FAQ

Do I have to use Craftwright’s inventory?

No. Craftwright works with any inventory that implements its five-function Craftwright Inventory interface: count, list, remove, add and room. Write a small adapter component for your inventory in Blueprint or C++, and map your items to Craftwright items by class, asset or id. The built-in inventory is there for projects without one, for station fuel and chests, and for the example map. See Inventories.

Does it work in multiplayer?

Yes. Requests go from the player’s crafter to the server and are checked there: recipe known, station type, range, conditions, queue space and ingredients. Salvage requests and tracking go through the server like crafting. Queues, trays, known and tracked recipes and inventories replicate (owner-only where it makes sense), and progress bars run smoothly on clients without traffic every frame. It was tested with a dedicated server and a client. Put the crafter on the Player Controller, the possessed Pawn or the Player State. See Multiplayer.

Can I use it from Blueprint only?

Yes. Crafting, stations, inventories, conditions, effects, save data and the UI base classes are all available in Blueprint, and inventory adapters, conditions and effects can be written in Blueprint. A Blueprint-only project needs the plugin compiled for its engine version; see Build from source.

Do I need the Gameplay Ability System?

No. Craftwright’s core doesn’t use GAS. The optional GAS module adds conditions that read ability-system tags and attributes, attribute costs such as stamina, Gameplay Effects and gameplay events after each craft, a crafter whose speed and luck come from attributes, and a station whose speed comes from the station’s own attribute. The Gameplay Abilities plugin is enabled with Craftwright so that module can load, but nothing changes in your project unless you use it. See Gameplay Ability System.

Does it work with Lyra?

An adapter template for the Lyra inventory ships as source in the plugin’s Docs/Adapters/Lyra folder, to copy into a Lyra project. It is written against the Lyra 5.6 inventory API and hasn’t been tested in a Lyra project, so check it against your Lyra version. See The Lyra adapter template.

What does the duplication-loop check do?

It follows recipes from item to item and reports chains that give back more than they take, such as smelting 2 ore into 1 ingot and scrapping 1 ingot into 3 ore. Players would use such a loop to make endless items. The check takes output counts, output chances and failure chances into account and shows the gain per round, for example “×1.50 per round”. It is an error in the panel, in Data Validation and in the commandlet, so a CI build can fail on it. See Duplication loop.

Can I edit recipes in a spreadsheet?

Yes. Export the recipes as CSV, edit them, and import the file again. The import shows every recipe it will create or change, field by field, before anything is saved, and columns you leave out keep their values. Keep the Path column so rows find recipes outside the New Recipe Folder. See Import and export.

Are queued jobs saved?

Yes. Crafters, stations and the built-in inventory export plain structs for your save game: jobs with their progress, speed, luck and the ingredients they took, trays, burning fuel, known recipes with their uses, and tracked recipes. On load, the time that passed while the game was closed can be caught up, with an optional limit. See Save games.

Can a station keep working when the player walks away?

Yes. Every station has its own queue on the server. It keeps crafting while the player is elsewhere and delivers to the player’s inventory, or keeps the results in its tray (Output Mode To Station Tray). The player only has to be within the station’s Interaction Range to start, cancel or collect. See Stations and fuel.

Can players take items apart again?

Yes. Mark a recipe as Salvageable and players can salvage its item where it is made, by hand or at its station, for part of the ingredients or for scrap items you choose. The editor checks that salvaging never gives back more than crafting used. See Salvage.

Why can’t the player see a recipe in the menu?

The menu lists the recipes that can be made where it was opened, filtered by its search and category tab. Recipes the crafter doesn’t know yet are hidden unless the menu’s Locked Recipes is Show or Show As Unknown. Check that:

• the recipe is in one of the crafter’s Recipe Books;
• it is Always Known, or it was learned or discovered (see Unlocks);
• its Stations match the station’s Station Tag, or it has no stations when you open the menu for hand crafting;
• the search box is empty and the All tab (or the recipe’s category) is selected.

The editor’s Not in a recipe book check finds recipes no crafter can use.

Does the menu work with a gamepad?

Yes. The menu takes focus when it opens: the D-pad moves through the recipes and changes the amount, A crafts, B closes, the shoulder buttons switch category tabs, X tracks a recipe. Every key can be changed, key hints follow the device in use, and your own input (Enhanced Input, CommonUI) can drive the menu through one function, Handle Menu Key. See Keyboard and gamepad.

Does it run on mobile?

The runtime modules (TACraftwright, TACraftwrightGAS and TACraftwrightExamples) are enabled for Win64, Mac, Linux, Android and iOS, so crafting can ship in mobile games. The editor tools run in the Win64, Mac and Linux editor and are not part of packaged builds. The example map’s controls are keyboard and mouse, or a gamepad.

How much does Craftwright cost?

Craftwright is sold on Fab under the Fab Standard License:

• Personal license: $9.99, for individuals and companies with up to $100,000 gross revenue in the last 12 months.
• Professional license: $29.99, above that.

Craftwright is not open source, but its full C++ source code ships with the plugin, so you can build it for your engine version and read how everything works. Get it from ta Craftwright on Fab.

Where do I get help?

Write to support@tridiart.com or use the contact page. Include your engine version, what you did and, if possible, the commandlet log or the JSON report.