How do I "Front Load" Object files that are currently being loaded asynchronously

Development Programming & Scripting
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1

tl;dr: special effect assets are loading asynchronously. This is bad. How do I load these files at the same time the Level loads?

I wrote better details below. Thanks in advance to anyone that can help!

Background:

I’m creating a Plugin that reorganizes special effects into a special UClass I wrote. This makes them more designer-friendly, (there’s more features I want to keep quiet, though).

Problem:

But these assets are loading asynchronously (i.e. at runtime), and that is bad when they’re fired by an AnimNotifyState. The effect might load after NotifyEnd(…) runs, so I need to figure this out.

Solution:

So, I want these all loaded during the startup process, when the level loads.

Implementation:

I have no idea how to do this. My current guess is, I override PostLoad() in the GameModeBase class. I wrote code to find all AActors that own a copy of the Plugin’s Component, and copy the TSoftObjectPtrs each sound and particle effect that can be fired. And then I was hoping to make a call from the UAssetManager, but I think those are all Asynchronous, too.

I do not know the first thing about loading assets during the level load, and the documentation for asset management is incredibly complicated. Can anyone help me solve this problem?

2

You can create an actor that you place below the level and have it execute the FX on load, therefore having them loaded in while the level loads.

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3

i’d use the asset registry to find them and async load them in the GameMode BeginPlay behind a load screen.

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4

I’m reading up on the Asset Registry. The documentation says it’s a Subsystem associated with the Editor. It will probably work when I test the game in PIE, but do you know if it works in standalone builds?

5

So here is what I did, and this worked pretty well…

I took your suggestion, and in my Subsystem’s OnWorldBeginPlay(UWorld& InWorld) function I grabbed the AssetManager and the StreamableManager. I used those to build Object Libraries and from them Synchronously load the files from FAssetData. Something like…

UObjectLibrary* AssetTypeObjectLibrary = UObjectLibrary::CreateLibrary(UAssetClass::StaticClass(), true, GIsEditor);
AssetTypeObjectLibrary->AddToRoot();
int32 AssetCount = _PresentationFXObjectLibrary->LoadBlueprintAssetDataFromPath(TEXT(“/Game/Path/Where/All/Assets/Found”));
TArray Data;
AssetTypeObjectLibrary->GetAssetDataList(_PEGData);
for (const FAssetData& AData : Data)
{
StreamableManager.LoadSynchronous(FSoftObjectPath or TSoftObjectPtr)
}

Thank you so much for your help!

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