Third Person Controller - Third Person, AI, Multiplayer, Mobile Framework

Thanks for helping @cyeninas!

@DougUnit12 - Do you have another class imported named Ability? It looks like there may be a naming conflict which you'd get if you have an Ability class that is not in a namespace. The solution would be to make sure every class is in a namespace so they don't interfere with each other.

Unity 2017.1 is supported

 

I did try reimporting. I have two systems, a primary and a backup. I have some local projects on each. I completely deleted TPC from and existing project on each machine, then reimported. It actually got worse in both cases (more compile errors reported).

What I have not tried is deleting from the current project, starting a brand new project, and then re-importing. I will give that a try. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

@opsive Just wanted to pick your brain quick here to see if you have any ideas.

I have enemies who are third person controllers using behavior designer for logic. I'm doing some performance optimizations for a console port and I have a system to disable/enable the enemies contextually based on player proximity and other qualifiers.

When I deactivate the root game object (which contains the third person controller & behavior designer scripts) then attempt to reactivate it, some of the logic seems to break. It looks like the behavior tree is evaluating, but it fails on the "Use" command, which makes me think the TPC scripts are now in a bad state due to a deactivate/reactivate.

My question is: What is the proper way to deactivate and reactivate gameobjects containing these systems? I have a strong hunch it's going to be an issue on my end that I introduced, but it's helpful to hear from you if there's a workflow built in for this. Thanks!

 

Hello. I have a NPC (a quadruped) with 3 locomotion animations: walk, trot and run. I understand that to prevent sliding caused by the discrepancy between locomotion speed and animation speed I would need to either add more animations or adjust animation speed depending on the locomotion speed. There's an asset that supposedly does that (https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/7135), but it doesn't work with Mecanim.

I wonder if Third Person Controller can do what I'm looking for.

 

When you deactivate the character are you also resetting the inventory? That could explain why the Use task is failing. The Use task has a lot of conditions which could cause it to fail so if that's not it can you step in to the task and tell me the line that it is returning failure on? This should say exactly why the task is failing.

 

The sliding that you are talking about can be solved using root motion which is supported by the Third Person Controller. It also supports generic models so your quadruped would work - you will need to have your own animations though since generic models don't support retargeting within mecanim.

 

Hi @opsive , I'll try to dig in and find the exact line that is failing. But just to be clear, are you saying I should be resetting the inventory? I'm currently not doing that AFAIK.

 

You should not be - on the Inventory component there is an option to drop the items when the character dies (or deactivated) so that may be causing it. Determining the condition that is causing the failure would help a lot in determining the cause though.

 

Hi there!
I'm creating an adventure character and most is working well but I'm having a problem with swimming. I have the Swim ability configured like the character in the Clean scene and I'm also using the Clean animator controller. When I try to get in to the water the character walks above it. I'm using the demo scene so the Water is properly configured. If I disable the Box Collider in the water object (the one that isn't a Trigger) the characters falls in to the pool but he doesn't starts swiming either. For some reason it's using the Water collider as a regular one and so it's walking on water.

Help would be much appreciated : )
Thanks!

 

"No Item" will appear if the inventory doesn't have a primary item equipped but it is still trying to get the name. Did you make sure to first add the bow to the character? What happens if you add the bow ItemType to the default loadout?

 

Hey opsive, I like where this asset is going but I do have some questions before I invest in it.

I began learning the very basics of programming as an artist just to tinker with this asset more because I believe in what you are developing and want to add or modify it.

For my game, there is no combat, explosions, guns, weapons or death at all, so I am confident I can either tick them off in the settings or remove them when necessary.

However, despite using no combat, I do like some aspects like the zooming capabilities, swimming, item holding and some other things.
I do like the zooming on the bow and arrow in the Adventure demo, but I would like a zooming in and out feature similar to Binoculars, is it possible to separate them or modify them in a way that you can simply zoom in and out?
Of course I would like some limitations and such to prevent the camera from having unintended issues.

