I’m using a TArray of USTRUCTs, each with a TAssetSubclassOf UPROPERTY field called AssetPtr, like so:
UPROPERTY(EditAnywhere)
TAssetSubclassOf<UQuestAsset> AssetPtr;
I go through each and call AssetPtr.LoadSynchronous() to process the referenced asset and load it into memory.
As it turns out, TAssetSubclassOf use weak pointers underneath the surface, so it makes sense that the referenced assets might get unloaded at some point.
But what seems odd is that when the WeakPtr is set to null, I also notice that the ObjectID and AssetLongPathname members within TAssetSubclassOf are reset to empty as well.
When I made a separate TAssetSubclassOf field in the struct that was not a UPROPERTY, I got these results:
TAssetSubclassOf<UQuestAsset> AssetPtrNotUProperty; // stale pointer, but valid AssetLongPathname
UPROPERTY(EditAnywhere)
TAssetSubclassOf<UQuestAsset> AssetPtr; // stale pointer and empty AssetLongPathname
So though the weak pointer was stale in the non-UPROPERTY version, the asset path information was preserved.
I’m guessing that the distinction is that garbage collection processed the UPROPERTY version of TAssetSubclassOf and not the other. But is it intentional for FAssetPtrs to lose the asset pathname information when their underlying weak pointers are null, or is that a bug? Am I misuing TAssetSubclassOf somehow?