Wanted pages — the write queue¶

This list is ordered: top to bottom is write order, and write order is expected value to a beginner right now — specifically the beginner this wiki was founded on: Blueprint-first, weeks into a first character project, animation chain finally working. A new complaint doesn't join the end of the queue; it jumps to wherever it hurts most. When a page ships, its entry leaves the queue — the home page and nav are the record of what exists. (Tier 1, the founding Animation Blueprint chain, shipped in full and lives only there now.)

Each entry is a page spec, and a spec can come from two places:

A real reader's complaint — the official doc that fell short, plus the questions a new user still had after reading it. The strongest signal this queue has; it's the one that jumps the line.
The syllabus — predicted questions for a beginner-core area nobody has complained about yet, harvested from where beginners perennially get stuck (community forums, the same five FAQs every Discord answers weekly). Admitted because a small readership can only complain about what it has already attempted; waiting for complaints would leave week-one topics unwritten while the queue starved.

To request a page, add an entry with the official link and your leftover questions — see how this list came to be. To write one, answer the questions in order and follow the writing guide.

Every named area of the beginner core (the scope in DECISIONS.md entry 4) is specced below — no unspecced bucket remains. Entries split into multiple pages as they're written, so the ~200–280-page estimate of record stands.

Tier 2 — the first game loop¶

The pages every first project hits within days of the animation chain working.

Tier 3 — collision & interaction¶

Damage needs a trigger. The overlap that never fires and the trace that hits yourself are every first project's first mystery.

Collision presets, channels & responses (concept) — what a preset actually sets (object type + a response per channel), Block vs Overlap vs Ignore and how the pair of actors resolves them, object channels vs trace channels, why things fall through the floor or refuse to overlap.
On Component Begin / End Overlap (API) — why it never fires (Generate Overlap Events off on one of the two actors, responses not set to Overlap), who Other Actor and Other Comp are, why it fires twice (capsule and mesh both overlap), filtering the flood with a cast or a tag.
Event Hit (API) — Hit vs Overlap (blocking contact, not interpenetration), Simulation Generates Hit Events and its misleading name, the Hit Result fields a beginner needs (Impact Point vs Location, Normal), why Hit fires every frame while pressed against a wall.
Line Trace By Channel (API) — building start and end from a camera or muzzle (forward vector × distance), Visibility vs Camera vs a custom channel, reading the Hit Result, Draw Debug Type, why the first thing you hit is yourself and what Ignore Self / Actors to Ignore do about it.

Tier 4 — debugging & error literacy¶

The errors are coming regardless. These pages turn red text from noise into information — and multiply the value of every other page here.

"Accessed None trying to read property…" (concept) — the message dissected: which variable was None and in which Blueprint, why it's a PIE-stop warning rather than a crash, fixing it with a guard vs merely silencing it, and the expected Accessed None every AnimBP preview generates.
Print String & the Output Log (API) — printing values that aren't strings, the Duration / Text Color / Key pins (Key = overwrite in place, the anti-spam nobody finds), screen vs Output Log, Print Text vs Print String, why prints vanish in Shipping builds.
Breakpoints & watch values (concept) — F9 on a node, what happens when PIE hits it, stepping along execution wires, watching pin values, why a breakpoint doesn't hit (wrong instance, graph never executes), picking the right instance in the Blueprint debugger.

Tier 5 — Blueprint communication¶

The moment there's a HUD or a door, Blueprints have to talk to each other. This is the wall every beginner hits — and the biggest gap the official reference leaves.

The Blueprint survival kit: functions, events, macros (concept) — function vs custom event (return values, Delay legality, who can call it), pure vs impure and when pure recomputes, macros vs collapsed graphs, plus structs, enums, and arrays with ForEach in five minutes.
Blueprint Interfaces (API) — what "implements interface" actually adds to a class, interface messages (why the envelope-icon call is safe on any actor and silently does nothing when unimplemented), Does Implement Interface, when an interface beats a cast.
Event Dispatchers (API) — Bind vs Assign vs Call semantics, the golden rule of direction (the broadcaster owns the dispatcher; listeners bind to it), where to bind and when, why an event fires N times (you bound it N times — the respawn trap), Unbind and Unbind All.
Cast, Interface, or Dispatcher? (concept) — the decision rule for Blueprint communication: I know the class (cast), I know the contract (interface), I don't know my listeners (dispatcher); which options create hard references and load-order coupling; the health-bar pipeline as the worked example.