The Camera is nice based on some testing, but it seems a bit 'too' floaty and somewhat predictable.
Is it possible to have the Camera be integrated with or support Cinemachine and Timeline?
Because my game does visual story-telling, the camera and character is 'very important' in regard to combat for others.
In my game, I plan to use establishing shots but allow the camera to make unpredictable adjustments or random variations in a slightly more subtle way.
Tighter areas like hall-ways will be more predictable but items, characters or other things will adjust the camera to indicate its presence.
Due to my game being very adult in nature, I also want to adjust the camera to focus on body parts like the chest, groin, head or have freedom to view the character with little camera interference.

My game is based on environmental and character exploration, observation, interaction, heavy camera work and using Adventure Creator and possibly some soft body solution.
As an adult game, it's very mature and not meant for anyone under 18 if you catch my drift :3

Some of the things featured in this asset catches my attention and the adventure type of character movement is a big
hit for me and I like it

However, despite some of those things, I have a bit of a list of questions regarding this asset.
If what I ask is currently in the asset, I apologize as I don't have anything to test other than your demos.

Is Cinemachine and Timeline supported or will it be integrated?
Can you add extra body parts or appendages than just the typical human body?
- What I mean is if you have say a tail, bigger ears, wings, etc.
- it is helpful to be able to adjust the IK on those areas too.
Will there be SALSA, Rogo Digital or Lip Sync solution support or integration?
I realize ICE Creature Control is supported but it was recently rebuilt from the ground up, are you aware of that?
Will there be Love / Hate support?
- Love / Hate is helpful because my game relies on emotion, remembering things characters or the player does and alters how they feel based on decisions, reactions, etc.

Thank you for reading this, I appreciate and support you can give me :3

 

Thanks for taking a look at the Third Person Controller

That's correct.

Yes, the camera controller is controlled by camera states and when the bow is aiming a different camera state activates which makes the camera zoom in. You can call these states manually through code which would allow you to change the zoom level at any point.

Here's a list of parameters that you can adjust for the camera:

http://opsive.com/assets/ThirdPersonController/documentation.php?id=127

If you adjust the smoothing value you could get something that is less floaty.

What you could do is disable the Third Person Controller CameraController component and then switch to Cinemachine for its flexibility. The Third Person Controller doesn't actually require its CameraController component - if you attach the CameraMonitor component then that's all that the character controller needs in order to know which direction to look at. In your case I could see switching between the third person CameraController and Cinemachine.

Being a CameraController designed for the character it can only anchor to different body parts, but it doesn't allow you to focus on a particular area. You could switch to Cinemachine for this aspect though.

Yes, the Third Person Controller supports generic characters so it doesn't have to be humanoid.

Unfortunately Unity's IK system only supports humanoids so for generic IK I recommend FinalIK which the Third Person Controller is integrated with.

I can add those integrations to my list For a heads up we are currently working on version 2 so I am holding off on any new integrations until this version is out. We're thinking that we'll be releasing version 2 at the start of next year.

The ICE integration was actually created by the ICE developer so I haven't used it before.

What do you think, @TonyLi?

Hope that answers everything - let me know if you have any more questions!

 

@opsive - Remember when I told you that you should add a "butt mode" to the camera?

(I let my kids play with something I was making with TPC and all they wanted to do was move the camera so as to look at the character's butt).

Sounds like exactly what @Janet-Merai needs. Butt Mode.

 

Not a bad idea, I also intend to create a breast, groin, face, -adult specific- camera angles and more

 

You are welcome, thank you for creating a rare asset!
I was evaluating other assets but they just didn't seem to have that... playful creativity like yours does and that won me over.
When I was playing with the Adventure scene with Naomi, I was nearly sold on that alone but I also wanted to make damn sure it works for me entirely and I am liking what I see.

