I bought the book “Learning C++ by creating games with UE4” by William Sherif.
The code seems not up to date with the UE4 API.
the question is: Is the API backwards compatible between UE4 versions (e.g. 4.5 and 4.7)? And if not, is there a change log available?
You do not every time get warnings during compile time if backwards compatibility was broken.
For example: if the font type that you can later on set in blueprint was included in one bigger function and now is not anymore, but is just in another function, then all will compile fine, just the font type will be missing later on. You would just have to call the other function now. But if you do not know about it, then you are stranded. (page 183 in the book)
If Epic Games change API calls without backwards compatibility, then the book is already outdated! It was written in
2014, most likely on UE 4.5. It was released February 2015, now is UE 4.7! The book has clearly laid out examples and costs $40.
Youtube videos and other sources would be hit too by something like this. (The book is there to not have to watch those though)
Hey PolyPlant!
NisshokuZK from the other thread you posted about this topic answered this pretty well. It is hard to keep things compatible between versions when the API can change so quickly. We have the API reference, but even there we have the top disclaimer of early work in progress and some info may be missing or out of date. As for keeping up with the API changes we try our best to document them in the Release Notes. 4.7 notes are a nice example as we have the C++ API Breaking Changes section.
As for the book, this would be the issue with books in general with the topic of a game engine, as things change so rapidly the book will fall out of date easily. And with Sherif’s book, it was an independent project. The Epic team had no affiliation with this book. I am sure if you reached out to the author they could provide some insight to the specific pages and info within the book you are referencing and have concerns about.
Note: since this is answered in another thread as well already, I will probably delete this soon to clear up the Doc feedback forum.
Thanks.
Please delete the other thread and let this one here stay. Your reply is more informative.
Please really keep the API reference up to date as soon as sth changes!
Changes without accurate changelog is what drove away countless people from with serious projects from CryEngine. It is also kind of common sense to do it if you develop for users.
Just ended the book, my eyes hurt!! my follow up “game” ended without the main character moving and my mosters doesnt die from spells, but all the other things seem OK I guess, here are the notes I took about “compatibility”
And finally a litle note
By the way, the code seem like a old and a new mix… I mean IIRC they where parts where there where TSubobjectPtr where used on the h and other times where (actual) pointer usage was made…