Push it real good

[kongzilla]

Hey guys 'n gals
just a question about speacial stuff in unreal:
I want to make a non destructable box that I can push around my level that emits a loop of music for a project at Uni
Basically so I can have a few of them and sort of 'mix' music by placing sound boxes where I want them. :)
I can get a static mesh in my level that I have a sound looping on (it has a sound tab, yah), but all the karma and physics stuff is... well... confusing me as to what to do to make the @*#^& thing go. :(
can anyone tell me some easy steps to get this to happen? (from plopping in a box thru to pushing it in the game)
any help greatly appreciated

[JonAzz]

you could use triggers.. that would be a litle more efficent, but pushing boxes is fun :P

sorry though can't really help you on the karma stuff...

[meowcat]

Well, If you were able to get the static meshes to play sounds, then doing the physics stuff is not too hard.
1. Select the static mesh you want to use in the Static Mesh Browser
2. Make sure that that static mesh has a karma collision box by going up to the "View" option and checking "Show Collision", the SM you selected should have a peach coloured wire frame shape around it, this is the simplified collision mesh for Karma (usually!, but it also depends if the bUseSimpleKarmaCollision variable is set to true for the Static Mesh)
3. Right click at the location in the 3d view of the level that you want to place the box and select "Add Karma Actor", a new KActor (Karma physics enabled actor) will appear with the static mesh you selected.
4. Right Click on the KActor and view its properties, then go to the Karma->KParams variables and extend the menus from there. There are a bunch of variables here that affect the physics of the object now, these need to be tweaked and tested until you get the desired results in game. The values that I think may be most usful to you would be KMass, KLinearDamping, and kFriction. The website that covers what all these variables are used for is here: http://udn.epicgames.com/Two/KarmaReference

5. After the actors have been placed in your map, simply recompile your map, and try it out by running into the objects. If you want network compatiblity then you will need to check out the GoodKarma mod to place reasonably network compatible Karma Actors.

Hopefully that made at least some sense.

[kongzilla]

Thanks! :) That was really helpful. I got it all going. The high/low detail thing had me for a while though. (i'm not even sure which one it was... physics detail maybe?)
Only one problem... I can shoot them, but I can't PUSH them. :( Is that something to do with the high/low detail? or am i missing some property that means my player can't push them? Is there a force tolerance level or something?
I should just be able to walk into little cardboard boxes and push them around shouldn't I? I made the mass really light (0.2) so they fly around like little square bubbles with a grenade but they still push me into the wall! (makes my player seem kinda wussy). :lol:
hope you can help

[BmB23]

well... simply put... the udn says there is no current support for player interactions with physics stuff. i dont know if its true but rely heavily on it being. (and i hate it)

ue3 seems to have some pretty nifty player interactions... but thats not ue2.x

[meowcat]

Look for the GoodKarma Mod over on the Atari forums. It is a small download (350Kb or so) and includes a (reasonably) network compatible physics actor that can be pushed (and you can set the static mesh to be whatever you want just like a regular karmaActor). I have used it in a map of mine and it works quite well.

[kongzilla]

Thanks Meowcat. I'll check it out.