The Player Info Data Asset is an optional data assets that is used to initialize data from various systems in the framework. For example, here you can grant various default abilities, define the starting attributes, set animation blueprint, etc.

The Player Info Data Asset is async loaded in the BP_BaseCombatCharacter on begin play. Since this data asset is async loaded, this will allow you to add various assets without needing to hard reference them.

As mentioned earlier, this data asset is optional. If you do not wish to use this data asset you can open the BP_BaseCombatCharacter & find where the info from this data asset is initialized and used to initialize the various components used by the system. To remove any system from this you can simply remove the data initialization on begin play.

Here are the various properties found in the player info data asset and what they are used for:

Input

The Input Mapping Context property can be set in the Player Info Data Asset. This is the default input mapping context where the input is setup with Ashen Combat System. On Begin Play, when initializing the player enhanced input the input mapping context set from the player info data asset will be used.

UI

The UI section in the Player Info Data Asset can be used to add UI widgets for the player controller to initialize & construct player UI widgets that are needed by default. For example, the Main HUD.

Abilities

The Default Ability Sets property will allow you to add multiple Ability Sets for the player character to be given by default. You can add any abilities that you’ve created for the player that need to be granted by default and also apply any gameplay effects with the ability set. The abilities in the default ability set will be granted to the player on begin play when the player blueprint is initializing the ability system component. What abilities are granted here & what those abilities are used for can be defined by user created ability classes.

Default Gameplay Cues can also be added to the Player Info Data Asset. This will allow you to spawn a gameplay cue & add that gameplay cue to the ability system component. Which will make that gameplay cue available to the ability system component to be executed by tag.

State Manager

The default state classes that will be added to the player character’s State Manager Component. Any number of states can be added here and the states that you add here will be available to the player character’s state manager component at run time. What states you add here & what those state are used for can be defined by user created state classes.

Collision Manager

There is a collision manager section in the player info data asset. This will allow you to add default target types to the collision manager component that can be used to find a target by tag.

Combat

Here you can set the player’s default Combat Style. This combat style will be used when the player has no weapon equipped. Which is why I have set Unarmed Combat as the default, which will set the players combat style to unarmed combat when no weapon is equipped.

Attributes

The default attributes can be defined in the player info data asset. This will essentially allow you to define all the starting values for the player’s attribute values. For more information on how to setup attributes you can check the attributes system documentation.

Default extended attributes can also be added to this data asset. So, if the player character needs any default extended attributes that need to be accessible during gameplay, those can be added here.

Inventory

The default starting items for the inventory system can be defined in the player info data asset. This will allow you to add various items that the player will need to have in their inventory by default when starting the game. Only the item data asset and amount need to be specified. The other values can be left blank. Check the inventory system documentation for more information on the inventory system

Equipment

The default starting equipment for the equipment system can be defined in the player info data asset. This will allow you to equip various items from the inventory when the game starts.

IMPORTANT NOTE: By default, if an inventory system is found, the starting equipment items MUST be added to the inventory before it can be equipped. If no inventory system is found, then there is no need for the items to be added to the players inventory system first.

Only the item data asset and amount need to be specified. The other values can be left either blank or defaults. Check the equipment system documentation for more information on the equipment system