453 Repro and Workarounds

This project contains a small sample for demonstrating Unreal Engine bug UE-78453 and several workarounds for the bug when using the Gameplay Ability System.

The Bug

This bug happens when all of the following conditions are true:

  1. This is a multiplayer game.
  2. There are multiple character pawns among which the player can switch control at any time; OR the player switches between controlling a floating camera and controlling a character pawn.
  3. A character has been granted an ability.
  4. The ability is initiated from the server side.

When these conditions are true, there is a difference in behavior between what a client sees and what the server and other clients see.

An Example

For example, consider the following setup:

  1. There is 1 client and 1 listen server.
  2. Player #1 (Client #1) can control Character A and Character B. Initially, Client #1 is controlling A.
  3. Player #2 (the Listen Server Client) can control Character X and Character Y. Initially, the Listen Server Client is controlling X.
  4. All characters have a server-initiated "Run in place" gameplay ability that plays a montage.
  5. Player #1 switches to possessing/controlling Character B but crosses a trigger volume that initiates the "Run in place" action on the server on Character A.
  6. The Listen Server Client switches to possessing/controlling Character Y but crosses a trigger volume that initiates the "Run in place" action on the server on Character X.

In the setup above:

  • Player #2 will observe that Character A is playing the montage, but Player #1 won't see any montage play, even though Character A "belongs" to Player #1 and Player #1 had invoked the action that played the montage in the first place.
  • Both Player #1 and Player #2 will observe that Character X is playing the montage. This is because Player #2 is the Listen Server Client, and Client #1 knows that Character X is not local to Client #1.

Reproducing the Bug with This Project

Steps

  1. Clone this project locally.
  2. Check out the with-bug tag.
  3. Compile the project.
  4. Open the project in UE 5.1+.
  5. Launch the project with 2 players in "Listen Server" mode.
  6. Click into a "Client" window.
  7. Move the character pawn up the ramp until they fall off the other side and start playing a "running in place" animation.
  8. Press the TAB key to switch which character you are controlling.
  9. Move the second character pawn up the ramp until they fall off.

Actual Behavior

On the server, both characters animate. On the client, only the currently possessed character animates, even though both characters are being instructed to play a montage by the server.

  1. Both the character pawn you were previously controlling and the character pawn you are currently controlling animate in the "Listen Server" window.
  2. Only the character pawn you are controlling animates in the "Client" window.

Expected Behavior (without the bug)

Both the character pawn you were previously controlling and the character pawn you are currently controlling should animate in both the "Client" and "Server" windows since the server executes a gameplay ability on both pawns when you enter the trigger box at the end of the ramp.

Why This Happens

  • It appears that OnRep_Controller does not get called client-side for clients who are un-possessing a pawn. So, Client #1 will not receive an OnRep_Controller callback for Character A when switching to control Character B. However, UE will eventually replicate nullptr to Client #1 as the controller of Character A on the next tick, but without any RepNotify.
  • ASC Ability Actor Info updates tend to happen in the same frame as the change in controllers, so the updated info will still record that the player controller for Client #1 is the "owner" of Character A even though Client #1 now possesses Character B instead. When it comes times to play the montage, the ASC thinks that the character is stll locally controlled and disregards the montage playback instruction from the server.
  • The Listen Server Client is not subject to the bug because the controller of Character A is immediately set to nullptr during the controller change but before the ASC Ability Actor Info is refreshed in the same frame (there is no replication delay).

The Workarounds

Looking back in commit history, this project demonstrates two approaches to work around this issue:

  1. Blueprint-driven, Timer solution: Whenever a player controller is switching from controlling Pawn A to Pawn B, set a timer to refresh the ASC Ability Actor Info on Pawn A after a brief delay (0.1 to 0.5 secs);
    OR
  2. C++-driven, Timer Manager solution in SetPawn: In the player controller, override the SetPawn() method so you can capture the old pawn before it gets replace with the new pawn. Then, use the TimerManager to schedule an ASC Ability Actor Info update on the next tick.

In both cases, you are ensuring that the controller info has replicated to the client before the ASC has captured it.