{"id":433,"date":"2021-11-22T13:22:22","date_gmt":"2021-11-22T13:22:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalgoodplay.com\/?p=433"},"modified":"2022-11-07T09:59:44","modified_gmt":"2022-11-07T09:59:44","slug":"saving-and-loading-game-data-with-blueprints-and-c-in-unreal-engine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalgoodplay.com\/?p=433","title":{"rendered":"Saving And Loading Game Data With Blueprints And C++ In Unreal Engine"},"content":{"rendered":"
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No matter what type of game you are creating you will need a system that will save and load the data about the progress in your game.<\/p>\n

In this post we are going to take a look at how can we create save\/load system with Blueprints and C++.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Important Information Before We Start<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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This tutorial is not for complete beginners. To follow this tutorial you will have to know your way around Unreal Engine, Blueprints and C++.<\/p>\n

It is not required that you are an expert in Blueprints and C++, but it is required that you know the basics, and you are comfortable creating simple games using Blueprints and C++.<\/p>\n

For this tutorial I am using the ThirdPerson template project, so if you want to follow along with the tutorial create a new project and select the ThirdPerson template so that you have the same set up as I.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Modeling Game Data Blueprint<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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To demonstrate how saving and loading game data works let us create a basic example that will save and load an Integer variable.<\/div>\n
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The first thing we need to do is create a SaveGame Blueprint. I have created a Blueprints folder in my project and this is where I am going to store my Blueprints, you will of course store yours in the appropriate folder for your game.<\/div>\n
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To create the SaveGame Blueprint, Right Click -> Blueprint Class, and in the search bar type savegame:<\/div>\n
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Give the new Blueprint name GameData. Now open GameData Blueprint in the editor, and under My Blueprint tab create a new variable type of Integer and name it score:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Create A Custom Game Instance Blueprint<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The one who is going to be responsible for saving and loading game data is our game instance. The reason why I am using game instance for this task is because can carry our game instance across our whole game, so no matter in which map we are in, we can use the game instance to save and load game data.<\/p>\n

To create a game instance Right Click -> Blueprint Class, and in the search bar type game instance:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Name the new Blueprint BP_MyGameInstance. Open BP_MyGameInstance Blueprint in the editor and in My Blueprints tab create two variables, one called Save Slot Name type of String, and the other Game Data type of GameData Blueprint that we created.<\/p>\n

Select the Save Slot Name variable, and in the Details tab under Default Value type GameData:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Initializing Game Data<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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In the Event Graph tab of BP_MyGameInstance Blueprint we are going to initialize our game data. This means that when the game starts, we are going to check if the game data exists, if that is true we will load the game data, if the game data doesn\u2019t exist, that means we are running the game for the first time so we need to create a new game data.<\/p>\n

This is how we are going to do that:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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You can copy the nodes from here:<\/div>\n
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