WEBVTT 00:07.040 --> 00:08.390 Welcome back. 00:08.420 --> 00:14.900 Now, we've created an ability and we've seen that we can activate abilities as soon as we grant them, 00:14.900 --> 00:16.010 which is great. 00:16.010 --> 00:20.210 But we'd like to be able to activate abilities via input. 00:20.690 --> 00:23.840 So let's discuss about possible ways to do it. 00:24.050 --> 00:31.490 Now, binding input directly to the ability system component was something that we could do before enhanced 00:31.490 --> 00:34.550 input, before enhanced input came around. 00:34.580 --> 00:40.250 There was the option to bind input directly to abilities. 00:40.250 --> 00:49.970 So you press a button and an ability receives that input automatically and either activates or does 00:49.970 --> 00:54.410 whatever it wants to do depending on how you've coded that ability. 00:54.440 --> 01:02.690 Now, this was done by creating an enum with ability input constants, so it was a rigid system as you 01:02.690 --> 01:11.720 would sort of hardcode these enum constants into an ability input enum and those inputs would be linked 01:11.720 --> 01:14.090 to those specific abilities. 01:14.120 --> 01:22.170 Now this was something that we could do before the old input system became deprecated, but now we have 01:22.170 --> 01:28.680 enhanced input and things are done a little bit differently and the changes are for the better, in 01:28.680 --> 01:29.610 my opinion. 01:29.850 --> 01:35.490 Input actions are bound to inputs via the input mapping context. 01:35.490 --> 01:38.790 This is just how enhanced input works. 01:38.880 --> 01:46.500 Now we can decide how to activate abilities in response to these inputs, and we can do this any way 01:46.500 --> 01:47.460 we'd like. 01:47.490 --> 01:56.730 Lyra, the multiplayer Shooter Example project provided by Epic Games, provides us with one example 01:56.760 --> 02:03.840 of linking up enhanced input with the gameplay ability system abilities of that project. 02:03.840 --> 02:06.250 And it's a little bit overengineered. 02:06.270 --> 02:14.550 Lyra is a great example of how to do things, but it can be overly complicated and hard to approach. 02:14.790 --> 02:22.080 Now what we'll do in this course is similar to how Lyra does it, but a little bit less complicated 02:22.080 --> 02:26.580 as we don't need the over flexibility that Lyra provides us with. 02:26.760 --> 02:32.640 So our approach will be a little bit less complicated, but that doesn't mean it will be less useful 02:32.640 --> 02:33.720 or flexible. 02:33.930 --> 02:36.470 We're going to take a data driven approach. 02:36.480 --> 02:41.500 I'd like to be able to change the input to ability mappings at runtime. 02:41.520 --> 02:48.420 In other words, pressing the left mouse button to activate a specific ability should be something that 02:48.420 --> 02:51.000 we should be able to change at runtime. 02:51.000 --> 02:58.140 And thanks to the gameplay ability system's flexibility, this is actually not very hard to do provided 02:58.140 --> 02:59.700 that we code this well. 02:59.880 --> 03:07.950 Now what we're going to do is create a data asset that's going to contain input actions, but we're 03:07.950 --> 03:11.910 going to link up input actions with gameplay tags. 03:11.910 --> 03:15.480 I'd like to have a gameplay tag for each of our inputs. 03:15.480 --> 03:20.340 For example, the one key, the left mouse button, the right mouse button and so on. 03:20.340 --> 03:27.960 And at runtime we should be able to assign various tags to our gameplay abilities. 03:27.960 --> 03:34.560 And then as we activate abilities, every ability will be associated with its input tag, which can 03:34.560 --> 03:36.520 be checked and changed. 03:36.540 --> 03:39.110 So the first step is to make this data asset. 