Child Actor Components with a period in the name and that are set will cause a server error that causes all clients and server to spawn in a different game

This error occurs when using a server (Listen or Dedicated). If you add a period in the Child Actor Component’s name (eg ChildActor.t), then when running on a server, each player is set in a different game where they cannot interact. This only occurs if an actual actor is defined in the ChildActorComponent (if left “None,” then this error does not occur). I have replicated this error multiple times on a clean build of 4.13.1. I have not checked other engine versions. I did check other components (eg StaticMesh and SkeletalMesh), but this problem seems to occur only for ChildActorComponents.

Hey Killmaster,

I made a 4.13.1 project and setup the same thing as what you’ve shown. Like:

I am able to see both characters running, in both a listen and dedicated server, with their ChildActor.t components. The Characters aren’t hidden from each other and everything appears normal.

Can you explain more?

Thanks.

Hey, thank you so much for your reply, and I’m sorry for not getting back to this sooner.
I’m still having the same problem on my project, so I have absolutely no idea why it’s working properly for you and not for me… As I said, I opened a brand new project, so it should be the same. Would it be possible to send you the project so you can take a look? I have Dropbox, if you’d like me to share that way.

This isn’t something we normally do. It’s generally up to you to show us how to reproduce the issue you are having but because I have this project already made, I will attach it.

[][1]

But again, do not expect this sort of thing every question.

[1]:

Hey,

Thank you so much for doing that. I understand that I shouldn’t expect it in the future. But thank you for going the extra mile to help solve this problem!

I found out how to replicate the effect. In the Class Defaults of the BP used for the ChildActorComponent, turn on both the “Replicates” and “Replicate Movement” flags (see image below). This should properly replicate the problem described above. Again, it only occurs when the ChildActorComponent has a period in the name.

When the game first starts, you can briefly see the other characters spawn but then quickly disappear.

Hey Killmaster,

Thanks for the report. I was able to reproduce the issue you have described and have entered a issue report for it. You can follow it here:

https://issues.unrealengine.com/issue/UE-38077

For now, I would recommend simply not using “.r” (or any variant) at the end of your ChildActor component, which seems to alleviate all issues you are describing.