Valve™ Source Engine inspired Level Scripting tool for Unreal Engine, featuring an Input/Output system for actors. At its heart, the plugin is an event binding system where actions are executed in reaction to an event being triggered. Using the C++ reflection system of Unreal Engine, the system can react to any dynamic delegate be it C++ or blueprint, and essentially call any function by name with parameters.

Preview Video — Documentation — Changelog

Actor I/O is Open Source!

The free open source version is available on GitHub. Feel free to try the plugin first before considering a purchase!

Features:

• Dynamic Level Scripting : "I/O" is an abbreviation of Inputs and Outputs, and it represents the way actors communicate between each other in the map. In classic terms, actors can either send an "output" to another actor, or receive an "input" from another actor. For example, an actor may send an "output" to another actor when it is destroyed, causing the other actor to change color. This "output" is now considered an "input" of the other actor.

• Built-in Action Editor : In order to use the I/O system you need to add ActorIOActions to actors. Actions are the driving force behind the whole system. Each action represents an event binding, which calls the designated function when that event is triggered. The plugin comes with a custom editor window where you can manage I/O actions. The editor is broken up into two tabs: Outputs and Inputs. The Outputs tab is your main editing environment, it shows all actions that are tied to this actor. The Inputs tab shows all actions that are targeting this actor. This tab is purely for debugging and overview purposes

• Expose Your Own Events and Functions : The I/O system was designed to be easily extensible. You can register custom events and functions with the I/O system for any of your actors using the ActorIOInterface. You just need to override an event and call the register function. Afterwards your custom events and functions will show up in the action editor immediately.

• Full Parameter Support : The I/O system supports all function parameters that are exposed to Blueprints ranging from basic types (such as int, float, string, bool) to complex types (such as structs, and actor references). Internally the system works similar to blueprints, so all exposed types are supported.

• Variable Support : The system also supports dynamic Named Parameters, that get their values assigned at runtime by game code! Useful for things like dynamic actor references such as knowing which actor entered a trigger, or when you want to expose a dynamic variable to be used as a parameter in the I/O editor such as the current value of a counter.

• Performance From Avoiding Blueprint Casting : The I/O system can help you cut down on a lot of Cast nodes as the system uses the C++ reflection system to access members of a class, without casting to it. This can significantly lower memory usage, as the Cast node in Unreal causes the selected class to be loaded into memory with the blueprint.

• Create Logic Without Assets : A very convenient part of this workflow is that you do not need to create assets (such as small blueprints) to make things happen in the game. You create the logic directly in the level!

Marketplace VS Free Edition:

Here is a list of differences that the marketplace edition has over the free version:

• Quick access menu in the editor for several features and console commands. See image at the top.

• No need to build from source using C++ project. The plugin is pre-built and distributed through FAB.

• Automatically receive updates through FAB.

• Support for older engine versions. The free version moves forward with new UE versions.

Support:

• Documentation: https://horizongames.gitbook.io/actorio

• Discord: Horizon Games

• Email: [email protected]