الوصف
FoxEasySoftRef — Soft References, Actor Registry & Pub/Sub Messaging Toolkit
A Blueprint-friendly toolkit for clean reference management. Async-load soft references in a single node, find actors across Blueprints without Cast, and send tag-based messages between objects that never need to know each other. Ships with a complete beginner's guide to memory management, Hard vs Soft References, Interfaces, and Event Dispatchers.
Full documentation: https://alchemy-fox.de/FoxEasySoftRef/
Support: [email protected]
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WHAT'S INCLUDED
30 Blueprint Nodes | 6 Categories | Actor Registry Subsystem | Message Bus Subsystem | 2 Drop-in Components | Beginner's Guide | Full C++ Source
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FEATURE CATEGORIES
▸ Soft Loading (5 Nodes) LoadSoftObject, LoadSoftClass, IsSoftObjectLoaded, IsSoftClassLoaded, GetLoadedSoftObject
▸ Soft Cast (3 Nodes) SoftCastObject, SoftIsA, GetSoftClassFromClass
▸ Soft Spawn (2 Nodes) SpawnActorFromSoftClass, SpawnActorFromSoftClassDeferred
▸ Registry (9 Nodes) RegisterActor, UnregisterActor, GetActorByName, GetActorsWithTag, GetActorsWithAllTags, GetActorsWithAnyTags, GetActorsWithInterface, GetFirstActorWithInterface, GetNearestActorWithTag
▸ Interface Helpers (4 Nodes) DoesImplementInterface, CallInterfaceFunction, BindToInterfaceDelegate, UnbindInterfaceDelegate
▸ Message Bus (7 Nodes) SubscribeToMessage, UnsubscribeFromMessage, UnsubscribeAllForActor, BroadcastMessage, SendMessageToActor, SendMessageToActorsWithTag, GetMessageSubscriberCount
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KEY FEATURES
1. Soft References Made Easy — Async-load any soft object or class with a single Latent node. No boilerplate, no "is it loaded yet?" guesswork, no manual multi-step async chain.
2. Soft Cast & Soft Spawn — Cast to a class or spawn an actor without creating a hard reference that drags the whole class into memory. Loads on demand, spawns in one node, deferred spawn supported.
3. Cross-Blueprint Registry — Actors register themselves by name, tag, or interface. Any Blueprint finds them without Cast and without GetAllActorsOfClass — lookups return generic AActor, so no hidden cascade.
4. Spatial & Tag Lookups — Find all actors with a tag, with all tags, with any tag, or the nearest tagged actor to a location. Hash-based and fast even with hundreds of registered actors.
5. Interface Helpers — Check implements, call functions via reflection, and find actors by interface — all through Soft Class references so the interface itself stays soft-referenced. No Cast, no hidden hard refs.
6. Message Bus — Tag-based publish/subscribe as a cleaner alternative to Event Dispatchers for one-to-many events. Sender and receiver never need a reference to each other; broadcast, target one actor, or message a whole Registry tag group.
7. Drop-in Components — Fox Registry Component and Fox Message Bus Component handle auto-register and auto-cleanup. Add the component, fill in tags in the Details panel, done — no Blueprint code required.
8. Complete Beginner's Guide — The documentation explains Hard vs Soft References, why they matter for memory, how the Cast To trap creates cascades, how Interfaces and Event Dispatchers work, and when to use what. Built for devs new to Blueprint architecture.
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TECHNICAL DETAILS
Engine: Unreal Engine 5.2-5.4, 5.6-5.7
Type: Code Plugin (C++)
Dependencies: Engine modules only (GameplayTags, StructUtils)
Platforms: Windows (Win64)
Full C++ source code included
All nodes have detailed tooltips
Two World Subsystems (Registry, Message Bus) — world-local, no setup, no boot step
Integrates seamlessly into existing projects
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DOCUMENTATION & SUPPORT
Full documentation with beginner's guide, setup instructions, node reference, and examples: https://alchemy-fox.de/FoxEasySoftRef/
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MISSING A FEATURE?
Feature requests are welcome! If there's a soft-reference, registry, interface, or messaging helper you'd like to see, send it to [email protected] and it may make it into a future update.
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By Alchemy Fox Studio