Hello!
I wanted to add some cables to a project I am working on. And I found that cables don’t work in 4.7.
I dragged in a cable actor, and it just shows up empty, as you can see here.
http://puu.sh/gjPSq/9346c59c3d.jpg
When I added a cable to the elemental demo in 4.6.1, it shows up properly. It was hanging down and swigling as I moved it in the editor.
Is there a fix for this?
Hi Motanum,
To properly see a Cable actor, you will need to either attach the end to another actor or set the End Location. When you first drag it into the level the end location is the same as the start location, so the cable isn’t rendered.
A value of 1 is enough to have the cable start rendering.
Cheers,
TJ
Hey! Sorry for the delay! Got distracted in the mid week.
Well, I just tested it. It doesn’t show up in the editor. But it dos show up in game. Any clue for this behaviour?
That is odd. What happens if you build your level by pressing the Build button on the toolbar?
Also, try moving the Cable actor around in the level just to see if it starts rendering.
OK, so moving around or creating more still not a solution.
Building the level yields also no results. Simulating and stoping updates the cable.
I have weird behavior with this cable.
I was able to reproduce the weird behavior from the video you created. I’m currently investigating that further.
As for the original issue, are you using the latest 4.7.2 hotfix or are you still on 4.7.0? If so, try updating and seeing if it’s fixed.
I downloaded the update. Is it enough with that and just opening the project? Or do I have to do an extra step to update the project to the 4.7.2 fix?
You should be able to just open the project but to get the best test I would create a new project.
Yeah. It works on a new project in 4.7.2. But in my current project (Now also 4.7.2) is still broken.
New project.
http://puu.sh/gp5yH/6df73d6dba.jpg
My project
Has your project been converted through other versions of the editor? Especially 4.5 to 4.6.
Also, could you post your dxdiag (system specs)?
Yes I think. At least one time I had to make a new project and then copy the content folder one time it wouldn’t open.
Yeah, there was a lot of base code changes from 4.5 to 4.6. We’ve seen a few issues because of it. I suspect you could fix the issue by creating a new 4.7.2 project and then migrating your assets over. That’s if fixing the issue is worth the hassle to you. I mean, they are only invisible initially right? Once you get them placed they’re fine?
As for the ‘jumping/crazyness’ of the cable when play first starts. I tested this in-house and reproduced the behavior. I had another tech here do the same but their cable actor didn’t have the error. The only difference in our machines is I have a Radeon card and he has an Nvidia. So my first thought was that you may have a Radeon card as well, but that’s not the case.
I’ll keep looking into this one and update back here when I have something.
Oh ok! Thanks! yeah, for now simulating will make the cables show up and I can edit and update them and such.
For the behavior at first, seems to happen most when I drag a new cable actor from the modes>all classes window. If I drag copy it, it wont act like some kind of stretch bow cable. Although I haven’t seen some kind of pattern with the force of the cable.
Thanks!
Edit. Look at this beautiful cable render 
http://puu.sh/gpedh/a595caf670.jpg
This one gets the bow shoot behavior.
I don’t have a workaround for the ‘bowstring effect’ in 4.7.2 but the issue is now fixed for me in our latest internal build. You should see this fixed in a future update.
If you need a cable actor in your project before then, you have a couple of options.
Create your own skeletal mesh in a modeling program and the physics asset will be created on import into the editor.
Take a look at the rope bridge and chains in the Particle Effects demo project shown here. You can download it from the Learn tab in the Launcher. If you dissect how they work, you will see that it is a material that drives the ‘physics sway’ and not actual physics. This is game developer trickery at it’s finest to help increase performance. 
Cheers,
TJ