That seems very helpful and solid!
I'm not sure if you are aware, but I actually began learning to program in C# from the very basics due to your asset after seeing the huge potential I have with it

I was actually going to evaluate FinalIK, it's a great asset :3
However, what I didn't list out of speculation is I plan to include breast, genital and even butt IK... but I assume that is out of the question?

Seeing as how I am slowly building my game up, I am not in a rush but it would be appreciated :3

The only road-block so far based on your responses are breast, genital, butt and tail IK.
Interesting, I wasn't aware... I like his approach :3

Should be easy, right?

Since you don't appear to be opposed to adult games, let me ask this.
For action, I intend to do things like grabbing... 'particular' body parts or even massaging them and even more.
Would something like that be an ability, IK or something else?

As an additional thought, I am evaluating bone based solutions for breasts, genitals and more and I am not sure if I should be using FinalIK, some sort of bone based asset or something else.
Any solutions?
I was thinking of using Megafiers, but I am not sure how well it pairs with UMA2 PBR.

Lastly, is the look-at functionality tied to just one thing or can you use Adventure Creator to create multiple things to look-at?
There are some dynamics like objects that are procedural or move around, so I am not sure how I would go about that.

 

Butt Mode.. Coming in 2.0™

 

The Third Person Controller doesn't actually do any IK itself - it relies on Unity's IK implementation or FinalIK if you are using that. So that sounds like a request for the FinalIK dev.

Depending on the animation it could be a combination of the two. You can use the generic ability to directly play an animation:

However this will just play the animation - for things such as IK within the ability you'll need to create a new ability.

I have really only used FinalIK and Unity's IK system for anything related to IK so unfortunately I don't have any experience with any other solutions.

The adventure camera doesn't specifically have a look at field. It instead has an anchor position and an offset. For looking at other objects you'll probably need to switch to Cinemachine.

 

Sure! I'll add it to the next release of Love/Hate. When a TPC character performs an action, it will report a deed to Love/Hate. For example, as the player shoots enemies, it will make the player's commander happy and the enemies unhappy. It'll be general purpose so you can associate Love/Hate deeds with non-combat actions, too. If anyone needs other kinds of integration between TPC and Love/Hate, please let me know what features would be helpful.

 

@opsive I've done zero research into this as it's further down my goals timeline, but I thought I'd just post here to potentially save some hunting. What is the best way to change a character's currently selected weapon with bypassing the "weapon swap" animation/time/etc...? I have a zombie that's going to do multiple things and I just want to swap out their "weapon" (and I'll handle the rest of the logic when it's "used") but I don't want them to play any animation when it happens.

Really great asset. I've pretty much torn your original code apart and customized it for my needs (including implementing Photon Networking, custom game logic, etc...) but the time you saved me by giving me a jumping off point has been incredible. Great work here!

 

The Inventory component doesn't expose the API to immediately equip an animation but if you change the method EquipUnequipItem to public then that's the one that you'll want to use. The last parameter allows for immediate activation and if you pass true into it then it will just activate/deactivate the item immediately.

That's great to hear and that's awesome to hear that you have it working with Photon!

 

If you're interested in seeing it in action, the trailer here shows a bunch of multiplayer which is using your asset and running on Photon: http://store.steampowered.com/app/644480/Outbreak_The_New_Nightmare/ . Outside of one weird bug I haven't figured out (When Change Speeds is used, the run animation is way too fast on non-local characters), all of it works great. I basically just went through everywhere you had notes for Unity multiplayer and wrote a corresponding Photon Networking function to replace it or send an RPC. I was legitimately impressed at how well it just "worked" by doing that. 5 stars, everybody buy this asset!