03:39.120 --> 03:40.290 So let's do it. 03:40.810 --> 03:42.310 I'm going to launch the editor. 03:43.570 --> 03:47.350 And we'll make a new C plus plus class for our data asset. 03:47.380 --> 03:49.600 So I'm going to go to C plus plus classes. 03:49.640 --> 03:51.370 Aura public. 03:51.610 --> 03:57.310 And we're going to put this new data asset into a new folder called input. 03:57.460 --> 04:03.550 Let's go ahead and create a new C plus plus class and choose all classes. 04:03.550 --> 04:06.190 And this will be a data asset. 04:07.150 --> 04:13.240 So selecting data asset, we're going to put this in public slash input. 04:14.570 --> 04:22.370 Now this is going to be an input configuration, so I'm going to call this aura input config. 04:23.060 --> 04:27.530 So I'll go ahead and create the class and close the editor. 04:27.710 --> 04:32.630 Now I'm going to go ahead and close all tabs and open my new input config. 04:33.870 --> 04:37.440 So starting with the public folder, I'm going to open input. 04:37.470 --> 04:43.860 Here's ora input config and alt o will open the cpp file. 04:44.610 --> 04:49.620 Now the input config is not going to be terribly complicated. 04:49.650 --> 04:57.600 I just want an array of input actions, but our input actions need to be linked to gameplay tags. 04:57.600 --> 05:03.030 So I want an easy way to link up an input action with a gameplay tag. 05:03.030 --> 05:08.340 And the way that Lyra does it is pretty nice and that's the approach that I'm going to take for our 05:08.340 --> 05:09.180 project. 05:09.210 --> 05:12.960 What we're going to do is create a struct and the struct will be simple. 05:12.960 --> 05:16.380 It will contain an input action and a gameplay tag. 05:16.380 --> 05:18.390 So we'll make this struct here. 05:18.540 --> 05:22.560 We'll call this f ora input action. 05:23.100 --> 05:25.710 And we'll give it a use struct. 05:27.300 --> 05:36.600 With blueprint type and of course a generated body and F or a input action is going to contain an input 05:36.600 --> 05:37.380 action. 05:37.410 --> 05:44.430 Now I'm going to make this a const input action and I'm also going to forward declare the class you 05:44.430 --> 05:48.090 input action so we don't have to include that header file. 05:48.090 --> 05:54.290 And this input action pointer will be called input action and it will be initialized to null pointer. 05:54.300 --> 05:59.520 Now it's const, meaning it can't be changed at runtime, but that doesn't mean we can't set it to a 05:59.520 --> 05:59.880 value. 05:59.910 --> 06:07.380 We're going to set it in the blueprint for this data asset by giving it a new property and making it 06:07.380 --> 06:10.200 either edit anywhere or edit defaults only. 06:10.200 --> 06:12.690 I think edit defaults only makes more sense. 06:12.930 --> 06:21.690 And in addition to this we'll make an F gameplay tag called input tag and this should also be a const 06:21.720 --> 06:22.800 gameplay tag. 06:22.800 --> 06:25.770 We'll initialize it with f gameplay tag. 06:25.770 --> 06:27.360 Just an empty tag. 06:27.360 --> 06:34.470 Now this is not a pointer or a reference, so we are going to include the header file for our gameplay 06:34.470 --> 06:34.770 tag. 06:34.770 --> 06:41.490 That's gameplay tag container dot h and this can be also edit defaults only. 06:42.370 --> 06:49.000 And now that we have this struct, our data asset can contain an array of these that we can set in the 06:49.000 --> 06:50.530 data asset blueprint. 06:50.710 --> 06:56.110 Now we're going to add public didn't need to do that for the struct because struct bodies are public 06:56.110 --> 06:56.920 automatically. 06:56.920 --> 06:57.460 Right? 06:57.460 --> 07:00.010 So let's add this t array. 07:00.490 --> 07:04.180 It's going to be of type for input action. 