Tier 6 — UI & HUD (UMG)¶

Making the game visible: menus, health bars, and the input-mode traps around them.

Create Widget + Add to Viewport (API) — what Owning Player means (and when it starts mattering), Z-order, keeping the widget reference instead of re-creating it (why state vanishes after Remove from Parent + Create), where UI creation belongs — the controller or HUD, not the pawn that's about to die.
Updating a widget: bindings vs events (concept) — what a property binding really costs (it runs every frame), the event-driven alternative (dispatcher fires, widget updates once), and the health bar walked end-to-end.
Set Input Mode & Show Mouse Cursor (API) — Game Only vs UI Only vs Game and UI and what each routes where, why the pawn keeps moving under an open menu — or input dies after closing one (the stuck-mode classic), pairing with Set Game Paused, restoring Game Only on close.
"I want to…" — the task index (site page) — a task-first map from beginner goals ("make a health bar", "open a door on overlap", "pick up an item", "respawn the player") to the ordered page sequence that builds each one. The apply-layer entry point a per-node tree can't provide; grows as pages ship.

Tier 7 — character feel: camera & movement¶

The template gave you a character that already moves; these are the knobs everyone reaches for next — and the facing question is the most-asked beginner question in the engine.

Why won't my character face where it's moving? (concept) — the three checkboxes that fight each other: Use Controller Rotation Yaw (on the pawn) vs Orient Rotation to Movement and Use Controller Desired Rotation (on the movement component), which combos give tank-turn / strafe / turn-to-face, and what the Third Person template ships with.
Add Movement Input (API) — what Scale Value does (and doesn't — it isn't speed), why nothing happens (not possessed, no movement component, input never fired), world-direction math (forward from control rotation vs actor rotation), how input accumulates within a frame.
Character Movement Component: the knobs that matter (concept) — Max Walk Speed, acceleration, braking and friction as a feel-tuning loop; JumpZVelocity, Gravity Scale and Air Control; class defaults vs the placed instance; why the server snaps you back in multiplayer.
Jump & Launch Character (API) — what Jump checks before doing anything (Can Jump, Jump Max Count, movement mode), holding for height (Jump Max Hold Time), Launch Character's XY/Z Override flags, why a mid-run Launch barely moves you without them.
Spring Arm + Camera (concept) — what the boom actually does (a collision-tested distance probe), Target Arm Length and camera lag, Use Pawn Control Rotation, why the camera pushes in near walls (that's the feature working), what you lose by skipping the arm.
Set View Target with Blend (API) — what a view target is (a controller-level idea, not a camera component), blending to a camera actor for cutscenes and death cams, blend functions, why input still drives the old pawn (view is not possession).

Tier 8 — input & Enhanced Input¶

UE5's input system, decoded — the tutorials disagree with each other because the system changed under them.

Input Actions & Input Mapping Contexts (concept) — the UE5 model: an Action is what (with a value type), a Mapping Context is which keys, when; why WASD is one Axis2D action with Negate/Swizzle modifiers instead of four bindings; where the legacy input system went and how to recognize which one a tutorial is using.
Add Mapping Context (API) — the Enhanced Input subsystem lives on the local player; where and when to add a context (and when to Remove it), priorities, why input dies after a respawn or possession swap.
Started, Triggered, Ongoing, Canceled, Completed (concept) — Enhanced Input's five pins decoded per trigger (plain press, Hold, Tap), which pin replaces the old Pressed / Released, why Triggered fires every frame for an axis, common trigger + modifier recipes.

Tier 9 — the framework & persistence¶

Where things live: the framework in single-player, and state that survives a level change.