 

Hello there Justin,
I'm working on a third person sword fighting game and trying to get a target locked. It works as expected.
What I want to do is to dynamically alter a camera state to shift to the side when a target is locked.
(Make target visible on the screen instead of behind the character)
I've already hooked up the following:

Code (csharp):

1. public Opsive.ThirdPersonController.CameraState camstate;
2. cam.CameraOffset = new Vector3(1, 0.9f, -2);

Now only thing left to do is detect whether the Crosshairs Monitor returns the target or not.
Unfortunately crosshair.GetComponent<Opsive.ThirdPersonController.UI.CrosshairsMonitor>() has no public variables.
Can you please tell me how to tackle this?

 

The correct way would be to subclass CrosshairsMonitor and expose a target property. Take a look at this page for some more info:

http://opsive.com/assets/ThirdPersonController/documentation.php?id=131

However, the CrosshairsMonitor doesn't actually store a reference to the target. For that you'll want to use CameraController.TargetLock which is public so no subclassing needed.

 

That works. Now I discovered something else. The camstates don't update dynamically. At least, it seems that way. In an update I do this:

Code (csharp):

1. camstate.CameraOffset = Vector3.Lerp(camstate.CameraOffset, newpos, Time.deltaTime * 5);
2. camstate2.CameraOffset = Vector3.Lerp(camstate2.CameraOffset, newpos, Time.deltaTime * 5);
3. if (camcontrol.TargetLock != null && Input.GetMouseButton(1))
4. {
5.      Debug.Log("Mouse is at right position.");
6.      newpos = new Vector3(1, 0.9f, -2);
7. }
8. else newpos = new Vector3(0, 0.9f, -2);

So the debug returns correctly. It's just that the camstate only uses the new coordinates when switched. I guess it only updates then, instead of every frame?

 

Instead of modifying the offset every frame the proper way would be to create a new camera state that has the adjusted offset, and then when you want to switch to that state you call CameraController.ChangeState. This will ensure your offset doesn't get overwritten.

 

Sigh.. Alright.
So does the 'change state' Lerp the offset or is it another way of just switching back and forth statically? I'll check out and see for myself.

EDIT - Nope.

Code (csharp):

1. if (Input.GetMouseButton(1))
2. {
3.       if (camcontrol.TargetLock != null && Input.GetMouseButton(1))
4.       {
5.           camcontrol.ChangeState("GuardTarget", true);
6.       }
7.       else camcontrol.ChangeState("Guard", true);
8. }

Just instantly snaps the camera in it's new position.

 

By creating a state you're guaranteed that when the camera switches states it'll have the correct value. Of course you can get around this by setting the camera state value every frame but that's unnecessary work. There is no lerping of the camera states.

 

So in other words, what it is you're saying is that there is no Lerping of camera offsets?
It's not unnecessary tho, that is your opinion. Also, it IS necessary, If you want a fluid looking result. Pretty much every game nowadays does some sort of smooth transition into different camera states.

 

There isn't any lerping of the actual camera offset value, but there is lerping with the camera positioning so if you change the camera offset value it'll lerp to the new position. This is determined by the Move Smoothing value.

 

Okay, so it forces me to do a 'ChangeState' every frame. I'll try and see if that helps.

 

You don't need to change the state every frame. It'll depend on the order that you have your states in, but when you change the state once that value will persist until another state is set. If you don't want another state to override it then you can select "Exclusive State" within the state file.

 

Hi @opsive

just a quick question: I am using TPC along with the Behavior Designer Integration. Setting up Player and AI in the Demoscene went fluent, but trying to move to a fresh Scenery I cannot seem to find the right place to setup waypoints for the AI. Whats the recommended way to do this?

Thanks a lot.

 

Because project-level assets cannot reference scene objects you'll need to load those waypoints dynamically when the scene spawns. With the Deathmatch AI Kit the waypoints are stored locally within the scene and then when the behavior tree is loaded those waypoints are set based on the scene object that has the local waypoints stored.

 

@opsive Wow- that was fast!

Being still a Unity Beginner, I am not quite sure , if I understand that correctly. Does that mean I would have to write a script to define the needed waypoints for my AI Characters? How does the Behavior Designer Demo Scene handle waypoints at the moment?

