The **Save/Load Manager(AC\_SaveLoadManager)** is a highly versatile component designed to manage all saving and loading operations. It tracks saved data, interacts with the selected save slot stored in the **Game Instance**, and uses **FInstancedStructs** to handle diverse data types. This ensures modularity and flexibility, allowing any type of game data to be saved or loaded seamlessly.
It is added to the **PlayerController** class by default **(PC\_SoulslikeFramework).**
### Functionality
* Works with the **Game Instance** to determine which save slot to handle.
* Utilizes **FInstancedStruct** to save and load any type of data (e.g., stats, inventory, equipment, world state).
* Converts data into serialized structures for storage and retrieval.
* **Dynamic Save/Load Functionality**:
* Saves game data dynamically based on the active save slot.
* **Event-Driven Updates**:
* Dispatches events to notify other components or systems when data is loaded.
### **How It Works**
Main method - **Event UpdateSaveData:** Utilized to add/update our save data. Any type of data can be stored/retrieved in the save file thanks to **Instanced Structures:**
Additionally, helper method - **Event AddToSaveData:** Used to add new data to an existing data entry:
These events are triggered from various blueprints. If you'd like to see where, see our page related to [Finding References](https://soulslike-framework.isik.vip/getting-started/finding-references).
### Saving Components
Each component has a method of "serializing" their data into a savable structure format:
Example from AC_EquipmentManager
This method adds the related save data to the main data we have in our save/load component. Each component that has data that needs to be saved implements a similar method.
Additionally, **AC\_SaveLoadManager** has methods for serializing all of the components.
When the save data inside **AC\_SaveLoadManager** is updated, data will be saved into file.
### Loading Components
The save/load manager sends a message which **each component that requires loading** listens to:
When this dispatcher is called, each component that is listening to it will execute a relevant method:
Example from AC_InventoryManager
### Saving World Actors (Interactables & NPC's)
Actors that need to be saved require a unique identifier. For this, we utilize **GUID's** in Soulslike Framework. Actors without a valid GUID won't be considered for saving:
For example, when this container actor (B\_Container) is interacted with, it calls a method to update our save data:
Method screenshot from B_Interactable
After our save data has changed/updated, it gets serialized and saved automatically into a file.
### Loading World Actors (Pickup Items, Interactables, NPC's)
Similarly, actors that require loading bind to AC\_SaveLoadManager's **OnDataLoaded()** delegate. This way, when data is loaded, we can execute any desired logic.
