Scene Director

Create complex NPC routines, interactions, and gameplay sequences without timelines. Fully event-driven, node-based, and easily extensible.

World Helpers

These actors are simple world helpers.

They do not add story logic by themselves. They just make scenes easier to set up, easier to read, and easier to reuse.

How to add them to the level

You can add these helpers through the standard Place Actors menu in Unreal Editor.

ActionAnchor

ActionAnchor is a helper point in the level.

Use it when you want to say things like:

  • go here
  • stand here
  • look at this point
  • interact at this spot

In practice, it is the simplest way to mark an exact place in the world for a character or player.

Each anchor has an Anchor Tag. Movement and rotation nodes reference anchors by this tag (or by selecting the anchor actor directly in the node).

ActionRoute

ActionRoute is a helper path in the level.

Use it when one point is not enough and a character should move through a small sequence of positions instead of jumping straight to one target.

In practice, it is a convenient way to describe movement like:

  • patrol here
  • walk around this area
  • approach the scene along this path
  • leave the scene along this path

Scene Director movement nodes can target a whole route or a single point on it:

  • Move Along Route — walk the full spline path.
  • Move To Route Point — go to one spline point; index -1 means the last point.
  • Rotate To Route Point — turn to face one spline point.

ActionTriggerVolume

ActionTriggerVolume is a helper zone in the level.

Use it when a scene should begin because someone entered an area.

In practice, it answers the question:

  • when should this Scene Director start?

So instead of starting a scene manually, you can place a volume in the world and let the scene begin when a pawn overlaps it.

Settings

  • Scene Directors To Run — one or more Action Graph classes to start on trigger. All listed graphs are launched in order.
  • One Shot — when enabled, the volume triggers only once, then destroys itself.
  • Only Player Pawn (default true) — ignore non-player pawns. Set false to react to any pawn overlap.

Runtime behavior

  • On Begin Play, the volume also checks pawns already inside the volume and triggers if needed.
  • Graphs are started through Run Scene Director with no input parameters.
  • For parameterized or single-actor graphs, prefer starting from Blueprint/C++ instead of the volume, or use a small wrapper graph.

Nodes that pair well with these world references:

Movement

  • Move To Anchor — pathfind to an ActionAnchor.
  • Move To Route Point — go to one point on an ActionRoute. Good for patrol beats, guided approach paths, or staged exits.
  • Move Along Route — follow the full route spline.
  • Teleport To Anchor — instant move to an anchor.
  • Teleport To Nearest NavMesh — move to the nearest reachable navmesh position around the current location. Good as an unstuck or recovery action.

Rotation

  • Rotate To Anchor
  • Rotate To Route Point
  • Rotate To Player
  • Rotate Player To Anchor

Audio at anchors

  • Play Sound At Anchor — spawn/play audio at an anchor location.
  • Stop Sound — stop a previously played sound instance.

For follow behavior toward a moving target, see Follow Player / Follow Actor in Action Graph Toolkit — Flow nodes.

See also