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> Unreal Engine API Reference > Runtime > Engine > GameFramework > AController

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AController

Controllers are non-physical actors that can possess a Pawn to control its actions.

Inheritance Hierarchy

UObjectBase

UObjectBaseUtility

UObject

AActor

AController

AAIController

	ADetourCrowdAIController
	AGridPathAIController

APlayerController

	AARSharedWorldPlayerController
	ADebugCameraController
	AVirtualCameraPlayerControllerBase

References

Module	Engine
Header	/Engine/Source/Runtime/Engine/Classes/GameFramework/Controller.h
Include	#include "GameFramework/Controller.h"

Syntax

class AController :
public AActor,
public INavAgentInterface

Remarks

Controllers are non-physical actors that can possess a Pawn to control its actions. PlayerControllers are used by human players to control pawns, while AIControllers implement the artificial intelligence for the pawns they control. Controllers take control of a pawn using their Possess() method, and relinquish control of the pawn by calling UnPossess().

Controllers receive notifications for many of the events occurring for the Pawn they are controlling. This gives the controller the opportunity to implement the behavior in response to this event, intercepting the event and superseding the Pawn's default behavior.

ControlRotation (accessed via GetControlRotation()), determines the viewing/aiming direction of the controlled Pawn and is affected by input such as from a mouse or gamepad.

Variables

	Name	Description
uint8: 1	bAttachToPawn	If true, the controller location will match the possessed Pawn's location.
uint8: 1	bCanPossessWithoutAuthority	Whether the controller must have authority to be able to call possess on a Pawn
uint8: 1	bIsPlayerController	Whether this controller is a PlayerController.
FRotator	ControlRotation	The control rotation of the Controller. See GetControlRotation.
uint8	IgnoreLookInput	Ignores look input.
uint8	IgnoreMoveInput	Ignores movement input.
FInstigatedAnyD...	OnInstigatedAnyDamage	Called when the controller has instigated damage in any way
FPawnChangedSig...	OnNewPawn	Delegate broadcast on authorities when possessing a new pawn or unpossessing one
FOnPossessedPaw...	OnPossessedPawnChanged	Called on both authorities and clients when the possessed pawn changes (either OldPawn or NewPawn might be nullptr)
TObjectPtr< APl...	PlayerState	PlayerState containing replicated information about the player using this controller (only exists for players, not NPCs).
TWeakObjectPtr<...	StartSpot	Actor marking where this controller spawned in.
FName	StateName	Current gameplay state this controller is in

Constructors

	Name	Description
	AController ( const FObjectInitializer& ObjectIn... )	Default Constructor

