Customizing the Lyra Front-end

Asset Manager update

Before we go to far in this process, we need to modify AssetManager so it knows where to find the new stuff we’re going to add.

Here I’m assuming you’ve been following along in my tutorial so your settings are the same as mine.

XistGame.uasset Asset Manager deltas

• Modify existing:
  • Map add dir /XistGame/FrontEnd/Maps
• Add new:
  • LyraLobbyBackground add dir /XistGame/FrontEnd

Here is the entire Primary Asset Types to Scan setup for XistGame if you just want to replace what you have with this:

((PrimaryAssetType="LyraExperienceDefinition",AssetBaseClass="/Script/LyraGame.LyraExperienceDefinition",bHasBlueprintClasses=True,Directories=((Path="/XistGame/Experiences"))),(PrimaryAssetType="LyraExperienceActionSet",AssetBaseClass="/Script/LyraGame.LyraExperienceActionSet",Directories=((Path="/XistGame/Experiences"))),(PrimaryAssetType="Map",AssetBaseClass="/Script/Engine.World",Directories=((Path="/XistGame/Maps"),(Path="/XistGame/FrontEnd/Maps"))),(PrimaryAssetType="PlayerMappableInputConfig",AssetBaseClass="/Script/EnhancedInput.PlayerMappableInputConfig",Directories=((Path="/XistGame/Input/Configs"),(Path="/Game/Input/Configs"))),(PrimaryAssetType="LyraLobbyBackground",AssetBaseClass="/Script/LyraGame.LyraLobbyBackground",Directories=((Path="/XistGame/FrontEnd"))),(PrimaryAssetType="LyraUserFacingExperienceDefinition",AssetBaseClass="/Script/LyraGame.LyraUserFacingExperienceDefinition",Directories=((Path="/XistGame/Experiences/Playlists"))))

MUST RESTART EDITOR for Asset Manager changes to take effect !!

After making the above changes, you must restart the UE5 editor for these changes to take effect.

Create a Lobby Background

Script to randomly load one of our own background maps

The default Lyra code will randomly load ANY background map that might be anywhere in the code, which is not what we want. We only want our own backgrounds to be loaded.

Here we copy the Lyra implementation and change it to only select our own backgrounds:

• Duplicate Lyra.Environments/B_LoadRandomLobbyBackground
  • XistGame.FrontEnd/B_XG_LoadRandomLobbyBackground
    • Modify BeginPlay event such that it filters out lobby backgrounds whose names start with anything other than DA_XG_
      • In my version I added new function IsRelevantLobbyBackground that returns boolean

Create LobbyBackground1, the first of potentially more

This is the map that you’ll see as the background of your menu.

• Create XistGame.FrontEnd/Maps/L_XG_LobbyBackground1
  • This is the map that will show in the background on the menu pages
  • Bare minimum setup:
    • Something to look at
    • Cinematic Camera
    • LevelSequence actor that forces the view to to the cinematic camera
  • My setup is just a small green-lit arena with 3 balls rolling around
• Create LyraLobbyBackground data asset XistGame.FrontEnd/DA_XG_LobbyBackground1
  • Set reference to L_XG_LobbyBackground1

Create more if you want!

You can create more lobby backgrounds if you want. The solution above will search for any/all lobby backgrounds named DA_XG_* and will randomly display one of those as your background menu.

Creating more to cycle through is much easier than the work you did above. Just make a new L_XG_LobbyBackgroundN map (increment N!) and then create a DA_XG_LobbyBackgroundN asset to point to it.

Create a Lobby Experience

Create the experience definition:

• Duplicate Lyra.System/FrontEnd/B_LyraFrontEnd_Experience
  • XistGame.Experiences/B_XG_Experience_FrontEnd

Create the map that will activate the experience:

• Duplicate Lyra.System/FrontEnd/Maps/L_LyraFrontEnd
  • XistGame.FrontEnd/Maps/L_XG_FrontEnd
    • Replace random lobby background logic
      • Delete the vanilla Lyra B_LoadRandomLobbyBackground actor
      • Add a B_XG_LoadRandomLobbyBackground actor
    • Set WorldSettings.Game Mode.Default Gameplay Experience = B_XG_Experience_FrontEnd

Change project settings to load this experience by default:

• Maps & Modes > Default Maps > Game Default Map = L_XG_FrontEnd

Customize the menu itself

TODO

Also there is quite a lot more TODO here, but the above will hopefully help get you started. If you’ve followed along so far, you should have enough insight to continue on your own from here.

I hope to come back to this at some point once I’ve actually built a game that requires a menu for players to use. :)