dc20-dev / actorpoolplugin

An Unreal Engine 5 plugin that provides an easy way to pool objects

ActorPoolPlugin

An Unreal Engine 5 plugin that provides an easy way to pool objects like bullets and similar.

Installation

clone the repository in a folder (ActorPoolPlugin name is suggested) and put that inside Plugins folder in your project (if there isn't one create it), then restart the editor.

Usage

First make sure that the plugin is enabled; you can do that by going to Edit/Plugins, and in the Plugins window search for ActorPoolPlugin: the plugin is enabled when the tick is checked!

The plugin exposes two main classes: UActorPoolComponent and APoolableActor. These two classes can also be found in blueprints.

UActorPoolComponent

This class is an actor component and can be attached to any actor.

It exposes two fields named Actors Count and Actor Class: the first one takes an integer number and it is used to specify the size of the pool, while the latter Requires an APoolableActor class reference, which will tell to the component what actors to use to poulate the pool.

Note: These fields are avialable only in the class defaults (Blueprint), don't try to change them at runtime!

To Initialize the pool you must call the Init Pool method and call it from the Event BeginPlay to actually populate and activate the pooling system.

APoolableActor

This class is a child of AActor and implements all the required functionalities to work with the pool component. To use it create a new Blueprint (or a class) and derive it from APoolableActor and then implement your logic as whatever the actor should do.

To then allow the bullets to return to their pool the Reset method (the one under Behaviour category) must be called; Remember to call it after every other reset logic your poolable actor has to run (ex. reset an explosion timer back to 0).

Features

• APoolableActor automatically deactivates, hides itself and goes back to the pool: Super Easy!

• APoolableActor automatically destroys itself if the owning pool has been destroyed, ensuring that there is no garbage left around.

• Similarly, if the APoolableActor is active and running in game, it will ignore the destruction of the pool (unless differently specified) and will finish its lifetime before destroying itself.

• UActorPoolComponent automatically initializes the pool and manages the actors, both dead and alive in game, all you will need is to initialize and forget about it!