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04 — Fragments

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A fragment is one capability of an item. An item type has no behaviour of its own: it only lists fragments, and they do all the work.

The main rule: fragments are shared

The fragment object lives inside the asset ISItemDefinition. There is one for the whole game, shared by every instance of that item.

If a hundred players are holding torches, all hundred torches point at the same UISDemoFragment_Durability object.

That's why every hook is declared const, and writing into a fragment field at runtime is always a bug:

// WRONG - changes the asset for every torch in the game at once
CurrentDurability -= 1.0f;

// RIGHT - changes only the torch that was used
Instance->ModifyStatValue(ISDemoTags::Stat_Durability, -1.0f);

The mutable state of a particular copy is stored in UISDemoItemInstance::StatValues — a list of numeric values keyed by tags.

A side effect worth remembering. An item that has even one value in StatValues never merges into a stack — see 01 — Core Concepts.

Stackable — several copies in one slot

Field Description
MaxStackSize how many copies fit in one slot (minimum 2)

Without this fragment an item takes a slot per copy.

Typical values: 99 for materials and currency, 20 for potions, 5–10 for bulky things.

The fragment alone doesn't guarantee that two instances will merge into a stack: CanStackWith is responsible for that, and an instance's individual state always has the last word. If an item has its own data — Durability, say — two instances with different values will never merge, even if both stack. Otherwise a chipped sword could "dissolve" into a pile of new ones. So Stackable + Durability together only makes sense when the item starts without an individual stamp and picks up wear afterward.

Equippable — the item can be worn

Field Description
EquipmentSlot the default slot — where the item goes when no destination is named
AlternativeSlots other slots the item can also live in — what makes two hands and TrySwapSlots possible
EquippedActorClass an actor that appears when equipped (optional)
AttachSocketName a socket on the character's mesh
AttachOffset a transform tweak after attachment
GrantedStats stats the item grants while worn

The slot named here must be present in the equipment component's AvailableSlots — otherwise the item has nowhere to be equipped.

The visual actor is created locally on each machine and is not replicated. So a sword in a character's hand costs no traffic beyond the slot entry itself.

GrantedStats are declarative: the plugin only sums them via GetTotalStatValue, and what "armour 12" means is decided by your game. Details in 06 — Equipment.

One item, one slot. A ring that fits either of two slots isn't expressed here directly: give both slots a shared tag (Equipment.Slot.Accessory.Ring) and open several such slots on the character.

Consumable — the item is spent

Field Description
ConsumeAmount how many copies one use spends
MaxCharges charges per copy (0 = copies are spent)
bDestroyWhenChargesSpent destroy after the last charge
EffectTags what exactly should happen — in your terms
UseCooldown minimum seconds between uses

Two modes

Stack mode (MaxCharges = 0) — a potion, once drunk, disappears.

Charges mode (MaxCharges > 0) — the item stays in the slot spending charges: a wand of 10 spells, a lantern with fuel, a medkit with 3 uses.

The effect is yours to implement

The fragment does the bookkeeping — spends a copy or a charge — and reports what was consumed, through EffectTags. It never applies effects itself.

This is deliberate: "restore 50 health" means something different in every project, and a plugin that tried to guess would be wrong in most of them.

Subscribe once — in the GameMode, for example:

void AMyGameMode::BeginPlay()
{
    Super::BeginPlay();

    // The event lives on the world subsystem, not on the fragment class: the
    // fragment is shared by the whole game, and a static on it would be shared
    // by every world in the process too. In PIE the server and client would
    // hear each other's uses.
    if (UISDemoInventoryWorldSubsystem* Subsystem = UISDemoInventoryWorldSubsystem::Get(this))
    {
        Subsystem->OnConsumableUsed.AddDynamic(this, &AMyGameMode::HandleConsumableUsed);
    }
}

void AMyGameMode::HandleConsumableUsed(
    UISDemoItemInstance* Item, AActor* Instigator, const FGameplayTagContainer& EffectTags)
{
    if (EffectTags.HasTag(MyTags::Effect_Heal))
    {
        ApplyHealing(Instigator, 50.0f);
    }
    else if (EffectTags.HasTag(MyTags::Effect_RestoreMana))
    {
        ApplyMana(Instigator, 30.0f);
    }
}

If you use the Gameplay Ability System, this is the natural place to apply a GameplayEffect by tag.

