UI3 Input Controls & Game Modes

The Game Mode defines the type of game (Touch, VR) for the scene and what input devices are used to control it.

Some of the content is slightly different between versions.

SDotUI3_CharacterV3

This blueprint is part of all game modes. It contains many of the most important nodes. It also contains the movement related nodes.

SDotUI3_ControllerType

These blueprints contain the nodes for interacting with objects in the scene.

SDotUI3_GameModeType

These blueprints define which character and input controller are used in the game mode and other things.

Game Mode for keyboard and mouse controls. It uses

• SDotUI3_CharacterV3
• SDotUI3_ControllerKeyMouse

The game mode contains a node from the OpenXR plugin to disable the VR headset.

The Info Map has default settings that work well with this game mode.

Use this Game Mode for touch screen devices. Also use it if you want to Pixel Stream onto a touch screen device. It uses

• SDotUI3_CharacterV3
• SDotUI3_ControllerTouch

The game mode contains a node from the OpenXR plugin to disable the VR headset.

Touch can be simulated during development with Project Settings -> Input -> Use Mouse For Touch. The simulation is buggy in recent Unreal Engine versions, but touch works fine on actual touch screens.

Note that Use Mouse For Touch will block the Mouse input in keyboard/mouse game mode.

Settings in the Info Map blueprint:

Use this Game Mode with the XBox gamepad, Steam/VIVE, and Oculus/Quest controller.

This Game Mode uses the

• SDotUI3_CharacterV3
• SDotUI3_ControllerGamepad.

The game mode contains a node from the OpenXR plugin to toggle the VR headset.

Select may be either [SPACE] or [ENTER] in earlier versions.

Use this Game Mode for VR scenes. It enables the 3D interface on the virtual tablet.

• SDotUI3_CharacterV3
• SDotUI3_ControllerGamepad

Grabbing or pointing at objects with your hands may not work with UI3.

Using VR with UI3

You can use other controllers if they are generally supported in Unreal. You may have to activate them through a plug-in, or they may become available once they are connected.

Then add their buttons to the input controls in the Project Settings. Navigate to Engine / Input and then add your controller buttons to the Bindings. This should be somewhat self-explanatory.

Action Mappings are button clicks like ENTER, or keyboard shortcuts like [I] = Screenshot.

Axis Mappings are for player movement or mouse turn.

Detailed information can be found in the Unreal Engine Documentation.

Unreal Engine Documentation - Input

examples of how it works:

Keyboard Key S

This key controls the backwards movement. Movement is two- dimensional and can be X or Y, or forward/backward and Left/Right. You'll need 2 modifiers for this control key

• Swizzle Input Axis Values: redirects default X to direction Y which is forward/backward.
• Negate will invert (negate) the value to move backwards.

Gamepad Left Stick

The lift stick is a 2 dimensional input. There are another 2 modifiers used for this type of input:

• Dead Zone is a limiter that stops input of low values. Most controllers are not perfectly calibrated and send low values when they are idle.
• Scalar is a simple multiplier that increases the value of the stick 50 times for X and Y axis.

A simple Button, like the Select Button doesn't need any modifiers.