I have a BPI_Interact interface
This is what it looks like in the reference viewer with no references and therefore no dependencies
When I add a SOFT reference, the reference viewer now looks like this
Why???
PS: posting links to images as well as images because sometimes images disappear
Try just using type ‘actor’ 
( then you can just use a hard ref )
This is because interfaces decouple things without the need for soft refs.
Ok that works but it confuses me haha
So like you said, I’ve changed the BP_Character interface reference to Actor (not a soft reference in the interface)
Then over in my interactive prop blueprint (in this case a ladder), I implement the interact event, I can take the Actor reference, cast it as a Character and it’s still decoupled/not dependent/doesn’t show up in the reference viewer - this is good and expected based on your reply
BUT if I do the same thing and instead cast to BP_Character rather than Character, it IS coupled/dependent/shows up in the reference viewer
Are you able to explain to me why this is the case?
The whole point of interfaces is, no more casting
When you cast, you will get dependencies. You have to talk to actors without casting.
Your ladder can’t access the character moment component. If it does, it ‘knows’ it’s a character and everything is lost.
You have 3 main options
The ladder just moves the player only by knowing it’s an actor
The ladder also uses an interface to get tell the player to do certain things
The player knows how to climb ladders only by knowing they are actors
Hmm that turns this into more of a head scratcher than i anticipated. Thanks for your help!
Yes, sorry, that’s the problem
If you have a tight coupling ( as it’s called ) between the player and the ladder, it means that the ladder concept ( including all textures, code etc ) is loaded all the time your player is loaded.
You can still have a tight coupling if you have a special player you only load for traversing ladders. That’s a possibility. Many methods…
Yes the coupling is exactly what I was hoping to avoid by using interfaces - but I was surprised to see that adding references as inputs on interface functions still leads to coupling anyway regardless of whether the reference is hard or soft🙄
You basically can’t mention the type of an object in your blueprint. The moment you mention the type, you create a bond. Casting, and even just having a variable count as mentioning the type
You passed an actor reference, all good, but then you casted it, doh, game over
So really the only stuff you can pass through an interface (if you want to avoid coupling) is these?
Yup, just generic types.
