Using a static mesh from a plugin causing an externally referenced warning when saving map

Development Pipeline & Plugins Plugins
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1

I am using a static mesh from a plugin. When I load/save level I get following warning:

Warning BP_VaOcean_C_1 StaticMeshComponent /Game/Maps/Minimal_Default.Minimal_Default:PersistentLevel.BP_VaOcean_C_1.StaticMesh1 : Externally referenced

I assume it is because my plugins directory is in my project root as opposed to within content directory. Have I got plugins directory in wrong location (I want to be able to browse source) or do I need to copy any content that I want to use out of plugins directory and into my content directory?

Additionally, documentation does not explain this warning:

Thanks.

2

Hey ,

Which plugin are you using? Can you link me to it so I can test this?

error is telling you file name is too long, but it looks like you have it named StaticMesh1? What are you calling mesh when you create it in plugin? It might be that your plugin is giving it an excessively long name.

You may also be correct about needing plugin directory to be in another location, but I’d like to see what this particular plugin is doing and where it is putting your content. Thanks!

3

Sure, plugin is VaOcean. I am using source code rather than a pre-compiled version. Yeah, all names are pretty normal, longest mesh name is OceanSurface_Full_32k. Could it be since directory structure is wrong, it is referencing it via a full path (hence too long a name)?

My directory structure is like:

  • Project root
    • Content
      • // my assets
    • Plugins
      • VaOceanPlugin
        • VaOceanPlugin.plugin
        • Content
        • Source
    • Source etc…
4

Hey ,

I was never able to reproduce this issue. I wanted to check in with you and see if you are still experiencing this with latest version of VaOcean and latest version of engine. If so, does this happen with other plugins as well? Thanks!

5

Yeah I still have it (been working around by copying BPs in to content directory). I haven’t tried with any other plugins, is there an easy plugin with content I can try?

6

Not that I’m aware of. I’m also trying to reproduce this in 4.4, but I can’t get plugin to work at all. Are you still using 4.3?

7

No, using 4.4.1 off Github, never tried 4.3, went from 4.2.1 to 4.4 (though seems unlikely it briefly worked in 4.3!) Are you running 4.4 version of plugin?

8

Ah, it was my mistake, I wasn’t compiling project properly. See my answer below for what I discovered.

9

Hey ,

I messed around with this some, and I was able to get that error to pop up. It doesn’t have anything to do with placement of your Plugins folder, which I replicated for this test. If you only drop VAOceanStateActorSimple into level, way instructions are written, that error will occur every time. Once I dropped BP_VaOceanSimple into level as well, and pointed its GetAllActorsOfClass node to get Actor Class VaOceanStateActorSimple, ocean worked as intended and error does not appear.

Please follow these steps and let me know if you still get that error or any others. Otherwise, I believe this is just a problem with instructions on plugin creator’s wiki page.

10

Sorry for delayed response, not been on this project for a little while. My setup is a little different from plugins default setup - I’m not using VaOceanStateActorSimple. I have a blueprint inside my content that depends on assets from both plugin and my own content. If I create a new empty level and place only this asset in it and perform a map check I get following errors:

Warning BP_VaOceanDynamic_13 VaOceanSimulatorComponent /Game/Maps/Test.Test:PersistentLevel.BP_VaOceanDynamic_13.VaOceanSimulator1 : Externally referenced Warning BP_VaOceanDynamic_13 StaticMeshComponent /Game/Maps/Test.Test:PersistentLevel.BP_VaOceanDynamic_13.StaticMesh1 : Externally referenced Warning BP_VaOceanDynamic_13 VaOceanSimulatorComponent /Game/Maps/Test.Test:PersistentLevel.BP_VaOceanDynamic_13.VaOceanSimulator1 : Externally referenced

Surely an asset from my Content directory can depend on content from plugin and from game as game is essentially a leaf in dependency tree.

11

It’s been awhile, and I don’t have my test project set up anymore to check, but if I recall correctly two actors relied on each other to function properly. If you’re not using one, I’ll need to see what exactly is happening. Would you be able to create a test project in which this error occurs, and upload it somewhere so I can take a look? Thanks!

Also, out of curiosity, in your Content Browser, do you have Show Plugin Content enabled in View Options? I’m not sure it would make a difference, but I know you can’t reference plugin assets in a BP unless that is enabled so maybe having it disabled is causing a problem? Worth looking anyway.

12

OK, sorry for delay, I’ve produced a minimal example which creates this warning. It has a blueprint in games content that depends on assets from plugin which is then dropped in level. This causes error. Should be able to grab it from here:

13

Thanks. Is this test project using 4.4.1 from GitHub as well, or a different version?

14

Still 4.4.1 yeah :slight_smile:

15

I haven’t been able to compile project you sent. Are you certain you haven’t made any changes to your source code? Would you mind recreating this using binary version or a new instance of GitHub 4.4.1?

16

Hey ,

I’m going to mark this post as resolved for now. If you can recreate issue using binary version or a new instance of GitHub 4.4.1 build, please upload it and reopen this post. Thanks!