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HELIX is in Early Access Preview. Some features and documentation may be non-functional or out of date.

HPawn

HPawn creates a non‑player character (NPC) actor with helper functions for playing animations, attaching meshes, toggling ragdoll, and querying state. Ideal for passive/ambient NPCs, enemies, or scripted actors

Tip

HPawn is an Actor so it inherits all functions from Actor

Constructor#

Example
local npc = HPawn(
    Vector(0, 0, 100),           -- location
    Rotator(0, 0, 0),            -- rotation (Rotator or Quat accepted)
    function(SpawnedPawn)        -- optional callback when NPC is created
        print("Spawned:", SpawnedPawn)
    end
)
Name Type Default Description
location Vector (0,100,100) Spawn position
rotation Quat (0,0,0,1) Spawn orientation

Functions#

PlayAnimation#

Plays a montage animation on the character

  • montage: UAnimMontage — montage to play
  • playRate: number — playback speed multiplier (e.g., 1.0)
  • startSection: string | nil — optional section name to start from
Example
npc:PlayAnimation(MyMontage, 1.0, "StartSection")

StopAnimation#

Stops an active montage with an optional blend-out

  • blendOutTime: number — time to blend out (seconds)
  • montage: UAnimMontage | nil — specific montage to stop (nil = any)
Example
npc:StopAnimation(0.25, MyMontage)

AddStaticMeshAttached#

Spawns a AStaticMeshActor, attaches it to a bone/socket, and tracks it by ID. Replaces any prior attachment with the same ID. Default socket is "hand_l"

  • id: string — unique attachment ID
  • staticMesh: UStaticMesh — mesh to attach
  • socketName: string — bone/socket (default "hand_l")
  • returns: AStaticMeshActor | nil — the spawned actor (nil on failure)
Example
local bagActor = npc:AddStaticMeshAttached("bag", BagMesh, "spine_03")

RemoveStaticMeshAttached#

Removes a previously attached mesh by ID

  • id: string — the attachment ID passed to AddStaticMeshAttached
  • returns: boolean — true if an attachment was removed
Example
local bRemoved = npc:RemoveStaticMeshAttached("bag")

RemoveAllStaticMeshesAttached#

Removes all attached meshes from the character

Example
npc:RemoveAllStaticMeshesAttached()

SetRagdollMode#

Toggles ragdoll physics on or off

  • bEnable: boolean — true to enable ragdoll, false to disable
Example
npc:SetRagdollMode(true)

SetMesh#

Overrides the character’s skeletal mesh

  • mesh: USkeletalMesh — the new skeletal mesh
Example
npc:SetMesh(UE.UObject.Load("/Game/MyMeshes/MyCustomMesh.MyCustomMesh"))

SetName#

Sets a display/name for the pawn (implementation placeholder calls into pawn)

  • name: string — desired name
Example
npc:SetName("Guard A")

SetTeam#

Assigns a simple team tag on the wrapper

  • team: any — team identifier
Example
npc:SetTeam("Hostile")

GetPawn#

Returns the underlying ACharacter actor. (may be nil until the async spawn finishes)

  • returns: ACharacter | nil
Example
local pawn = npc:GetPawn()

GetMesh#

Returns the name of the currently assigned skeletal mesh

  • returns: string | nil
Example
print("Mesh name:", npc:GetMesh() or "none")

GetBoneTransform#

Returns a FTransform for a bone name (e.g., "hand_r")

  • boneName: string — the bone/socket name
  • returns: Transform | nil
Example
local transform = npc:GetBoneTransform("spine_03")

IsInRagdollMode#

Returns true if ragdoll physics are currently active

  • returns: boolean
Example
if npc:IsInRagdollMode() then ...