What is a Persistent Level?

Development World Creation
1

Heeeyo!
What is a Persistent Level? I watched a few tutorials, but the base concept of PL is lost to me.
When I load up Unreal, and create a few Maps, I see them listed under the PL. I know I can load and unload, but what is that really doing?
Can I have multiple PLs? Is it like Photoshop, where there are layers? Are Maps just layers in a PL?

I see some people making a Menu map, then loading/starting the game, is this a sublevel that just gets the “eyeball”- visibility, turned off?

I’m prototyping a game that has a Menu, the Game Level, and a Inventory Menu -where the player can customize their weapon. Are these all different PL, or are these Sublevels, or a mix of both?

Thanks,

  • Nick
2

The persistent level is a level that is “always” loaded even if it has nothing in it

3

You can treat the Persistent Level like a “parent” level. It is the level in which all of the sublevels are loaded. It can be empty, or it can contain objects which are going to be always loaded, even if you unload all sublevels.

2 Likes
4

Every map you create is itself a persistent level.
You usually have a “Master Map”. This is your actual Persistent Level.
You can then stream other Maps into it.

3 Likes
5

i usually divide my main map into levels so that if i want to work on landscape for instance, i can hide all the trees in the vegetation level…

1 Like
6

Thank you all for the info. :slight_smile:

7

using levels can also help in keeping the world outliner manageable… when you click the ‘view options’ for ‘only in current level’ all the other stuff won’t be visible when ‘inventory’ is the current level… luck

1 Like
8

Sorry northstar but is there any document on the division of the map?
I would like to learn about your way of working
Thank you for your trouble

9

levels are really just for one of two reasons… 1. just to organize your work, 2. if you want to stream in different levels at different times in the game with BP’s… i generally just have one map, so mine is mainly for organization… but thats not to say that if, down the road, i want to put in a portal to another world… i can still do that too… i don’t think there are any real rules on how you set it up, it’s just a personal choice…

10

A persistent level is just a Map. It is the map that is loaded first and stays loaded. You can then load/unload other maps into this persistent level. Any map can be the persistent level there is nothing special about it. Many times the persistent level is kept empty for organizational purposes. Though it doesn’t need to be, it is just another map.

3 Likes