07:05.480 --> 07:07.520 So we'll have an array of these structs. 07:07.550 --> 07:10.760 We're going to call this ability input actions. 07:11.890 --> 07:15.370 Now this we're going to fill in in the blueprint. 07:15.370 --> 07:20.470 So we're going to give it a new property with edit defaults only. 07:21.760 --> 07:26.110 I'd like to make it blueprint read only, just in case we need to access it. 07:26.560 --> 07:33.940 And now we have a data asset that contains an array of input actions specifically, or input actions 07:33.940 --> 07:35.830 which have a game play tag. 07:35.860 --> 07:45.190 Now this is great because if we have a pointer or a reference to this input config, then we can look 07:45.190 --> 07:51.150 up in this array any of our input actions that have a specific tag. 07:51.160 --> 07:55.450 And I'd like to make a function for performing this lookup. 07:56.140 --> 07:59.800 So we're going to make a function that returns a const. 07:59.830 --> 08:01.720 You input action. 08:03.410 --> 08:08.660 So why do we want to return an input action and not an input action? 08:08.690 --> 08:15.110 Well, we could return an input action, but this is going to be more useful if we can return just the 08:15.110 --> 08:18.800 input action associated with a gameplay tag. 08:18.800 --> 08:25.190 And then this input action is kind of an internal thing to our input config. 08:25.220 --> 08:31.430 We don't have to worry about breaking it open and finding the input action inside. 08:31.430 --> 08:34.250 This function is just going to do all that for us. 08:34.250 --> 08:42.770 So this function will be called find ability input action for tag, which will take a const gameplay 08:42.770 --> 08:53.060 tag by reference called input tag and I'll have an optional boolean be log not found. 08:54.760 --> 08:59.500 We'll set it to false by default and this will be a const function. 08:59.650 --> 09:06.160 So this will simply return the input action associated with a given tag. 09:06.250 --> 09:08.470 So let's generate the definition. 09:09.130 --> 09:14.260 Now, if you'd like a little challenge, why don't you implement this on your own? 09:14.350 --> 09:22.120 Go ahead and pause the video and figure out how to find the input action associated with a given tag 09:22.120 --> 09:24.550 from our Ability Input actions array. 09:24.580 --> 09:29.380 So if you're up for the challenge, go ahead and pause the video now and give it a try. 09:31.150 --> 09:31.660 Okay. 09:31.660 --> 09:39.000 So I want to find the input action associated with the input tag passed into this function. 09:39.010 --> 09:44.950 So I'm simply going to loop through our input actions in ability input actions. 09:44.950 --> 09:50.110 So this will be a range based for loop looping through each for input action. 09:50.110 --> 09:52.740 I'm going to use const reference. 09:52.750 --> 09:58.720 We'll call this action and it's each action in ability input actions. 09:58.720 --> 09:59.980 What are we going to do? 09:59.980 --> 10:02.950 Well, we're going to check to see if it's tag matches. 10:02.950 --> 10:08.020 So we'll say if and I'll say action dot input. 10:08.020 --> 10:08.920 Action. 10:09.740 --> 10:13.190 And this input action could be a null pointer. 10:13.190 --> 10:15.140 So we'll check to see if it's null. 10:17.090 --> 10:20.030 And we'll also check its input tag. 10:20.030 --> 10:22.730 So we'll say action dot input tag. 10:22.760 --> 10:25.640 We'll see if it's equal to input tag. 10:27.730 --> 10:33.490 And if we succeed and get inside this if statement, we'll return this input action. 10:33.490 --> 10:38.680 So we'll say return action, dot input action, and that's it. 10:39.010 --> 10:45.610 Now we have this bool for if we can't find anything right, if we don't find our input action or perhaps 10:45.610 --> 10:52.060 we fail to get inside this if statement and get to this return that means the input action was a null 10:52.060 --> 10:52.900 pointer. 