A modular Climbing System plugin for Unreal Engine 5.6, built in C++ and designed for third-person games.
Supports ledge grabbing, climbing up and down, and traversal-ready extensions.
The climbing system uses Inverse Kinematics (IK) and Motion Warping to create smooth, natural-looking traversal even on jagged, irregular surfaces.
Real game environments have uneven ledges, angled surfaces, and varying heights. Traditional animation systems look robotic and break immersion when characters snap to fixed positions.
The hardest part was determining proper character placement/orientation on irregular geometry without performance issues or visual artifacts.
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Capsule Trace Detection
Uses the character's capsule for initial surface detection instead of single-point raycasts -
Surface-Aligned Orientation
Character rotation uses the surface's normal vector (obtained via capsule trace) rather than the character's own orientation, allowing natural snapping to walls at any angle -
Multi-Actor Averaging
Orientation calculated by averaging normals from multiple hit actors (limited to a fixed-size array for performance) -
Location Validation
Since averaging multiple points can produce "fake" locations that don't actually exist on geometry, the system line traces back to the surface to verify and correct placement -
Smooth Interpolation
Uses FInterp (linear interpolation) for snapping behavior, eliminating jarring position changes -
Custom Physics Mode
Leveraged and reworked Unreal's Flying movement mode to handle wall-attached traversal physics -
IK-Driven Hand/Foot Placement
Character limbs dynamically adjust to surface geometry in real-time -
Motion Warping*
Animations adapt their root motion to match actual ledge positions
ClimbSystem
- Unreal Engine: 5.6.x
- Project Type: C++ ThirdPerson project
- Must contain a
Source/folder - Blueprint-only projects are not supported
- Must contain a
- IDE: Visual Studio
- Installed with Game development with C++ workload
- Create or open a C++ ThirdPerson Unreal Engine project.
- Copy the plugin into your project's
Plugins/directory. - Regenerate project files and rebuild the project.
- Enable the plugin in Unreal Editor if needed.
- Press Play and start climbing (default keybind: F).
How to Set Up the ClimbSystem Plugin (PDF)
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📖 Illustrated, step-by-step setup guide with screenshots showing how to integrate the plugin into a C++ Unreal Engine 5.6 project.
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🎥 Optional setup walkthrough video (Windows example, step-by-step):
How To Set Up The Plugin
Click the demo image above to watch the climbing system in action on YouTube.
- ✅ Ledge Detection - Capsule sweeps + multi-point line traces with surface normal validation
- ✅ Climb Up/Down - Smooth vertical traversal with IK hand placement
- ✅ Hang State - Stable ledge grip with physics-based holding
- ✅ Hop Up/Down - Quick ledge transitions for small obstacles
Designed as a foundation for advanced traversal systems:
- Wall climbing
- Vaulting/mantling
- Corner turning
- Moving platform support
1. Surface Detection
└─> Capsule sweep finds potential ledges
└─> Line traces validate surface normals
└─> Check walkable angle thresholds
2. Motion Warping Setup
└─> Calculate target transform from ledge position
└─> Warp animation root motion to match
└─> Blend in over configurable time
3. IK Application (During Climb)
└─> Trace from hand bones to find actual surface points
└─> Apply IK to adjust hand/foot positions
└─> Smooth blend to prevent jitter on jagged geometry
└─> Update every frame for dynamic surfaces- Believable Animation - Characters feel grounded in the world
- Level Design Freedom - Artists don't need perfectly smooth ledges
- Gameplay Variety - Works on rocks, buildings, ruins - any climbable surface
- Performance - IK calculations are localized to active climbing states
Contributions, issues, and feature requests are welcome!
