Using .pak Files for Dynamic Asset Loading and Spawning in Unreal Engine

Development Programming & Scripting
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Hi,

I’m developing an app where I need to load assets externally. The app starts with a default actor player, and I have a Blueprint actor class (e.g., BP_MainPlayer). Additionally, there’s a JSON file that gets updated from the network when the app opens. This JSON file includes asset data such as paths, images, and names.

The game UI updates based on this JSON file, and the assets are downloaded into a separate folder. I need to spawn the actor when the player presses a UI button after the download is complete.

I plan to use .pak files for this.

My questions are:

  1. Using Unreal .pak files, can I achieve this workflow?
  2. If I have a BP_MainPlayer class in both Pack 1 and Pack 2, how can I differentiate between them and spawn the correct one based on the UI input?
  3. Is this approach feasible, or would you recommend a different method?

I’m looking for functionality similar to Asset Bundles in Unity 3D.

Thanks in advance for your insights!