10:52.900 --> 10:55.810 Any of those things happen, then we have a problem. 10:55.810 --> 11:01.600 So we'll say if B log not found, then we'll do a u log. 11:01.600 --> 11:03.580 We'll log out an error. 11:04.300 --> 11:13.420 So for now we're using log temp until we create our own log category and we're going to say error text 11:13.690 --> 11:23.380 and we can just say can't find ability input action for input tag and we'll say the tag. 11:23.380 --> 11:37.600 We'll use a percent s for the string for tag on input config and we'll say what this class is. 11:37.600 --> 11:39.640 So first we have our input tag. 11:39.640 --> 11:41.830 We're going to use star input tag. 11:43.250 --> 11:44.510 Dot to string. 11:45.800 --> 11:54.230 And then for the input config we're going to use the name and we can use the function get name safe. 11:56.770 --> 11:58.420 Passing in this. 11:59.230 --> 12:01.390 And this returns an F string. 12:01.390 --> 12:04.120 We'll have to use the star on this as well. 12:05.270 --> 12:09.440 So we'll log an error if B log not found. 12:09.710 --> 12:11.570 And by the end of this. 12:12.140 --> 12:15.800 We'll have to return a null pointer as we have to return a pointer from this. 12:15.800 --> 12:16.400 Right. 12:16.670 --> 12:22.850 So now we have a function to find an input action associated with a given tag. 12:22.850 --> 12:30.230 And this only works if we link up tags to input actions by filling out this data asset. 12:30.560 --> 12:32.960 Now we also need input tags, right? 12:32.960 --> 12:40.130 We're going to need a bunch of gameplay tags for any of the inputs that we want in our game so we can 12:40.130 --> 12:43.940 add those natively to aura gameplay tags. 12:43.940 --> 12:45.740 So I'd like to do that. 12:45.770 --> 12:48.710 We have our primary and secondary attributes. 12:48.710 --> 12:50.150 I'll put these underneath. 12:50.150 --> 12:53.390 It looks like we have this empty protected section. 12:53.390 --> 12:58.310 Since it's not being used, I'll go ahead and remove that and we'll make an gameplay tag. 13:00.680 --> 13:02.240 For each of our inputs. 13:02.240 --> 13:07.120 So I'm going to call these input tag as the first tag in the hierarchy. 13:07.130 --> 13:12.470 We'll say input tag dot and I'll have an NB for left mouse button. 13:12.470 --> 13:14.690 I'd like one for the right mouse button. 13:14.690 --> 13:19.970 I'll call that RMB and then we'll have one for the number keys. 13:19.970 --> 13:25.730 And really it's not very important which keys we end up mapping to these. 13:25.730 --> 13:33.200 I'm just going to give these tags the names, input tag, dot one, two, three and four. 13:35.130 --> 13:43.950 And I can go into aura gameplay tags dot CP and add those right here in our initialized native gameplay 13:43.980 --> 13:45.390 tags function. 13:45.510 --> 13:51.330 So after secondary attributes, I'm going to actually copy this function call to add native gameplay 13:51.330 --> 13:51.630 tag. 13:51.630 --> 13:58.890 I'm going to copy the comment as well and go all the way down to the bottom and this is going to be 13:58.890 --> 14:00.180 input tags. 14:01.670 --> 14:06.300 So we have gameplay tags, dot and the name of the tag. 14:06.320 --> 14:13.550 This is going to start off with input tag lmdb and we're going to add a native gameplay tag and it's 14:13.550 --> 14:18.020 going to be input tag dot lmdb. 14:18.710 --> 14:22.940 And for the F string we can just say. 14:24.180 --> 14:31.740 Input tag for left mouse button and we can just follow this pattern and make the rest of them. 14:31.740 --> 14:39.450 So we're going to have the right mouse button as well as and it looks like I missed the semicolon there, 14:40.470 --> 14:45.990 as well as keys one, two, three and four. 14:45.990 --> 14:47.900 So we just need to change these. 