I do have plans to get Deathmatch AI Kit for my Project at some Point.
Right now I am looking for a way to move my Player/AI Characters that work fine in the Demo Scene over to a new Scenery. However I do get errors because of the missing waypoint setup.

Thanks for all the help and your quick suport!

 

A custom component is the quickest way. You'd want to set the waypoint list by using the GetVariable/SetVariable API calls:

http://opsive.com/assets/BehaviorDesigner/documentation.php?id=54

You could also create a Behavior Designer task that searches for the waypoints at runtime and then populates the values - this would be similar to the custom component though. With the sample scenes all of the behavior trees are contained within the same scene as the waypoints so you don't run into this problem.

 

Hmm - from my quick look that does seem to be above my skillset right now.

How would I have my new Scene contain those Behavior Trees along with my waypoints (when reusing the waypoints from the demo as a Prefab) and would it be an Option to disable the Waypoint System somewhere on my AI Characters?

Sorry for all those Beginner Questions, but I am just starting to use TPC and BD and I still have lots to learn.

 

With the Deathmatch AI Kit I store everything within external trees. When the agents are spawned (within the new scene) I then assign the external tree and also set all of the waypoints. For example:

Code (csharp):

1.  
2. public List<GameObject> sceneWaypoints;
3. ...
4.  
5. var myTree = agent.GetComponent<BehaviorTree>();
6. var waypoints = myTree.GetVariable("Waypoints") as SharedGameObjectList;
7. for (int i = 0; i < sceneWaypoints.Count; ++i) {
8.    waypoints.Value.Add(sceneWaypoints[i]);
9. }
10.  

With this method the waypoints are already stored within the scene (the sceneWaypoints variable), and when the tree is created the waypoint values are then assigned to the behavior tree. This allows you to store references to scene objects on instantiated project-level assets at runtime.

 

@opsive Thanks again for all your support.

For tonight I have found a workaround by copying the Demo - Scene and replacíng the "Warehouse" with my own Geometry. Placing the existing waypoints and Spawnpoints on my new baked Navmesh seems to work for now. However, this way I cant add more waypoints to the setup.

So basically it would be best (for a Beginner like myself) to get the Deathmatch AI Kit? I currently don't fully understand "external Trees" and I will most likely be back with more Questions after getting the Deathmatch AI Kit.

So far I like the work with my TPC / BD Project a lot, however for the BD - Integration Side I would really appreciate some Tutorial video(s) going through the demo setup and such

Thanks for all the help and keep up the good work.

 

No problem! For a general behavior tree overview I highly recommend taking a look at this page - http://opsive.com/assets/DeathmatchAIKit/documentation.php?id=3. It contains a few behavior tree resources as well as an explanation task by task on how everything fits together (including external trees). I'll be getting into more video tutorials after we release version 2 just so those will stay up to date for awhile and when I do one video it'll apply to both UFPS and TPC.

 

HI @opsive

Awesome! Please also include RFPS into the list. I have Behavior Designer in my RFPS - Project, but havent been able to make it work.

I am making some Progress with my TPC- Project as you can see here

Spoiler: YouTube

At the moment I am struggeling with Integrations of InventoryPro and EBS Easy Build System. Switching to "Forced Text" in my Editor Settings recently seemed to brake all of my AI - Prefabs ( with missing scripts ) and I experience Errors like in the thumbnails below.



I will have to go through my Prefabs again, but any advice would be helpful.

Thanks and keep up the good work.

 

Awesome - I love the idea of playing with scale.. you can do a lot of interesting things. Keep me updated as you progress

Did switching it to force text mess with the metadata guid? If so you could revert all of the meta files back to what they were previously so they keep the same id and then you should no longer have any missing scripts.

