Best way to save an inventory?

What would be the best way to save an inventory?

I can try having the bought items in a folder and then datastore it.
Are there any other ways to do this?

You can use the Converter Module: Instance ↔ Table | Save Instances to DataStores and More! module. You can convert instances into tables, arrays, dictionaries or whatever and then convert them back to the same instance. That way it is saveable. I use it for my plot system and I LOVE it!

  • You can even change settings like for example which properties to exclude (the module also saves properties of instances)

Not sure if this will work with tools or not but definitely give it a try and let me know if it worked or not!

Another way is to store tools by using values such as bool values, int values, string values, etc… that represent each tool. You can check if the player has a certain tool by just checking the value of the boolvalue or whatever.

I will try your suggestions tomorrow, personally I think the values will be easier, as I only have a few items.

Basically I have 5 items, I have 5 values, the values go from 1 - 5.
I put it in the datastore, when someone joins, I check if they have any values, I check the value and I select the item that fits the number.

Is that how I could do it?

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Yes, but I really suggest the module I mentioned. It saves a lot of time and makes things way easier.

The best and optimized way will be setting up a folder with all the items. Whenever u want to load or save, simply save item names and maybe values such as durablity or whatever. Saving the entire instance as @BandQueenForever suggested isn’t performance friendly, as developer u should make things as fast as possible.

I haven’t seen any performance issues using this myself and I have never seen any complaints about the module either. Keep in mind I use the module on a game that has plots where players can build things on them so I would notice performance issues but I have not experienced any small lag spike.

I’ll just save the name, check the name and place the right item.

I think that’s easiest

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Yes it is.

If you plan for a big inventory with thousands of unique items, like a sword, apple, and desk OR you plan for thousands of similar items to be saved (or even a mix of both), you can do this to circumvent any data limit issues you’ll ever encounter:

Every “item” has an ID. For example, a sword will have the ID of 1. An apple will have an ID of 2. This is what it might look like if you save their inventory as a string:

"ID1" or "A1" (ID is two characters long, so using one letter is better depending on how big your inventory can get)

If you can have multiple swords or apples, you can store a number after it. This might look like this:

"ID1:AMOUNT52" or "A1:B52". This way, you can use string.split and see the items ID and how much there are.

I suggest saving your inventory as a string instead of a big table. You can save data this way incase you need to add a lot more in the future.

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