How does physics interaction between characters work?

[Imp079]

I am working on upgrading a project from Unity 5.6 to 2020LTS. We're currently using Third Person Character Controller version 1.3.6, but it relies on some obsolete networking-related Unity assemblies, so I'm assuming we'll need to upgrade to a more recent version of the character controller, either Third Person or Ultimate.

Before we do so, I have a few questions about how interaction between character controllers is handled. We're currently using the 3rd person controller for enemies, and an in-house rigidbody-based controller for the player. Our desired behavior is for the characters to push each other around depending on their masses, which currently works since the 1.x versions of Third Person Character Controller used rigidbodies.

Does the Third Person Character Controller support physics-style interaction between characters, with tunable mass and movement forces?

If so, would we need to upgrade to Ultimate and switch the player over to a first person controller to get the desired interaction, or would the enemies realistically push the player around as-is as they would with a physics based system?

 

[Justin]

Does the Third Person Character Controller support physics-style interaction between characters, with tunable mass and movement forces?

If all of the enemies are UCC characters then they will not push each other around. You'll instead need to create a new ability which applies a force specifically to the character controller when there is a collision. This ability would be really small but it would work well.

If so, would we need to upgrade to Ultimate and switch the player over to a first person controller to get the desired interaction, or would the enemies realistically push the player around as-is as they would with a physics based system?

You only need the Ultimate Character Controller if you want a first person view. Enemies can be created in any of the variants.

 

[Imp079]

Awesome, that's good news. Thanks!

 

[Imp079]

On a related note though, we originally purchased the Third Person Controller through the asset store. The latest version is listed as a new asset. Would we need to buy that version to upgrade?

 

[Justin]

Would we need to buy that version to upgrade?

Yes, you do. You also will have to remake your character completely from scratch, there isn't any sort of migration between the two versions. Any custom abilities that you created will also have to be redone, though the structure in version 2 is pretty similar to what it was in version 1.