After sulking (not getting anywhere) for a good two hours, I recieved a crazy amount of help from a BSC Games Developement student. Unfortunately he tried to explain the workings of enemy AI classes, but my code-illiterate skull could barely comprehend it. So I'll try to write it down here, to look back at.
CustomAIController Class
I have an 'Idle' and 'Chase' state made (line 12 & 29), and within these is where the monster is told to use the animations and when. 'auto state Idle' means it will go straight into the Idle state as soon as it is spawned, this is the default state the monster will be in. Below that is an 'if statement' that will tell the monster to chase the player if she is within range and sight. This is where the AnimationTree is used. 'self.pawn.SetPhysics(PHYS_WALKING)' for example is set when the distance of the player to the monster is less than the max chasing distance. The monster starts the running animation because I assigned it to the 'PHYS_WALKING' node from the monster's AnimTree in the editor.
'state Chase'
'event Tick(float delatTime)' <-- in the brackets we're telling deltaTime will be used, so letting it know where to find it.
In the event of a 'Tick' (a refresh) it checks for distance and direction between player and monster- this is also where the calculations of speed and movement are made too since it is a custom made state.
'deltaTime'
This is a calculation that adapts the speed of any particular computer running the game engine to a constant. For example, a slow computer will have less 'Ticks' per second than a more powerful computer. Without the 'deltaTime' the monster would end up moving much quicker on the more powerful computer, because it moves per 'tick' (it moves x amount of units per refresh). In this case, the deltaTime multiplies by a much smaller number to give the same speed, as it would on the slower computer.
'Normal(selfToPlayer)'
Normalising 'selfToPlayer' is concerning diagonal directions. It is simple to state the speed and distance straight on the X or Y or Z axis, but if it were applied to an (e.g.) X,Y co-ordinate (a diagonal direction) the monster could end up travelling too far or/and too fast as it would try to apply the same speed-per-distance. 'selfToPlayer' is the vector between the player and monster, the direction. Normalising it creates a shorter line, this line is always the same length no matter what direction/distance is normalised and is used like the etchings on a ruler. This line, along with the ground speed and the deltaTime, forms the velocity of the monster. Basically with normalisation and deltaTime, the monster will now travel the same speed, independent of direction and computer speed.
CustomAIController Class
I have an 'Idle' and 'Chase' state made (line 12 & 29), and within these is where the monster is told to use the animations and when. 'auto state Idle' means it will go straight into the Idle state as soon as it is spawned, this is the default state the monster will be in. Below that is an 'if statement' that will tell the monster to chase the player if she is within range and sight. This is where the AnimationTree is used. 'self.pawn.SetPhysics(PHYS_WALKING)' for example is set when the distance of the player to the monster is less than the max chasing distance. The monster starts the running animation because I assigned it to the 'PHYS_WALKING' node from the monster's AnimTree in the editor.
'state Chase'
'event Tick(float delatTime)' <-- in the brackets we're telling deltaTime will be used, so letting it know where to find it.
In the event of a 'Tick' (a refresh) it checks for distance and direction between player and monster- this is also where the calculations of speed and movement are made too since it is a custom made state.
'deltaTime'
This is a calculation that adapts the speed of any particular computer running the game engine to a constant. For example, a slow computer will have less 'Ticks' per second than a more powerful computer. Without the 'deltaTime' the monster would end up moving much quicker on the more powerful computer, because it moves per 'tick' (it moves x amount of units per refresh). In this case, the deltaTime multiplies by a much smaller number to give the same speed, as it would on the slower computer.
'Normal(selfToPlayer)'
Normalising 'selfToPlayer' is concerning diagonal directions. It is simple to state the speed and distance straight on the X or Y or Z axis, but if it were applied to an (e.g.) X,Y co-ordinate (a diagonal direction) the monster could end up travelling too far or/and too fast as it would try to apply the same speed-per-distance. 'selfToPlayer' is the vector between the player and monster, the direction. Normalising it creates a shorter line, this line is always the same length no matter what direction/distance is normalised and is used like the etchings on a ruler. This line, along with the ground speed and the deltaTime, forms the velocity of the monster. Basically with normalisation and deltaTime, the monster will now travel the same speed, independent of direction and computer speed.
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