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Inside Unreal Engine C++ Programming

Inside Unreal Engine C++ Programming

First Part : Unreal Engine C++ Basic

Chapter 1: Five Basic Classes

1.1 UObject

The base class of all UE objects.

#include "UObject/Object.h"

1.1.1 Functionality Provided by UObject

  • Garbage collection
  • Reference updating
  • Reflection
  • Serialization
  • Automatic updating of default property changes
  • Automatic property initialization
  • Type information available at runtime
  • Network replication

UObjects should never use the new operator

1.1.2 Garbage collection

  • using UPROPERTY
  • using smart pointer - non-uobject

1.1.3 Reflect

  • Get Object Info at runtime

1.1.4 Serialization

  • seri - des

1.1.5 Type information available at runtime

  • /GR-, so cann’t use dynamic_cast
  • using Cast<> instead
  • About /GR- : https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/cpp/build/reference/gr-enable-run-time-type-information?view=msvc-170

1.2 Actor Class

Having the ability to handle Component

Actor is the base class for an Object that can be placed or spawned in a level. Actors may contain a collection of ActorComponents, which can be used to control how actors move, how they are rendered, etc.

class ENGINE_API AActor : public UObject

1.3 Pawn/Character/Controlller

1.3.1 Pawn

Pawn is the base class of all actors that can be possessed by players or AI.

class ENGINE_API APawn : public AActor, public INavAgentInterface

1.3.2 Character

Characters are Pawns that have a mesh, collision, and built-in movement logic.

class ENGINE_API ACharacter : public APawn

1.3.3 Controller

Controllers are non-physical actors that can possess a Pawn to control its actions.

  • PlayerControllers are used by human players to control pawns
  • AIControllers implement the artificial intelligence for the pawns they control.
class ENGINE_API AController : public AActor, public INavAgentInterface

Chapter 2: New Object

2.1 Create Object

  • Pure C++ Class(prefix F), using new operator
  • Derived from UObject , but not AActor, using NewObject
  • AActor and subclass, using SpawnActor

2.2 Get Object

  • TActorIterator
// Get All Actors in this Level
for(TActorIterator <AActor> Iterator(GetWorld());Iterator;++Iterator)
{
    //do something
}

2.3 Destory Object

  • Pure C++ Class, using new -> delete
  • UObject GC
  • Actor Destory function

Chapter 3: C++ to Blueprint

3.1 UPROPERTY

UPROPERTY(BlueprintReadWrite,VisibleAnywhere,Category="Object")

3.2 UFUNCTION

UFUNCTION(BlueprintCallable,Category="Test")

Chapter 4: Gameplay

4.1 behavior tree

Behavior Trees assets in Unreal Engine 5 (Unreal Engine) can be used to create artificial intelligence (AI) for non-player characters in your projects. While the Behavior Tree asset is used to execute branches containing logic, to determine which branches should be executed, the Behavior Tree relies on another asset called a Blackboard which serves as the “brain” for a Behavior Tree.

The Blackboard contains several user-defined Keys that hold information used by the Behavior Tree to make decisions.

  • Root -> Selector -> Keys
  • Root -> Sequence -> Keys

Selector : If encounter ture , then return true

Sequence: If encounter false, then return false

4.2 Network Architecture

4.2.1 sync
  • Action: Player move 3 steps
  • State: Player Health

Client send Action to server, after server update all states , it will sending state to all clients.

cons: low latency

4.2.2 Client - Server Model

Replication is the name for the process of synchronizing data and procedure calls between clients and servers.

