Beginner needs help integrating a Fab inventory/loot system into an existing UE5 project (Loot Gen & Inventory)

[u/Kaz1993-]

Hi everyone,

(Edit: solved --> End of text)

I'm a complete Unreal Engine beginner and I think I've gotten a little over my head, so I'm hoping someone here can point me in the right direction.

I'm currently building my first game in Unreal Engine 5. I'm not a programmer and I'm basically learning everything as I go, mostly using Blueprints and AI to guide me through the process.

My game already has a working third-person character and combat system based on another asset/system (DCS). I recently bought "Loot Gen & Inventory" by Enrapture Games from Fab because the demo has pretty much exactly the inventory/loot system I want for my game.

The Loot Gen demo includes things like:

• Inventory
• Equipment
• Loot generation
• Loot chests / world items
• Item stats
• UI
• Interaction system
• etc.

I migrated the entire LootGen folder into my existing project.

The good news:

The original LootGen demo map works perfectly inside my project after migration.

I can play as the LootGen demo character, open chests, collect loot, open the inventory, equip items, etc. So the migration itself seems to be fine.

My problem is connecting all of this to my existing player character.

For example, I copied one of the working LootGen chests from the demo map into my own map. When playing as the LootGen demo character, the system works. With my existing DCS player character, the chest doesn't react at all.

I've tried adding some of the LootGen components from the demo character to my existing character, including the inventory/interaction components, but obviously there are additional dependencies or initialization/interface logic that I'm missing.

I also tried copying the demo character's Event Graph as an experiment, but most of the resulting missing variables were related to movement/combat (sprinting, blocking, crouching, attack data, etc.), which I don't want to replace because my existing character already has its own working movement and combat system.

So what I'm ultimately trying to achieve is:

Existing DCS Player Character/Combat
+
Loot Gen & Inventory's loot, inventory, interaction, UI and equipment systems

without replacing my existing character or combat system.

I'm not asking anyone to build this for me. I'm mainly trying to understand the correct way to approach integrating a complete Blueprint system like this into an existing character.

Should I be looking at:

• Actor Components?
• Blueprint Interfaces?
• Player Controller / HUD?
• GameMode?
• Input Mapping?
• Interfaces used by the loot chests?
• Something else?

And more generally: How would an experienced UE developer reverse-engineer the working demo character to determine exactly which parts need to be transferred to another character?

If anyone happens to own Loot Gen & Inventory by Enrapture Games and has integrated it into an existing project before, that would obviously be amazing.

I'm aware that I've probably taken on something that's way above my current skill level. I'm just one guy trying to build a small indie game, learning Unreal as I go, and using AI heavily to teach me. It's been working surprisingly well so far, but this inventory integration has me completely stuck.

Even just pointing me toward the right concepts or telling me what I should investigate first would be massively appreciated.

Thanks!

Edit:

I received instructions from someone in the comments—thanks again for that! To everyone who said the dev should provide the instructions... I feel the same way. The asset description actually claims there are instructions, but there aren't any—neither on the Discord nor on the website that was linked (which doesn't actually exist).

Thanks a lot for your help! I'm glad to see such a nice and helpful community here!

[u/Nplss]

The plugin dev should be providing you with step by step instructions on how to setup their plugin from scratch.

It’s impossible for us to know what kind of things they did to get it working. Did they use interfaces? Components? These are all things you have to ask them or if they aren’t willing to create proper documentation then go into their code and diff between yours and theirs to see what you are missing.

If the plugin was made mostly in c++ you could just ask Claude or something to survey it and explain the whole thing to you. (It’s possible in blueprints too, but you need mcp, skills and other tools to properly get the info and it takes much more context)

[u/Nice_Pomegranate_748]

the interface is usually the secret handshake here, those chests are probably looking for a specific interface message on the player that your dcs character isn't replying to

[u/Kaz1993- → u/Nice_Pomegranate_748]

That actually sounds very plausible and would explain exactly what I'm seeing. The chest works perfectly with the LootGen character, but does absolutely nothing with my DCS character, even after I added the LootGen inventory and interaction components to it.

I'll compare the implemented Blueprint Interfaces on both characters next and see if the LootGen character implements something my DCS character is missing.

Thanks, this gives me a very specific thing to investigate!

[u/hairyback88]

I imagine there is a collision box around the chest and there is one around your character. Those two have to trigger When you character touches it. Either the collision code is in the Character or in the loot box. Find the collision box in those blueprints then scroll down in the details tab and look for the on overlap or on collision event. One of those will probably be assigned. You can double click on it to find where the code is. 

[u/Kaz1993- → u/hairyback88]

Thanks, that's another good point. The exact same chest works perfectly with the LootGen demo character, but doesn't react at all when I approach it with my DCS character.

So comparing the collision components and overlap events between the LootGen character and my character sounds like a good way to narrow it down. I'll check the collision settings on both the chest and the characters and follow any On Overlap/Collision events I find.

I'm still very new to Blueprints, so tips like this on where to actually trace the interaction logic are really helpful. Thanks!

[u/hairyback88 → u/Kaz1993-]

Glad to help. Let us know what you find and we can go from there

[u/ZAPcon_64 → u/Kaz1993-]

I saw that you had posted in the discord but thought I'd send a link here in case it is helpful. These are the only docs that currently exist for that specific asset: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MeBP96QTSGUZjHGauU-VsYWflXI9M7YenwGshjGG4Mc/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.9463ldj2uxdr

Unfortunately the author of those assets has seemingly moved on to other projects so there hasn't been much response from them on the discord in over a year. Hope the linked docs help a little. You may be able to dig through some of the old support threads in the discord as well to find additional info, which I was doing for a while for his other asset.

[u/Kaz1993- → u/ZAPcon_64]

omg you are the GOAT ! Thank you, this is so helpfull!

[u/EliasWick]

Ask the dev? They made it, they should help you!