Activate Equipment via Inventory Abilities

1. In your Content Browser, navigate to your Blueprint folder.

2. Create a new Blueprint using NinjaEquipmentActor as the parent. Name it BP_Weapon_Sword.

3. Add a new Static Mesh Component and set your Sword's mesh to it.

4. Navigate to the component's Collision settings and set the Collision Preset to No Collision.

tip

For Melee Weapons, you might want to use some sort of scan to detect hits. Please refer to Ninja Combat for more information.

1. In your Content Browser, navigate to your Blueprint folder.

2. Create a new Blueprint using NinjaEquipmentActor as the parent. Name it BP_Weapon_Shield.

3. Add a new Static Mesh Component and set your Shield's mesh to it.

4. Navigate to the component's Collision settings and set the Collision Preset to Custom, ensuring it only blocks your projectile channel, if applicable.

note

You may need to fine-tune your shield's collision settings, but as a general rule, set it to ignore most channels, overlap with melee channels, and block projectiles.

1. Add a new State Configuration and set the State Tag to Equipment.State.Activated.

2. In the Activated State Configuration, add a new entry to the Actors array. Set BP_Weapon_Sword as the Actor Class.

3. Set Equipment.Slot.MainHand as the Slot Tag.

note

You can add more elements to the state, such as Attack Abilities for the sword, relevant Gameplay Effects, Animation Layers, and more.

1. Add a new State Configuration and set the State Tag to Equipment.State.Activated.

2. In the Activated State Configuration, add a new entry to the Actors array. Set BP_Weapon_Shield as the Actor Class.

3. Set Equipment.Slot.OffHand as the Slot Tag.

note

You can add more elements to the state, such as Attack Abilities for the shield, relevant Gameplay Effects, Animation Layers, and more.

1. Go to your character's Equipment Manager and configure the following Virtual Slots:

2. Create a Main Hand Slot by mapping the Gameplay Tag Equipment.Slot.MainHand to the sSword_RH socket.

3. Create an Offhand Slot by mapping the Gameplay Tag Equipment.Slot.OffHand to the sShield_LH socket.

4. When you are done, your Equipment Manager configuration should look like this:

   

1. Select the Animation Sequence representing the Activate action. Create an Animation Montage from it and name it M_WeaponAndShield_Equip.

2. Open your Animation Montage and add the Send Equipment Event Animation Notify to the frame where the Sword should be equipped.

3. In the Notify, set the Event Tag to Inventory.Event.Animation.Activate and add Inventory.Item.Weapon.Sword to the Equipment Tags.

4. Add another Notify to the frame where the Shield should be equipped.

5. In the Notify, set the Event Tag to Inventory.Event.Animation.Activate and add Inventory.Item.Weapon.Shield to the Equipment Tags.

6. Repeat these steps to create another Animation Montage named M_WeaponAndShield_Store, representing the Deactivate event. In the Animation Notify, set the Event Tag to Inventory.Event.Animation.Deactivate.

note

If both weapons should be equipped or stored at the same frame, you can add a single Animation Notify with both tags in the Equipment Tags container.

1. In your Content Browser, navigate to your data folder and create a new Data Table using InventoryAnimationTableRow as the Row Structure. Name it TB_Inventory_Animations.

2. Open your new Data Table and add a new row. Set the Montage To Play to M_WeaponAndShield_Equip.

3. Set the Montage Query to be compatible with an Activation event involving a shield and other one-handed weapons.

   

4. Add another row and set the Montage To Play to M_WeaponAndShield_Store.

5. Set the Montage Query to be compatible with a Deactivation event involving a shield and other one-handed weapons.

   

1. In your Content Browser, navigate to your ability folder and create a new Gameplay Ability using InventoryAbility_ActivateEquipment as the parent. Name it GA_Equip_PrimaryItems.

2. Open your new ability and configure the Equipment Query as shown below:

   

3. Set TB_Inventory_Animations as the Montage Table and choose Wait For Gameplay Event as the Animation Strategy.

4. Add Ability.Equipment.Primary.Activate to the Ability Tags.

5. When you are done, your Ability should look like this:

   

1. In your Content Browser, navigate to your ability folder and create a new Gameplay Ability using InventoryAbility_DeactivateEquipment as the parent. Name it GA_Store_PrimaryItems.

2. Open your new ability and configure the Equipment Query as shown below:

   

3. Set TB_Inventory_Animations as the Montage Table and choose Wait For Gameplay Event as the Animation Strategy.

4. Add Ability.Equipment.Primary.Deactivate to the Ability Tags.

5. When you are done, your Ability should look like this:

   

1. Create an Input Action to activate the Equipment.

2. Add the action to an Input Mapping Context assigned to the Player Character and map it to an appropriate key.

3. Create the Input Handling logic to activate the Equipment. For simplicity, it will attempt to activate both abilities, but the one with an invalid query result won't activate.

   

1. Hit the Play button and press the key you set to activate the equipment. Your animation should play, and the sword and shield should be equipped. Press the key again, and they should be stored.

   Gif

2. As you equip and store the weapons, notice that the Equipment column in the Gameplay Debugger will alternate between states.