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Create Custom Impact Effect

About 15 Mins

Start a Fire

In this tutorial you will change the impact effect of your weapon to a burst of flame.

  • Make a custom damage effect for your weapon
  • Apply a damage effect to a weapon’s projectiles

Getting Started

Launch the UT Editor (you can do this from the Launcher under Unreal Tournament → Create → Launch)

  1. In the UT Editor go to File → Open Level
  2. Select Restricted Assets
  3. Type tutorial to find all tutorial maps
  4. Open the WeaponTutorialMap

Note: Selecting Content sometimes shows no items. Select Restricted Assets instead.

Test the Sample Weapon

You can test your weapon right from the editor. We have provided you with a sample weapon that is based on UT’s famous Shock Rifle. Hit the Play button and see how the Tutorial Rifle works. Once you are in game, left-click for a beam attack, or right-click for a projectile shot.

Video 2: In this video:

  • Press Play to preview the weapon in the editor
  • Fire a few round to get a feel for the weapon
  • Press ESC to exit the preview

Find the Blueprint for the Impact Effect

We want to change the impact effect for the weapon's beam attack. The beam attack is itself created from a Blueprint. We must first find the Blueprint from which the Tutorial Weapon is created. The Tutorial Weapon's Blueprint will lead us to the Blueprint for the impact effect. Here is how to do that:

Video 3: Finding the impact effect. The Tutorial Weapon Blueprint will lead us to the Blueprint for the impact effect.

  • Find the Tutorial Weapon Blueprint:
    • Click on Content to summon the Content Browser
    • Select the Content folder in the Content Browser
    • Search for TutorialWeapon01. Note: when searching for content remember to clear all filters.
    • Double-click the TutorialWeapon01 Blueprint to open it
  • Find the Blueprint for the impact effect:
    • Expand the Impact Effect category
    • Note that the Damage Type is set to TutBeam01_Impact
    • Click on the magnifying glass to quickly find TutBeam01_Impact in the Content Browser
    • Double click on TutBeam01_Impact to open it

You should now be looking at a Blueprint for the beam weapon impact and are ready to start modifying the impact effect.

Modify the Impact Effect

Now that we have the Blueprint for TutBeam01_Impact, we can change the effects that it plays when it impacts an object:

Video 4 : Add a fire particle system on impact.

  • In the Components tab, click on the green Add Component button and select ParticleSystem
  • Make sure the newly-created particle system is selected
  • In the Details tab, find the Template field and set its value to FX_Fire1
  • Reduce the size of the effect by setting its Scale to 0.5

Test the New Impact Effect

The impact effect for the Tutorial Weapon should now start a fire as seen in the video below:

To learn more about particles or special effects in UE4...

Video 5 : Verify that the impact effect starts a fire.

  • Press Play to preview the game
  • Discharge your weapon to make sure it starts a fire on impact

Saving Your Impact Effect

  • Save any modified assets by pressing the Save All button in the Content Browser.
  • You may see a prompt asking which items to save. Check any items that you have modified and click Save Selected
  • To see the impact effect in a game (outside the editor), you have to package your weapon (TutorialWeapon01) for sharing. Package and Share

Going further...

If you would like to go further, explore some of the other properties within this blueprint:

  • Change the weapon’s secondary Fire Effect from a purple energy ball to a flaming fireball
  • ​Change the Fire Sound to something more explosive.

Next Steps

Make a unique cosmetic item, a hat that explodes into flames when you taunt!  Create a Taunting Fire Hat

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