14:47.910 --> 14:50.070 This one will be input tag, R&B. 14:51.060 --> 14:53.250 We'll change the name as well. 14:53.400 --> 14:55.680 And this will say right mouse button. 14:55.980 --> 14:58.200 Next we'll have input tag one. 14:59.530 --> 15:01.690 The string will say input tag one. 15:01.690 --> 15:06.220 This is error prone, so we have to make sure not to put any typos in. 15:06.310 --> 15:12.370 This will say input tag for instead of left mouse button, we'll say one key. 15:13.580 --> 15:22.730 Next we have input tag two changing the name and its input tag for to key. 15:23.090 --> 15:25.370 And then we have three. 15:26.840 --> 15:28.760 We'll go ahead and change that one. 15:32.270 --> 15:35.510 And finally input tag for. 15:42.080 --> 15:43.260 And there we go. 15:43.280 --> 15:51.470 So now that we've added some native tags for our inputs, then our input tag makes more sense here in 15:51.470 --> 15:57.290 our data asset and we can make some input actions and add them to our data asset. 15:57.290 --> 16:02.090 So what we can do is let's go ahead and compile and launch, make sure we don't have any errors. 16:02.090 --> 16:09.980 And it looks like I have an error here or an input config const properties are not supported. 16:10.010 --> 16:13.730 We're going to have to remove the const from the gameplay tag. 16:15.640 --> 16:17.260 Compiling again. 16:17.260 --> 16:23.200 And that's going to fix that problem so we can have a const pointer. 16:23.200 --> 16:25.270 We can't have a const gameplay tag. 16:25.270 --> 16:26.980 Let's launch the engine now. 16:28.580 --> 16:33.250 And we just need to create our new data asset. 16:33.260 --> 16:38.540 Before we do, let's go to project settings and just make sure that everything looks okay. 16:38.540 --> 16:47.810 In our gameplay tags, we have our input tag category with one through four LNB and R&B and that looks 16:47.810 --> 16:48.530 great. 16:48.860 --> 16:50.690 So we'll make our data asset. 16:50.690 --> 16:58.130 Let's go to Blueprints and we have an input category already where we have our input mapping context 16:58.130 --> 16:59.770 and our input actions. 16:59.780 --> 17:02.000 Let's go ahead and make our data asset. 17:02.000 --> 17:09.170 We'll go to Miscellaneous Data Asset and choose Aura input config. 17:09.380 --> 17:14.960 Select that, call this D a R input config. 17:17.650 --> 17:24.280 We'll go ahead and open this up and we can add some ability input actions, but we need input actions 17:24.280 --> 17:28.960 for all of our inputs and that's going to be relatively straightforward. 17:29.230 --> 17:35.650 Now Move is a two dimensional input, but for our ability inputs, we're going to be one dimensional. 17:35.650 --> 17:41.950 So we'll right click, we'll go to input, choose input action. 17:41.950 --> 17:45.280 We'll call these I a underscore and just keep it simple. 17:45.280 --> 17:48.730 This one will be B, we'll open this up. 17:48.730 --> 17:52.210 It's going to be axis one D float. 17:52.860 --> 17:54.120 And that's it. 17:54.300 --> 17:57.210 And we'll make all of the rest of them. 17:57.210 --> 17:59.970 So we'll make another one. 18:00.970 --> 18:02.380 And put action. 18:02.380 --> 18:05.050 We'll call this I a R&B. 18:06.440 --> 18:09.470 Change it to axis 1d float. 18:09.860 --> 18:11.420 We'll make another one. 18:12.500 --> 18:21.350 I a underscore one again value type axis 1d float and we just need two through three so I can quickly 18:21.350 --> 18:22.940 time lapse the rest of them. 18:35.570 --> 18:37.240 Okay, so we've got them all. 18:37.250 --> 18:42.740 I'm going to save all and go ahead and close out of these input actions. 