Release Notes¶
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A short note on each release: what's new, what's fixed, what to watch for when upgrading. The newest release is at the top.
This is the demo edition. Every feature works exactly like the full plugin; only the volume of use is limited — a budget of 5 distinct item types per play session, an on-screen watermark, and no activation in Shipping builds. See Demo Limitations for the details.
1.0¶
The first release. Unreal Engine 5.7 and 5.8.
What the plugin can do¶
Items as data. An item type is a Data Asset with a list of fragments. Five
shipped fragments: Stackable, Equippable, Consumable, Durability,
Weight. Your own are written in Blueprint or C++ and are no more limited than
the built-in ones.
Inventory. Slots or an unlimited mode, a weight limit, tag filters, restrictions on individual slot ranges, a starting kit. Add, remove, move between inventories, split stacks, quick move, sort, compact stacks.
Equipment. Slots are set by tags — your project defines the body plan. Visual actors are created locally and cost no traffic. Aggregate stats across everything worn.
World objects. Loot tables with two roll modes, containers with lazy
filling, items on the ground that keep their state when dropped and picked up.
Pickup is one TryCollect call on the player's inventory, which finds its own
way to the server.
Examples included. Seven ready Data Assets in Content/Demo/Items — a
sword, shield, helmet, torch, potion, ore and relic. Together they cover all
five fragments and every typical combination; pick them apart or delete them.
Multiplayer. One API for both modes: in single-player calls run in place and
create no RPC, on a client they forward themselves to the server. Replication
via FFastArraySerializer — one slot changes, one slot is sent.
Serialization. ExportState / ImportState hand you plain structs to embed
in your USaveGame. Item types are written as paths, so a save survives a
restart and patches.
Debugging. An interactive inspector (DemoInvOverlay) — it not only shows the
contents but lets you grant, use, equip and remove items right from the panel.
Plus 15 console commands, a detailed log, and asset validation at startup. All
disabled in Shipping.
Architecture¶
The plugin is split into three modules:
| Module | Purpose |
|---|---|
InventorySystemDemo |
core; no Slate/UMG dependency |
InventorySystemDemoWorld |
chests, items on the ground, loot tables |
InventorySystemDemoDebug |
the inspector and commands; the only module with UI |
A project that only needs inventories on characters can skip World
altogether. A dedicated server never links the UI.
Known limitations¶
Things the plugin deliberately doesn't do — so you don't spend time looking for them.
No ready UI. The plugin gives data and events; you draw the grid, tooltips and drag-and-drop yourself. No two games show an inventory the same way, so a built-in widget would end up being worked around. How to do it — 08 — Building the UI.
No effect system. The Consumable fragment reports the tags of what was
consumed, and what "heal 50" means is decided by your game. This is an
integration point with the Gameplay Ability System or your own system.
No grid with item shapes. Slots are uniform; an item takes exactly one slot whether it's a sword or a ring. A "Tetris" inventory like Diablo or Escape from Tarkov isn't supported.
No built-in interaction system. Containers and pickups have no mesh or
collision: a game with a trigger volume, a game with a trace and a game with
cursor-click want different things. Add your own and call TryCollect on the
player's inventory (for items on the ground) or Open on the container from the
server side of your interaction.
No currency as a separate entity. The simplest way is to make it an ordinary item with a big stack — 11 — Recipes.
The inventory isn't private. Contents replicate to all observers of the owning actor, not just the owner. This follows from the same component serving both a player's backpack and a chest whose contents everyone should see.
The consumable cooldown is simple. Shared per item type, with no categories
and no persistence between sessions. Build more complex schemes on the
OnConsumableUsed event.
Compatibility¶
The plugin works with UE 5.7 and 5.8.
It doesn't require particular base classes (Character, PlayerState,
GameMode), a particular input system or project structure, so it adds to an
existing project with no rework.
Both of UE's subobject replication mechanisms are supported — the plugin follows the one your project chose and forces nothing.