Phase 1: Default Actions

Watch the actions tutorial for the updated Convai Unreal Engine Plugin

The chatbot ships with four action templates already registered. With a handful of editor steps and zero Blueprint scripting, you can have a Convai character walking to objects, following the player, and waiting on demand.

By the end of this phase your character will respond to spoken instructions like "Go to the blue cube," "Now come back," "Follow me," and "Stop."

What you'll need

• A level with a Convai character actor placed in it (any of the sample characters work).

• One or more objects in the level (the FirstPerson template is perfect for this phase).

Step 1 — Enable actions on the chatbot

1. Select the Convai character actor in the level.

2. In the Details panel, scroll to the Convai Chatbot component (typically appears under the actor's Components list — click on it).

3. Find the Convai → Actions category.

4. Tick the Enable Actions checkbox.

This toggle controls whether the chatbot's Environment is serialized as action_config at /connect time. Without it, the server treats the bot as conversational-only.

Step 2 — Register an object

The bot can only target things you've told it about. Add the cube to the chatbot's Environment.Objects list:

1. In the same Convai → Actions category, find the Environment struct.

2. Expand it, then expand Objects.

3. Click the + to add a new entry.

4. Fill in:

   • Name: cube (this is the human-friendly token the LLM will use — keep it short and unambiguous).

   • Description: A blue cube on the floor.

   • Ref: pick the cube actor in the scene from the dropdown.

You can add as many objects as you like — repeat for each cube and any other prop the bot should know about.

Tip: stable, distinct names matter. "red cube" and "blue cube" are easy for the LLM to pick between; "cube" and "cube2" aren't.

Step 3 — Make the character movable

The default Move To and Follow actions need the character to actually be able to walk. Convai ships an editor utility that wires this up for you:

1. In the Content Browser, navigate to your character Blueprint.

2. Right-click the asset → Convai → Setup Convai Pawn Movement.

What this does, depending on the Blueprint's parent class:

• Pure Actor parent → reparents to APawn, then adds a FloatingPawnMovement component with Convai-tuned defaults (max speed 375, acceleration 200, deceleration 250, turning boost 3).

• APawn parent (not Character) → adds FloatingPawnMovement if missing, applies the same defaults.

• ACharacter parent → leaves the existing CharacterMovementComponent alone but tunes the same defaults on it (max walk speed, max acceleration, braking deceleration).

• Anything else (e.g. a custom AActor subclass with a different hierarchy) → leaves the parent untouched and logs a warning asking you to reparent to something that eventually inherits from APawn (recommended, since ACharacter requires a capsule collision component which not every setup wants).

If you wrote your character from scratch on a non-Pawn base class, the easiest fix is to reparent to APawn (the pawn-movement path is lighter) and re-run this menu option.

Step 4 — Add a NavMesh

The movement components above use Unreal's navigation system, so you need a NavMeshBoundsVolume covering the area you want the bot to walk on.

1. From the Place Actors panel (or the level editor's "Quickly add to the project" button), drop a NavMeshBoundsVolume into the level.

2. Scale it so it covers the entire walkable ground area.

3. Press P with the level editor focused — this toggles the green navigation overlay. You should see green covering the floor wherever the bot is allowed to walk. If a region isn't green, the volume isn't covering it (or the geometry is unwalkable — too steep, too narrow).

Step 5 — Play test

Hit Play. With the chatbot connected, try:

• "Go to the cube." → the bot walks to the cube actor.

• "Now come back to me." → it walks back. (The bAutoFillConversationPartnerFromPlayer toggle on the chatbot — on by default — registers the player automatically so "me" resolves correctly.)

• "Follow me." → it tracks the player.

• "Stop." → it halts.

• "Wait for 5 seconds, then go to the cube." → it waits, then moves.

These are the four shipped default actions:

Action	Description
Move To	Move the character to a target location (Object or Character).
Follow	Follow a character.
Stop Moving	Stop the current movement.
Wait For	Wait for a duration in seconds.

You can edit these — change the descriptions, prune the list, add your own — under Convai → Actions → Environment → Actions in the Details panel.

Troubleshooting

• Bot acknowledges but doesn't move → most often the NavMesh isn't covering where it's trying to go. Press P and check.

• Bot walks oddly slowly / fast → tune MaxSpeed (or MaxWalkSpeed for Character) on the movement component.

• Bot says "I don't know what cube you mean" → the Name field on the Object entry doesn't match what you're saying, or there's no Ref assigned. Both are needed.

• "Setup Convai Pawn Movement" did nothing → the warning log will tell you why. Open the Output Log (Window → Output Log) and search for ConvaiContentBrowserContextMenu.

When you're ready to add your own actions, head to Phase 2 — Custom Actions.