What are Starter Items?

Starter items can be any items that you want to automatically give if no save game was detected (often the first time it loads). This can be applied to anything that uses a storage component such as the player inventory, hotbar, bank, or equipment. It can also be for any other actor in the world that has an AC_Inventory_Storage component, like our containers and workstations.

There are two unique methods for giving starter items, you can use either or even both.

Hand Picked Starter Items

These are starter items that you manually define (by entering the ItemRowName and Quantity), guaranteed to be given. You will define all hand picked items in the StarterItems array on the AC_Inventory_Storage component. Add a new element to this array and define your item information. You can add multiple items, just make sure to delete any unused entries you may have added to the array when you are finished.

Loot Table Picked Starter Items

For actors like treasure chests you also have the option to give starter items with chance from a Loot Table from the AC_Inventory_Storage component.

To use you would provide the StarterItemLootTable which is the Row Name to the loot table in the DT_LootTables data table found in the Blueprints/Variables/DataTables/ folder. You will also provide the StarterItemLootTableRollType which defines how the dice should be rolled (roll once, reroll each item, reroll each win) against this loot table's items.

You can learn more about loot tables and roll types on the Loot Tables page.

Giving Starter Items to the Player's Inventory

The AC_InventorySystem component you added to your player controller has pass through variables under each category in the details panel: Inventory, Hotbar, Bank, and Equipment. Use the StarterItems variable in each section to set your player's starter items for the specific system.

Adding Starter Items to another Actor like a Container

To add starter items to a blueprint actor like the container or the workstation you would assign the items right on the AC_Inventory_Storage component configuration using the details panel inside the blueprint it is attached to. If you are manually spawning your component at runtime you can access the StarterItems variable from the spawn node.

Starter Equipment on NPCs

We have a special component for setting up starter equipment on NPCs, view the NPC Equipment chapter for details.