# Soft Reference still being referenced as hard reference **URL:** \ **Category:** Programming & Scripting\ **Tags:** ustruct, object-reference, data-table, unreal-engine, Blueprint, question\ **Created:** [May 3, 2025, 5:48am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/soft-reference-still-being-referenced-as-hard-reference/2487944 "2025-05-03T05:48:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Zapking9224](https://d1ap1mz92jnks1.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.unrealengine.com/zapking9224/32/1060813_2.png) [@Zapking9224](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/Zapking9224)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2025, 5:48am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/soft-reference-still-being-referenced-as-hard-reference/2487944/1 "2025-05-03T05:48:05Z")
Hi! So I’m just doing some maintenance on a project I’ve been messing around on and I have a struct that is taking up some memory. I have a soft class reference as my WeaponToSpawn, however, it seems that it is taking up as much memory as a hard reference. So I checked the reference viewer and I was pretty sure that if it was actually a soft reference, it would be a pink line to that class/object. But it seems to just stay as the default white line. I tried changing the type of references around, saving, and reopening the window to see if it was maybe just updating weirdly but it doesn’t seem to be that. Any ideas or clarifications for this would be greatly appreciated! 🙂 ![image](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/3/e/6/3e65255d84458dc2c28dba758663a442506b5867.png) ![image](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/d/1/7/d17aaf56e0d23bfcbf0d5aeaf2bac3d4b3e34c83.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![ClockworkOcean](https://d1ap1mz92jnks1.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.unrealengine.com/clockworkocean/32/1169999_2.png) [@ClockworkOcean](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/ClockworkOcean)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2025, 6:52am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/soft-reference-still-being-referenced-as-hard-reference/2487944/2 "2025-05-03T06:52:31Z")
It’s the same as in a blueprint itself, you need to make it a soft actor ref. You can still assign it later, in the BP ![image](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/a/f/0/af0e83ad8a986fc9c8b506f99a49f2a1b7837e15.png) ![image](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/8/288a03a9cb5d53b888e608d445e2ef0cd8b557c4.png) ---
**Author:** ![Zapking9224](https://d1ap1mz92jnks1.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.unrealengine.com/zapking9224/32/1060813_2.png) [@Zapking9224](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/Zapking9224)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2025, 7:20am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/soft-reference-still-being-referenced-as-hard-reference/2487944/3 "2025-05-03T07:20:16Z")
Oh ok I see. So when would I want to use a soft reference to a specific class that I made instead of referencing a soft actor class? ---
**Author:** ![ClockworkOcean](https://d1ap1mz92jnks1.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.unrealengine.com/clockworkocean/32/1169999_2.png) [@ClockworkOcean](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/ClockworkOcean)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2025, 7:24am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/soft-reference-still-being-referenced-as-hard-reference/2487944/4 "2025-05-03T07:24:25Z")
I think you’d never want to use a soft ref to a specific class 🙂 The moment you mention a class, that’s it, boom, hard link. Have you tried it in the editor yet? It’s pretty self explanatory when you get there. Just make it actor type, but you can assign it in the details, even though it’s still not a specific instance. ---
**Author:** ![Zapking9224](https://d1ap1mz92jnks1.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.unrealengine.com/zapking9224/32/1060813_2.png) [@Zapking9224](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/Zapking9224)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2025, 7:26am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/soft-reference-still-being-referenced-as-hard-reference/2487944/5 "2025-05-03T07:26:38Z")
Interesting… Well I’ll do that from now on and see where that takes me! Thank you so much for your help and explanations! I really appreciate it! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ClockworkOcean](https://d1ap1mz92jnks1.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.unrealengine.com/clockworkocean/32/1169999_2.png) [@ClockworkOcean](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/ClockworkOcean)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2025, 7:31am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/soft-reference-still-being-referenced-as-hard-reference/2487944/6 "2025-05-03T07:31:43Z")
Yeah, it’s a little strange isn’t it. Just making it soft seems like it should be enough, but I guess I can also see the logic of making it ‘actor’ and then stashing the specific class in the details. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/7/1/3/713c9d3f58553f0de89543d76a8a3a2779dc9fa4.png) [@system](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2025, 7:31am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/soft-reference-still-being-referenced-as-hard-reference/2487944/7 "2025-06-02T07:31:48Z")
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