How it works

The system is installed on the character as an Actor Component named ADS Footsteps System. It centralizes the settings and decides which sounds and effects to play when the character moves across a surface or through an area such as water.

For regular footsteps, the plugin provides the NotifyFootADS animation notify. It is included with the plugin, but you must add it to the character's animations yourself, at the point where each foot touches the ground. The system then identifies the encountered surface and plays its configured effects. This lets you use different results on grass, concrete, water, or any other surface prepared for your project.

The system also manages overlap areas, such as a body of water. When the character enters such an area, it can continue to produce appropriate footsteps and effects. You choose one or more character bones as references for determining immersion. For example, you can use the pelvis: when water reaches that height, the character enters the wading state.

This state does not force the character to swim or change animations on its own. It simply indicates that the character is immersed deeply enough and enables appropriate water-footstep effects. You can use this state in your own Blueprints to change animation, reduce movement speed, start a swimming behavior, or trigger any other behavior that fits your game. When the character leaves the water, the system exits this state and can play the configured exit effects.