UseCooldown is a deliberately simple cooldown: one per fragment, shared by every player in the world. For single-player that's what you want; for a competitive game, obviously not, because two players would share one potion timer. Per-player cooldowns, cooldown categories and a UI countdown belong to your systems: leave UseCooldown at zero and count them yourself by subscribing to OnConsumableUsed.

The cooldown itself is stored by UISDemoInventoryWorldSubsystem — it disappears with the world. That's exactly why it isn't a static field on the fragment: a static would survive a PIE session and mix the time of the server and client worlds, which in the editor live in one process.

Durability — the item wears down

Field Description
MaxDurability durability of a new copy
DurabilityPerUse how much one use costs
bDestroyWhenBroken destroy on reaching zero
bCannotUseWhenBroken don't allow using a broken item

The fragment is completely self-contained: it stamps full durability on a new copy, deducts wear, and refuses to use a broken tool — all by itself. The inventory core knows nothing about durability.

Useful functions: GetDurabilityPercent (0–1, handy for a bar), IsBroken, Repair.

Wear not from use. Set DurabilityPerUse = 0 if your game damages equipment from elsewhere (taking a hit, environmental exposure), and call ModifyStatValue directly.

Weight — the item has weight

Field Description
UnitWeight weight of one copy

Counted only by inventories with a non-zero MaxWeight. Otherwise the value is purely informational — the UI can display it.

The unit is yours: kilograms, pounds, abstract "load units". The plugin only compares the sum against the limit.

A custom fragment

In Blueprint

  1. Create a Blueprint class with ISItemFragment as the parent.
  2. Override the events you need.
  3. Add it to the Fragments array of any item.

No C++ required.

In C++

UCLASS(DisplayName = "Soulbound")
class UISFragment_Soulbound : public UISDemoItemFragment
{
    GENERATED_BODY()

public:
    // Remember the owner when a copy is created.
    virtual void OnInstanceCreated_Implementation(UISDemoItemInstance* Instance) const override
    {
        // Write state to the instance, not to the fragment's fields.
        Instance->SetStatValue(MyTags::Stat_BoundTo, 0.0f);
    }

    // Forbid the item from entering someone else's inventory.
    virtual bool CanBeAddedTo_Implementation(
        UISDemoItemInstance* Instance,
        UISDemoInventoryComponent* Inventory,
        FText& OutReason) const override
    {
        if (!BelongsTo(Instance, Inventory))
        {
            OutReason = NSLOCTEXT("MyGame", "Bound", "This item belongs to someone else.");
            return false;
        }
        return true;
    }
};

The OutReason text reaches the player through the OnAddRejected event — show it as a popup.

How to spend the item from a fragment

Instance->ConsumeFromContainer(1);   // this way

This is a request to whoever holds the item — no matter whether it's an inventory or an equipment slot. Don't look up the slot index yourself:

// NO - a worn item has no slot index, and this call silently does nothing
UISDemoInventoryComponent* Inv = Instance->GetOwningInventory();
Inv->TryRemoveItemFromSlot(Inv->FindSlotOfInstance(Instance), 1);

This is exactly what the built-in Consumable once tripped over: a drunk worn flask announced its effect and wasn't spent.

The same goes for writing a stat: SetStatValue finds whoever holds the item itself, flags the slot for replication and raises the event — for both a backpack and equipment.

Hook reference

Lifecycle

Hook When it's called
OnInstanceCreated right after a new copy is created — set starting values here
OnAddedToInventory the item entered an inventory
OnRemovedFromInventory the item is leaving an inventory (still inside)

OnInstanceCreated is not called on a stack split, a move or a save load — otherwise a broken item would "heal" from every transfer.

Vetoes — every fragment must agree

Hook Question
CanBeAddedTo can the item be added to this inventory?
CanStackWith can two stacks merge?
CanBeUsed can the item be used right now?

One false stops the action. The OutReason text is shown to the player.

Actions

Hook When
IsUsable whether "use" makes sense for this item at all
OnUsed apply the use effect
OnEquipped / OnUnequipped the item was equipped / is being unequipped

Value modifiers

Hook What it does
ModifyMaxStackSize affects the stack size
ModifyUnitWeight affects the unit weight

These two work as a chain: the value passes through every fragment in turn. That's why an item without Stackable has a stack of 1 — nobody changed the initial value.

Determinism is mandatory. Query hooks (CanStackWith, ModifyMaxStackSize, ModifyUnitWeight) run on clients too. If a client computes a different stack size than the server, the player sees a desynchronised inventory.

Hooks that change state (OnUsed, OnAddedToInventory, OnEquipped…) run on the server only.

Where to next