Blueprint

Node reference

Every node the plugin adds, and what each one does.

Everything the plugin exposes to Blueprint, grouped by where it lives.

Component: making footsteps happen

Trigger Footstep

Makes a footstep. This is what the notify calls, and you can call it yourself for footsteps that do not come from an animation, like a landing impact from the movement component.

Input	Meaning
Foot Bone Name	Bone or socket to trace from. Must exist on the mesh.
Foot Tag	Which foot this is. Can be empty.
State Override	Use this state instead of the resolved one. Leave empty for normal behaviour.
Source Mesh	Mesh to read the bone from. Leave empty and the component works it out.
Volume Multiplier	Extra volume on top of the database.
Pitch Multiplier	Extra pitch on top of the database.

If the bone is not found, it falls back to the actor location, warns in the log with the bone name, and still makes a footstep.

Trigger Footstep At Location

The same thing at a world location, with no bone involved. For anything with no skeleton behind it: a vehicle scraping the ground, a creature whose contact point comes from gameplay code.

Input	Meaning
Location	Where to detect the surface and play the footstep
Foot Tag	Which foot this is. Can be empty.
State Override	Use this state instead of the resolved one
Volume Multiplier	Extra volume
Pitch Multiplier	Extra pitch

Play Footstep Effects

Plays the sound, particle and decal for a context. The component calls this itself unless you turned the three Auto switches off.

Input	Meaning
Footstep	The context to play, normally the one from On Footstep

Use it when you want the standard behaviour back for cases your own logic did not want to change.

Component: state

Set Footstep State

Changes the state footsteps are looked up with.

Input	Meaning
New State	Your state tag

Safe to call from anywhere. On a client that owns the actor it applies straight away and is sent to the server, which passes it on to everyone else. Passing a value it already has does nothing, so calling it every tick is fine.

Get Footstep State

Returns the state a footstep would use right now. It asks the owner through the interface first, then falls back to the stored state.

On Footstep State Changed

An event, fired whenever the state changes, including on remote machines when the change replicates in.

Pin	Meaning
Old State	What it was
New State	What it is now

Component: databases

Set Footstep Databases

Swaps the databases at runtime, for example when a character changes footwear.

Input	Meaning
New Databases	The databases to search, in priority order

The new ones load in the background, so call Preload Footstep Assets afterwards if the next few footsteps matter.

Get Loaded Databases

Returns the databases currently in memory, in the order they are searched.

Preload Footstep Assets

Loads everything the databases reference in the background, so no footstep has to wait on streaming.

Input	Meaning
State Filter	Only preload assets reachable from this state. Leave empty for everything.

The component does this at BeginPlay already. Call it yourself after swapping databases.

Resolve Effects

Looks up a state and surface without making a footstep. For previews and validation tools.

Input	Meaning
State	State tag to look up
Surface	Physical surface to look up

Output	Meaning
Return Value	True if a database matched
Out Effects	The matched effect set

Component: events and overrides

On Footstep

The main event. Covered in Using it in Blueprint.

Pin	Meaning
Footstep	Everything known about this footstep

Should Play Footstep

An overridable event. Return false to drop a footstep before anything is played or broadcast.

To use it, make a Blueprint child of Footstep Component, then override the function there.

Input	Meaning
Footstep	The footstep about to happen

Output	Meaning
Return Value	True to let it through, false to drop it

Good for staying quiet while swimming, or while a stealth ability is up. The default lets everything through.

Resolve Footstep Surface

An overridable event that decides the surface. Also on a Blueprint child of the component.

Set Surface Source to Custom to make the component rely on yours instead of tracing.

Input	Meaning
Foot Bone Name	The bone this came from, or none for a location footstep
Trace Origin	Where the foot is

Output	Meaning
Return Value	True if you found a surface
Out Hit	The hit you used, if any
Out Surface	The surface you decided on

Use it for surfaces that are not physical materials at all, like water volumes or snow depth.

Footstep Action

Entry

The event inside a Footstep Action Blueprint. All the work goes here.

Pin	Meaning
Footstep	The same context On Footstep gets

Function library

These are static, so they work from any Blueprint.

Get Footstep Component

Finds the component on an actor. Returns nothing if it has none.

Get Surface Type From Hit

Reads the physical surface out of a hit result. Returns Default when the hit carries no physical material.

Useful well outside footsteps. Projectile impacts can reuse the same surface list.

Get Physical Surface Name

Returns the name you gave a surface in the physics settings. For debug displays and tools.

Get Project Physical Surfaces

Returns every surface your project has actually named. For validation passes that check a database covers everything.

Trace For Surface

Traces down for a surface the same way the component does.

Input	Meaning
Origin	Where to trace from
Trace Distance	How far below to reach
Trace Start Offset	How far above to start
Trace Channel	Channel to trace on
Actor To Ignore	Normally the character
Trace Complex	Needed for per face materials and landscapes

Output	Meaning
Return Value	True if something was hit
Out Hit	The hit
Out Surface	The surface found

Find Effects In Databases

The component's lookup, exposed for tools and for code with no component.

Input	Meaning
Databases	Databases to search, in priority order
State	State tag
Surface	Physical surface

Load Random Sound From Effect Set

Picks a sound from a set and loads it.

WARNING: This blocks until the sound is in memory. Only use it in tools and previews. At runtime the component streams sounds in the background instead.

Database

Called on a Footstep Database asset.

Node	What it does
Find Effects	Looks up a state and surface, following the whole fallback chain
Gather Asset Paths	Every asset path the database references, for preloading
Get Defined States	Every state tag this database has an entry for
Get Defined Surfaces	Every surface it mentions

Settings

Get Footstep Settings

Returns the project settings object, so you can read the defaults at runtime.

Interface

Get Footstep State

The one function on the Footstep State Provider interface. Implement it on your character and return your current state tag. See States.

Input	Meaning
Footstep Component	The component asking, in case one actor has several

Output	Meaning
Return Value	Your state tag, or empty to fall back

Structs you will break

Struct	Holds
Footstep Context	Everything about one footstep. Full pin list.
Footstep Effect Set	The sounds, effects, decal, actions and tags for one row
Footstep Surface Effects	The surface map and fallback for one state