Functions

	Name	Description
void	AddPawnTickDependency ( APawn* NewPawn )	Add dependency that makes us tick before the given Pawn.
void	AttachToPawn ( APawn* InPawn )	Physically attach the Controller to the specified Pawn, so that our position reflects theirs.
void	BeginInactiveState()	State entered when inactive (no possessed pawn, not spectating, etc).
void	ChangeState ( FName NewState )	Change the current state to named state
void	CleanupPlayerState()	Called from Destroyed().
void	ClientSetLocation ( FVector NewLocation, FRotator NewRotation )	Replicated function to set the pawn location and rotation, allowing server to force (ex. teleports).
void	ClientSetRotation ( FRotator NewRotation, bool bResetCamera )	Replicated function to set the pawn rotation, allowing the server to force.
void	CurrentLevelUnloaded()	Called when the level this controller is in is unloaded via streaming.
void	DetachFromPawn()	Detach the RootComponent from its parent, but only if bAttachToPawn is true and it was attached to a Pawn.
void	DisplayDebug ( UCanvas* Canvas, const FDebugDisplayInfo& DebugDisp..., float& YL, float& YPos )
void	EndInactiveState()	Called when leaving the inactive state
void	FailedToSpawnPawn()	GameMode failed to spawn pawn for me.
void	GameHasEnded ( AActor* EndGameFocus, bool bIsWinner )	Called from game mode upon end of the game, used to transition to proper state.
ACharacter &...	GetCharacter()	Getter for Character
FRotator	GetControlRotation()	Get the control rotation.
FRotator	GetDesiredRotation()	Get the desired pawn target rotation
FPawnChanged...	GetOnNewPawnNotifier()
APawn *	GetPawn()	Getter for Pawn
T *	GetPawn()	Templated version of GetPawn, will return nullptr if cast fails
T *	GetPlayerState()
void	GetPlayerViewPoint ( FVector& Location, FRotator& Rotation )	Returns Player's Point of View For the AI this means the Pawn's 'Eyes' ViewPoint For a Human player, this means the Camera's ViewPoint
FName	GetStateName()
USceneCompon...	GetTransformComponent()	Returns TransformComponent subobject
AActor *	GetViewTarget()	Get the actor the controller is looking at
void	InitPlayerState()	Spawns and initializes the PlayerState for this Controller
void	InstigatedAnyDamage ( float Damage, const UDamageType* DamageType, AActor* DamagedActor, AActor* DamageCauser )	Called when this controller instigates ANY damage
bool	IsInState ( FName InStateName )	States (uses FNames for replication, correlated to state flags)
bool	IsLocalController()	Returns whether this Controller is a local controller.
bool	IsLocalPlayerController()	Returns whether this Controller is a locally controlled PlayerController.
bool	IsLookInputIgnored()	Returns true if look input is ignored.
bool	IsMoveInputIgnored()	Returns true if movement input is ignored.
bool	IsPlayerController()	Returns whether this Controller is a PlayerController.
bool	IsValidControlRotation ( FRotator CheckRotation )	Return false if rotation contains NaN or extremely large values (usually resulting from uninitialized values).
APawn *	K2_GetPawn()	Return the Pawn that is currently 'controlled' by this PlayerController
bool	LineOfSightTo ( const AActor* Other, FVector ViewPoint, bool bAlternateChecks )	Checks line to center and top of other actor
void	OnPossess ( APawn* InPawn )	Overridable native function for when this controller is asked to possess a pawn.
void	OnRep_Pawn()	Replication Notification Callbacks
void	OnRep_PlayerState()
void	OnUnPossess()	Overridable native function for when this controller unpossesses its pawn.
void	PawnPendingDestroy ( APawn* inPawn )	Called to unpossess our pawn because it is going to be destroyed.
void	Possess ( APawn* InPawn )	Handles attaching this controller to the specified pawn.
void	ReceiveInstigatedAnyDamage ( float Damage, const UDamageType* DamageType, AActor* DamagedActor, AActor* DamageCauser )	Event when this controller instigates ANY damage
void	ReceivePossess ( APawn* PossessedPawn )	Blueprint implementable event to react to the controller possessing a pawn
void	ReceiveUnPossess ( APawn* UnpossessedPawn )	Blueprint implementable event to react to the controller unpossessing a pawn
void	RemovePawnTickDependency ( APawn* InOldPawn )	Remove dependency that makes us tick before the given Pawn.
void	ResetIgnoreInputFlags()	Reset move and look input ignore flags.
void	ResetIgnoreLookInput()	Stops ignoring look input by resetting the ignore look input state.
void	ResetIgnoreMoveInput()	Stops ignoring move input by resetting the ignore move input state.
void	SetControlRotation ( const FRotator& NewRotation )	Set the control rotation.
void	SetIgnoreLookInput ( bool bNewLookInput )	Locks or unlocks look input, consecutive calls stack up and require the same amount of calls to undo, or can all be undone using ResetIgnoreLookInput.
void	SetIgnoreMoveInput ( bool bNewMoveInput )	Locks or unlocks movement input, consecutive calls stack up and require the same amount of calls to undo, or can all be undone using ResetIgnoreMoveInput.
void	SetInitialLocationAndRotation ( const FVector& NewLocation, const FRotator& NewRotation )	Set the initial location and rotation of the controller, as well as the control rotation.
void	SetPawn ( APawn* InPawn )	Setter for Pawn. Normally should only be used internally when possessing/unpossessing a Pawn.
void	SetPawnFromRep ( APawn* InPawn )	Calls SetPawn and RepNotify locally
bool	ShouldParticipateInSeamlessTravel()	Returns whether this controller should persist through seamless travel
void	StopMovement()	Aborts the move the controller is currently performing
void	UnPossess()	Called to unpossess our pawn for any reason that is not the pawn being destroyed (destruction handled by PawnDestroyed()).

Overridden from AActor

	Name	Description
void	Destroyed()	Called when this actor is explicitly being destroyed during gameplay or in the editor, not called during level streaming or gameplay ending
void	GetActorEyesViewPoint ( FVector& OutLocation, FRotator& OutRotation )	Returns the point of view of the actor.
FString	GetHumanReadableName()	Returns the human readable string representation of an object.
void	K2_DestroyActor()	Destroy the actor
void	PostInitializeComponents()	Overridden to create the player replication info and perform other mundane initialization tasks.
void	Reset()	Reset actor to initial state - used when restarting level without reloading.
void	TickActor ( float DeltaTime, enum ELevelTick TickType, FActorTickFunction& ThisTickFuncti... )	Dispatches the once-per frame Tick() function for this actor

Overridden from UObject

		Name	Description
	void	GetLifetimeReplicatedProps ( TArray< FLifetimeProperty >& OutLi... )	Returns the properties used for network replication, this needs to be overridden by all actor classes with native replicated properties

Overridden from INavAgentInterface

	Name	Description
void	GetMoveGoalReachTest ( const AActor* MovingActor, const FVector& MoveOffset, FVector& GoalOffset, float& GoalRadius, float& GoalHalfHeight )	Get cylinder for testing if actor has been reached
FVector	GetNavAgentLocation()	Retrieves Agent's location
const FNavAg...	GetNavAgentPropertiesRef()	Retrieves FNavAgentProperties expressing navigation props and caps of represented agent the function will be renamed to GetNavAgentProperties in 4.8.
IPathFollowi...	GetPathFollowingAgent()	Retrieves PathFollowingAgent for this NavAgent
bool	IsFollowingAPath()	Checks if the agent is actively following a navigation path
bool	ShouldPostponePathUpdates()	Allows delaying repath requests

Deprecated Functions

		Name	Description
	void	InitNavigationControl ( UObject*& PathFollowingComp )	InitNavigationControl is depracated. The function lost its meaning due to better Engine-AIModule code separation
	void	UpdateNavigationComponents()	UpdateNavigationComponents is depracated. The function lost its meaning due to better Engine-AIModule code separation.