 

Hi @opsive

Not entirely sure, but googling the Topic also suggested, this is related to meta files. Luckily I had a fresh backup ready, that I could revert to. TPC is again working great now and the Inventory Pro Integration seems to work fine. In the Inventory Pro Demo Scene the Grenades gave an Error because of missing Category. Setting it to "Ammo" and applying to prefab did seem to solve the Error.

Lately I have discovered Unitys Post Processing Stack for my Project and it really improves the look of my Level. I am however getting some odd graphics glitches when PPS is active on the Main Camera. I have made a quick troubleshoot video about the Issue here:

Spoiler: Troubleshoot Video

Please see the YouTube description for TimeStamp and Comment (it's getting real glitchy at 2:22 and mainly 2:35)

Note: The Glitch is instantly gone when switchin OFF the Post Processing Stack on the main Camera in the editor at playtime, but since it seems to appear only with the Assault Rifle equipped, it may be related to the weapon and/or a corrupted setup on my part. This happens in built levels aswell as in Edtor Playmode. Also the Console is not showing any Errors or Warnings. As always any help is much appreciated.

Is there a features list for Version 2 somewhere?
Do you have plans to integrate the Unity.Event System into TPC ( OnAttack/OnDamaged/OnDie/OnWeaponSelected/OnRespawn/etc... ) I am using Unity.Events a lot throughout my Project(s) and hope to do so also with TPC.

That's encouraging. Will keep you updated, tho I already feel like spamming the Forums.

As always thanks for all your help and support.

 

The only thing that the Third Person Controller does which affects the visuals is if you have fading enabled within the camera state then it'll cache the material at the start of the game. This shouldn't affect the image effects unless one switches out the material at runtime. To check can you disable the fading on the camera state (if it is enabled) and see if that fixes it?

We won't have a feature list for v2 until we get closer to release but it'll contain the best aspects of both TPC and UFPS. It'll definitely include hooks for Unity Events, in fact there are already a few for the inventory related functions

 

@opsive

I have been able to further track down the Issue and it seems to be completely related to the Antialiasing feature inside the Post Processing Stack. It might be some Settings conflict on my side but turning off the Antialiasing resolved any Issues. Fade the Character did not seem to be related.

Awesome ! Cant wait to play with it.

 

The value depends a lot on your character's velocity but ground stickiness will keep the character snapped to the ground to prevent cases like this. If your character is still rising above the ground you should increase the stickiness value.

 

Hi,

Can you add ultimate survival integration asap please?

Many customers there are looking for a third person controller solution, so it should be worth quite a few quick sales.

 

I'm extremely hesitant to adding Ultimate Survival integration right now because 0.2 sounds like it has completely changed the way things are done so I would basically have to rewrite the integration whenever 0.2 hits. Version 2 of TPC also changes some key areas so I have been holding off on doing any new integrations from that standpoint as well. Ultimate Survival has been a popular request though so it was the first integration that I plan on tackling once I got back to it.

 

Glad you got it - a manual swim start type is correct

 

The last part is key ... it's been expected 5 or 6 months ago, so who knows. It is sounding close... but then always did!

Certainly it's understandable you don't want to write code twice, I guess more so if integration is complex, so certainly understand that.

Opportunity wise, there's a bucket load of bored US owners looking for something to experiment with now ... while they wait.

One user posted a video on US forums of their own integration to TPC. Some are working on integrating others too ... Ootii etc.

 

I definitely want to add integration, but one of the things that I also have to consider when adding the integration is the difficulty in doing the integration. I just looked at the Ultimate Survival component structure and it does look like it would be relatively easy to replace the CCDrivenController with the Third Person Controller controller component. However, it looks more involved in order to integrate the current US weapon system with the TPC item system. I'm not saying that it's not doable - far from it - it's just that the effort required to properly integrate the two probably isn't worth it given that both systems will be having a major update (relatively) soon.

On the other side of things, if somebody wants to attempt the integration right now I can definitely offer input for the best way to do something from the TPC side of things.