Virtual Joystick Control for Pixel Streamed Games

Pixel-streamed Unreal Engine games can be controlled using a virtual joystick, allowing players to navigate and interact directly from their streaming device for a more accessible gaming experience.

To enable this feature, use Pixel Streaming messaging to detect the user's device. Based on the detected device, you can show or hide the virtual joystick accordingly. If you are not familiar with the basics of Pixel Streaming messaging, check this link.

You can also download Eagle's feature template from this link to see an example of how it is implemented.

Getting Device information from eagle

You can get device information at any time by sending a Pixel Streaming message with the following JSON payload: {"cmd":"sendDeviceInfo","value":""}.

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After sending this message, Eagle's system will respond with a message named "userDeviceInfo".

To parse the "userDeviceInfo'' message, first set up an event that will be triggered when the message is received. Use the image below to create your event, or copy the text from this link (compatible with UE5.2). Additionally, you can refer to "E3DSbpLib" Blueprint function library in Eagle's feature template for more details.

Event Handling

When Eagle responds with the "userDeviceInfo" message, you can get device information through the following JSON hierarchy:

{ "userDeviceInfo":{"os": { "name": "#OperatingSystemName" }}}

To get the name field, use the image below as a reference. You can also copy this code or refer to Eagle's feature template "Multiplayer_PC"  player controller Blueprint for more details.

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Show or Hide the Virtual Joystick

Based on the OS name, you can call an event or function to show or hide the joystick. To do this, you need to have previously implemented a touch interface in your player controller and disable or enable it based on your needs. In Eagle's feature template, this function is called ShowTouchInterface (implemented in the "E3DSbpLib" blueprint function library).