Asset Management - Database, Packages, and Local Files

Loading Assets

Database

BeardLib can load Assets for your level in different ways. Currently the standard is to load assets from database. BeardLib handles this process automatically when spawning a unit and there is next to no other step required.

However you can also manually load assets with the Load From Database option.

Package

The old method was Package loading. When spawning a Unit, you had to load a package containing said Unit. The downside is that a package also contains lots of other units, taking up memory. In some cases like sound effects or voice lines you may still need to load some, just remember to pick the smallest available packages.

You can load packages with the Load With Packages option.

Local Files / Extract

The third method is Local Files, or extract loading. This means the Unit’s files are actually present inside your Map’s assets folder.

It was used in combination with Package loading to reduce the memory usage of a heist. The downside is that since the files had to be extracted, the space the Map folder takes on your harddrive went up the more Units you load this way, resulting in longer download times. These days Local files are only really used for custom assets.

While extract loading has been removed from the editor entirely, you can still include the files into your project. Use the Load From Database option, but with the "With Options" toggle on.

After picking your asset in the list you now get the option to include the files in your project.

Dependencies

Some Units are dependent on other assets like Effects and those sometimes don’t get loaded properly. In this case you need to manually load them.
You can see the dependencies of a unit by extracting its .unit file using Diesel Bundle Viewer, opening the file in a text editor and checking for a <dependencies> tag.

Those assets need to be loaded for the unit to work, otherwise the game might crash.

Assets Manager

You can manage your loaded assets and packages from the Assets Manager, also in the Main-Tab. There you can see a list of every package and a list of every Asset currently loaded in your level. Assets that are loaded but not used are marked in Yellow. Assets marked in Red are assets present in your level that are not loaded. Both can easily be fixed with the buttons on the right. Some assets may always appear red or yellow, despite saying they are loaded, but unless you’re crashing it should not be a problem.