Help improving a data saving module

Help and Feedback Code Review
1

So, I am kind of a beginner I guess and I am writing a data saving module I could use for future projects. I want to ask more experienced scripters to review this code and let me know how can I improve it.

Script:

local DataStoreService = game:GetService("DataStoreService")

local dataSave = {}

function dataSave:save(plr, dataStoreName, data)
	if not dataStoreName then
		warn("Data store name not provided!")
		return false
	end
	
	if not data then
		warn("No data provided to save for player: " .. plr.Name)
		return false
	end
	
	local dataStore = DataStoreService:GetDataStore(dataStoreName)
	local success, err = pcall(function()
		dataStore:SetAsync(plr.UserId, data)
	end)
	
	if success then
		print("Data saved successfully for player: " .. plr.Name)
		return true
	else
		warn("Error saving data: " .. tostring(err))
		return false
	end
end

function dataSave:load(plr, dataStoreName)
	if not dataStoreName then
		warn("Data store name not provided!")
		return nil
	end
	
	local dataStore = DataStoreService:GetDataStore(dataStoreName)
	local data
	
	local success, err = pcall(function()
		data = dataStore:GetAsync(plr.UserId)
	end)
	
	if success then
		print("Data loaded successfully for player: " .. plr.Name)
		return data
	else
		warn("Error loading data: " .. tostring(err))
		return nil
	end
end

return dataSave
2

One way to make the code better is by using
Local datastring = HttpSerivce:JSONEncode(The inventory)

This will make the table into a string which will help memory.

I forgot to add this:
When you un string the code into a table by using JSONDecode(datastring)

3

I recommend you give this post a read, it’s very informative.

This isn’t necessarily true on it’s own, yes a common method for saving memory in storage does convert data to a string as the first step, but that is not the full process. After you convert the data to a string, it is typically compressed to a smaller size using any sort of text compression library.

Edit: You can also look into EncodingService for compressing data. It hosts a bunch of built in methods that help specifically with compressing and storing data.

1 Like
4

Why do you need any of that and why do you use methods when they are useless?
Just have a central module that exposes player’s save and that it
Then design some binary layout per player
Never use tables or JSON slop
Always use binary layouts they are quite easy and pay off

5

Yes, your right for using buffers to make the code into bytes to save memory and space in the dataStore, but i thought to something easy to understand.

6

I think roblox already applies compression to the buffers in data store so encoding them to ZSTD doesn’t make much sense.

7

ZSTD is a compression algorithm, not just something Roblox does to buffers automatically. EncodingService handles the actual compression of strings, so if you are already using buffers or raw bytes, you are likely hitting diminishing returns unless your data is massive.