Chapter 5: Utils

5.1 Regex

#include "Regex.h"

FString TextStr("ABCDEFGHIJKLMN");
FRegexPattern TestPattern(TEXT("C.+H"));
FRegexMatcher TestMatcher(TestPattern, TextStr);
if (TestMatcher.FindNext()) {
	UE_LOG(MyLog, Warning, TEXT("Found %d -%d"),
	TestMatcher.GetMatchBeginning(),
    TestMatcher.GetMatchEnding());
}
5.2 FPaths
  • FPaths::GameDir() -> Get Game Root Directory
  • FPaths::FileExists() -> File Exists or not
  • FPaths::ConvertRelativePathToFull()
5.3 JSON

#include "Json.h"

FString JsonStr = "[{\"author\":\"Tim\"},{\"age\":\"100\"}]";
TArray<TSharedPtr<FJsonValue>> JsonParsed;
TSharedRef< TJsonReader<TCHAR> > JsonReader = TJsonReaderFactory<TCHAR>::Cr
bool BFlag = FJsonSerializer::Deserialize(JsonReader, JsonParsed);
{
    UE_LOG(LogSimpleApp, Warning, TEXT("Successed"));
    FString FStringAuthor = JsonParsed[0]->AsObject()->GetStringField("auth
    UE_LOG(LogSimpleApp, Warning, TEXT("author = %s"),*FStringAuthor);
}
5.4 FPlatformFileManager

File Read and Write

#include "PlatformFilemanager.h"

FPlatformFileManager::Get()->GetPlatformFile();
5.5 GConfi
GConfig->SetString(
TEXT("MySection"),
TEXT("Name"),
TEXT("Seccy"),
FPaths::GameDir()/ "MyConfig.ini");

// Read
FString Result;
GConfig->GetString(
TEXT("MySection"),
TEXT("Name"),
Result,
FPaths::GameDir() / "MyConfig.ini");

GConfig->Flush();
5.6 UE_LOG
UE_LOG(LogTemp, Warning, TEXT("Hell World"));

Custom Log Category:

DEFINE_LOG_CATEGORY_STATIC(LogMyCategory,Warning,All);

5.7 Strings
  • FName

ReadOnly, case-sensitive,

  • FText

display and localization

  • FString

dynamic memory

5.8 deprecated
5.9 Images

ImageWrapper

  • CompressedData
  • RawData

Second Part : Inside Unreal Engine

Chapter 6 : Module

6.1 UnrealBuildTool(UBT)
  • Public
  • Private
  • .build.cs

XXXX_API expose to other class.

6.2 Create Module
6.3 UBT and UHT
  • UHT -> Reflection

Output:

.generated.h
.generated.cpp

static variables init before main function

Chapter 7: Core

7.1 Memory
FMalloc* FWindowsPlatformMemory::BaseAllocator()
  • Malloc（ANSI）
  • Intel (TBB)
  • Binned
7.2 Init
  • Preinit
  • init

FEngineLoop

  • MainLoop
!GIsRequestingExit
7.3 Test

/Private

—A.cpp

—/Tests

—–ATest.cpp

#include "PrivatePCH.h"
#include "..."
DEFINE_LOG_CATEGORY_STATIC(TestLog, Log, All);
IMPLEMENT_SIMPLE_AUTOMATION_TEST(FMultiThreadTest, "MyTest.PublicTest
.MultiThreadTest", EAutomationTestFlags::EditorContext |
EAutomationTestFlags::EngineFilter)
bool FMultiThreadTest::RunTest(const FString& Parameters)
{
UE_LOG(TestLog, Log, TEXT("Hello"));
return true;
}

Window->Develop Tools->Session Frontend->Start Tests

7.3.1 Thread
FRunnable

TGraphTask
7.3.2 sync
Async
7.4 GenericPlatformProcess

CreateProc

Chapter 8: Object Moduel [Unfinished]

8.1 UObject

8.2 Actor

Chapter 9: Render System

9.1 Render Thread

  • Render Thread
  • Game Thread

In FEngineLoop::PreInit , to init Render Thread.

9.2 Render Architecture

  • Deferred Rendering(Default method of rendering)

  • Front Rendering

https://docs.unrealengine.com/5.0/en-US/forward-shading-renderer-in-unreal-engine/

pros and cons

Third Part : Unreal Engine Extension

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