Winch System Documentation

The winch system allows you to connect vehicles using cables to pull them around or perform any other action doable using winches. There are two types of cables: Simple cable (Default) and Advanced cable (Experimental).

Simple Cable

The simple cable is the default and recommended method. It simply connects two objects using cables.

Advanced Cable

The advanced cable connects two objects using a chain of collisions. This physical chain can interact with other world objects and also pull vehicles around barriers. However, it needs more user parameter tweaking to be reliable.

Quick Setup

  1. Define a new collision channel for interaction and set the new collision for interaction to the winch trace channel property.
  2. Add winch attach points to your vehicle and other objects where cable connection can happen (trees, poles, etc.).
  3. Call the BeginWinchOperationForPawn function with your desired parameters. Note that this operation enables mouse cursor on desktop devices to select attach points.
  4. Call pull or extend function to interact with your winches.

For best results disable sleep on both vehicles.

Params & Settings

Parameter Type Description
TraceChannel TEnumAsByte Trace channel for attach points click / touch.
LineTraceChannel TEnumAsByte Trace channel to check if something is between first and second attach point.
SimpleCableClass TSubclassOf You can supply your own blueprint class here for the simple cable.
AdvancedCableClass TSubclassOf You can supply your own blueprint class here for the advanced cable.
BodyInstance FBodyInstance Physics scene information for this component, holds a single rigid body with multiple shapes.
SpawnCollisionPerUnit float Number of collisions relative to cable length.
ShowCollisions bool Toggle to show or hide collisions.
CableAttachPointTolerance float When finding attach points, distance should be less than max length minus CableAttachPointTolerance so cable is not fully stretched at its initial state (for stability).
SphereRadius float Radius of the spheres used for collisions in the advanced cable.
CollisionMassScale float Increase stability but makes cable harder to move.

Winch Data

Parameter Type Description
WinchForce float Relative to constraint force unit.
MaxLength float Max length of winch rope in 3 axis.
AdvancedCable bool To spawn advanced cable (Experimental).
WinchSpeed float The speed of winch release or pulling when it can.
MinCableLength float Winch should never reach zero for stability.
CableWidth float Cable visual width.
CableMaterial UMaterialInterface* Cable visual material.

Functions

Function Type Description
BeginWinchOperationForPawn void Recommended method to attach winches.
Reset void Reset the operation and ignore the selected winches.
AttachWinch void Spawns the winches. Called by operation or user if the behaviour is custom
PullWinches void Pulls winches.
StopWinches void Stops winches from pull / release.
ExtendWinches void Extend the winches (not usual in games but here for flexibility).
DestroyWinches void Destroy the winches.