Debug overlay & troubleshooting

A live, in-game overlay for answering "why won't this interact?" without leaving PIE: invaluable while you work, and a "professional tool" signal in a trailer.

The console command

mova.ix.Debug all                 # everything on
mova.ix.Debug off                 # everything off
mova.ix.Debug los points tags gates   # pick exactly what to show

mova.ix.Debug takes any combination of flags. Pass all or off alone to set everything at once, or list individual flags to show what you're debugging.

Flag	Shows
bounds	The aimed actor's bounding box.
los	Line-of-sight rays from the player to candidate interaction points.
line	The aim line (crosshair trace).
sphere	The aim point, as a sphere.
cone	The Interactor's view-angle cone: the field the closest-interactable search considers.
points	Every interaction point of the aimed actor.
tags	Each target's resolved address, with an [UNRESOLVED] marker when a token hits nothing.
gates	Each gate token with a live PASS / FAIL.

Save the real screenshot as: shot-debug-overlay-tags-gates.png

The net-role banner

While the overlay is on at all, a net-role banner (SERVER / CLIENT + role) is always shown, regardless of which flags are set. This doubles the overlay as a multiplayer diagnostic view: confirm at a glance whether the machine you're looking at is the server or a client, and which role it's playing, before chasing a replication bug that's really a role mix-up.

Save the real screenshot as: shot-debug-overlay-net-banner.png

The fastest diagnosis

When an interaction "does nothing," turn on tags gates:

• a target shown [UNRESOLVED] → the tag names a component the actor doesn't have,

• a gate shown FAIL → a gate is holding it: check the group's Gates list or the condition it's reading,

• no points at all → the IC has no actions or tags yet.

You'll see instantly whether the target failed to resolve or a gate is holding it FAIL, instead of guessing.

Persistent defaults

The same flags live under Project Settings → Plugins → Mova Interact → Debug, so you can set a persistent default (ex: always show tags gates in a debug build) instead of re-typing the console command every session.

Save the real screenshot as: shot-project-settings-mova-interact.png

Troubleshooting / FAQ

Problem	Cause & fix
Client interactions do nothing (multiplayer)	The interactable's actor must have Replicates on, and clients must trigger via the Interactor (TargetInteraction), never by calling the IC's Server_* directly: a Server RPC on a server-owned actor is dropped. See Multiplayer.
The object has no interaction points	An IC with no actions and no tags resolves to zero points. Add at least one interaction tag (or a proximity tag): a tag with no matching action produces a phantom point that does nothing.
Outline highlight not visible	Enable Project Settings → Rendering → Custom Depth-Stencil Pass = "Enabled with Stencil", and add an outline post-process material keyed on the IC's OutlineStencilValue.
The mesh sinks into the floor when a montage plays	A montage blend crossfade drops the root. Play the slot animation with 0,0 blend. Prefer procedural keyframes for non-rigged geometry.
~ LOS tag isn't letting me aim past a blocker	~ on a component = "never blocks LOS". ~Handle = "count me as a hit on Handle." Put the tag on the blocking component, not the target.
Nothing happens on press, no errors	Turn on mova.ix.Debug tags gates: an [UNRESOLVED] target or a gate reading FAIL is the usual culprit.
Collapsed multi-choice shows the wrong options	A component tagged #unique opts out of collapsing. Per-IC Collapse = Always/Never overrides the project default.

See also

• Tag Grammar Reference: what [UNRESOLVED] and gate FAIL are actually evaluating.

• Gates: locks & conditions: Gates and OnActionRejected, PASS / FAIL flow.

• The IC Control Panel: the validation chips flag most of these before you ever reach PIE.