GameMode & friends, single-player edition (concept) — who spawns what at map load (GameMode → PlayerController + Pawn + HUD), the override chain (Project Settings vs World Settings — the "my GameMode isn't running" trap), what belongs in GameMode vs Controller vs Pawn before multiplayer complicates it.
Game Instance (concept) — the one object that survives Open Level: creating a Blueprint GameInstance and setting it in Project Settings, Get Game Instance + cast, what belongs in it (run state, settings) and what doesn't (per-level actors).
Open Level (API) — by Name vs by Object Reference, everything in the world is destroyed (which is why the coin counter reset), the Options string, Open Level vs Load Stream Level at beginner altitude.
Save Game: Create / Save / Load Game to Slot (API) — the SaveGame object as a data-only Blueprint, slot names and user index, nothing saves automatically (you copy values in and out), Does Save Game Exist, the async variants, why you can't save an actor reference directly and what to store instead.

Tier 10 — world math & transforms¶

The vector math every "spawn it in front of me" needs, without the trigonometry lecture.

World vs relative transforms (concept) — location, rotation and scale in parent space vs world space, what attachment changes, Set Actor Location vs Set Relative Location, the Sweep pin (and teleporting through walls without it).
Get Forward Vector & Find Look at Rotation (API) — direction math for beginners: actor forward vs control-rotation forward, "spawn it in front of me" (location + forward × distance), making A face B and the surprise pitch when their heights differ, feeding the result to Set Actor Rotation vs interpolating toward it.
Lerp, FInterp To, and moving things smoothly (concept) — the three smoothing idioms (a Lerp whose alpha you drive, Interp To in Tick, a Timeline), Delta Seconds and frame-rate independence, why Lerp-from-current-position eases forever and never arrives, which idiom fits doors vs cameras vs health bars.

Tier 11 — the first enemy¶

Making it move and see. (Behavior Trees sit past the beginner core — the boundary gets named here, not crossed.)

AI Move To & the NavMesh (API) — why it needs a NavMeshBoundsVolume (press P to see it), why it needs an AIController and refuses to move a player-possessed pawn, AI Move To vs Simple Move To Actor, the silent failure modes (no nav data, unreachable goal, Acceptance Radius), the On Success / On Fail pins.
Seeing the player: Pawn Sensing & AI Perception (API) — the beginner path (PawnSensing's On See Pawn), sight cone settings, why the AI never forgets you (and how to make it), when to graduate to AI Perception, and where the beginner core stops.

Tier 12 — feedback & polish¶

Sound, shoves, and streamed levels — the passes that make it feel like a game.

Play Sound 2D / Play Sound at Location / Spawn Sound Attached (API) — which of the three you want (UI vs world vs follows-the-actor), fire-and-forget means unstoppable (use the Spawn variants' returned audio component to stop loops), volume and pitch multipliers, why the looping ambience never dies.
Add Impulse / Add Force (API) — impulse (instant) vs force (per-frame) vs the Velocity Change flag and mass dependence, the Simulate Physics prerequisite (and why a simulating mesh falls off your character), pushing characters (Launch Character) vs pushing props (Add Impulse).
Level streaming basics (concept) — Load / Unload Stream Level vs Open Level (streaming keeps world state, Open Level destroys it), the persistent level + sublevels setup, when a first project actually needs streaming (interiors, elevators) and when it doesn't.

Tier 13 — multiplayer¶

When the first project grows into "can my friend join?"

Multiplayer roles (concept) — GameMode vs GameState vs PlayerState vs PlayerController vs Pawn: which objects exist on the server, which on each client, and where to put a variable so it exists where you need it.
Replication basics (concept) — what "Replicates" actually subscribes you to; RepNotify; why only the server should spawn things.

How this list came to be¶

Every early entry started life as a message like:

"perfect example how am I supposed to know what this does … if it fails is there any code that runs? why? nothing"

That message became Try Get Pawn Owner. A complaint like it is still the strongest priority signal this queue has — it names a real person's real confusion, so it jumps the queue. But a small readership can only complain about what it has already attempted, so the rest of the queue is specced from the syllabus: the questions beginners predictably ask about each area, the ones every community Discord answers weekly. Keep the complaints coming — they outrank everything here.