18:42.740 --> 18:45.350 Just middle mouse clicking on the tab there. 18:45.560 --> 18:52.880 And now we need to make sure that our input mapping context has them mapped to inputs. 18:53.090 --> 18:59.270 So we have our I move, let's go ahead and add the rest of the input actions. 18:59.270 --> 19:07.700 So here's the next one and I'll start with a one and click the keyboard and hit the one key and that's 19:07.700 --> 19:07.970 it. 19:07.970 --> 19:09.290 This is going to be simple. 19:09.290 --> 19:11.930 I'm not going to add any triggers or modifiers. 19:11.930 --> 19:15.380 We're just going to map the I one to the one key. 19:15.380 --> 19:17.030 Let's add another one. 19:17.060 --> 19:18.980 This will be IA2. 19:18.980 --> 19:21.140 I'll click the keyboard and hit two. 19:21.320 --> 19:23.750 We'll add another mapping. 19:25.730 --> 19:29.030 This will be IA3 mapped to three. 19:30.450 --> 19:32.220 And another one. 19:32.250 --> 19:39.660 This will be IA4 mapped to four and then two more for the mouse buttons I'm going to click plus. 19:41.150 --> 19:45.080 This will be in a lab and I'm going to click and click. 19:45.080 --> 19:47.000 That'll give me the left mouse button. 19:47.000 --> 19:49.010 And finally. 19:49.800 --> 19:53.380 R i, a, R and B right there. 19:53.400 --> 19:58.140 I'm going to left click and right click and that'll give me the right mouse button. 19:58.380 --> 20:03.930 And now they're all linked up to the inputs that I want them to have. 20:03.960 --> 20:11.000 But of course we can always switch out input mapping contexts if we want those to be changed. 20:11.010 --> 20:18.720 But now that I have my input mapping context set up, we know that each input action is linked to those 20:18.720 --> 20:19.080 keys. 20:19.080 --> 20:25.020 As long as we're using that input mapping context, which we are, then we can add these to our input 20:25.020 --> 20:28.830 config by clicking plus and expanding it. 20:28.830 --> 20:32.970 And ability input actions is an array of or input actions. 20:32.970 --> 20:36.750 Those are just a struct with an input action and an input tag. 20:36.750 --> 20:43.440 And this data asset is what we will use to link up those input actions with their tags. 20:43.440 --> 20:50.290 So I'm going to choose IA1 and for the tag I'm going to expand input tag and choose one. 20:50.290 --> 20:54.940 And now IA1 is associated with this tag. 20:54.940 --> 21:01.870 And if we call the function we created to look up an input action based on a tag, then we'll get the 21:01.870 --> 21:03.490 correct input action. 21:03.490 --> 21:05.250 So that's a one. 21:05.260 --> 21:07.180 Let's add another one. 21:07.180 --> 21:10.210 We'll choose IA2 for the input tag. 21:10.210 --> 21:15.670 We'll choose input tag two and we'll repeat this process for the rest of them. 21:29.020 --> 21:29.590 Okay. 21:29.590 --> 21:33.280 So now we have our input config filled out. 21:33.310 --> 21:41.170 Now this is cool because we can always swap out our data assets even dynamically at runtime if we want 21:41.170 --> 21:42.550 to swap those out. 21:42.580 --> 21:45.300 We can swap out for other inputs. 21:45.310 --> 21:51.640 We can swap out for other configurations that have different tags, whatever we want really. 21:51.880 --> 21:59.650 But now we have six different input tags associated with different input actions. 21:59.770 --> 22:07.540 And this is what we'll be using to link up our inputs to not only ability activation, but whatever 22:07.540 --> 22:10.760 else we want to link up our inputs to. 22:10.810 --> 22:13.860 And that's the first step in our system. 22:13.870 --> 22:15.130 So excellent job. 22:15.130 --> 22:18.610 Make sure to save all and I'll see you in the next video.