ME1 Savegame serialization issue

[Mgamerz]

I'm working on converting this to C# classes and am seeing a duplicate variable declared here of ClassName:
https://github.com/electronicarts/MELE_ModdingSupport/blob/master/DataFormats/ME1_Savegame.h#L377

I assume this is an accident?

[KarlitosVII]

It's not a class name like Soldier or Adept but an Unreal class name needed by the game when it deserialize the file.
In your example this is the class name of the squad and the inventory but they are only deserialized if the boolean is true.

[Mgamerz]

Yes but shouldn't this have a unique name? This would not compile in C++ either.

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On Sat, Apr 8, 2023, 8:54 PM Karlitos ***@***.***> wrote: It's not a class name like Soldier or Adept but an Unreal class name needed by the game when it deserialize the file. In your example this is the class name of the squad and the inventory. [image: Capture] <https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/7722685/230751650-55dc022a-07f1-4ea9-8888-d7898919bbfb.PNG> — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#3 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AAU4VFFMQEOCSIA3DT6RAFTXAIQHRANCNFSM6AAAAAAWXZVJMY> . You are receiving this because you authored the thread.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[KarlitosVII]

It's just a string that tells the deserializer how to deserialize the next bytes. You have to read this string to know which class to use. Just like I did here:

https://github.com/KarlitosVII/trilogy-save-editor/blob/main/src/save_data/mass_effect_1_le/legacy/mod.rs#L62-L84

In the same way, when you serialize you must indicate the name of the class before serializing the object.

Throughout the Legacy part of LE1, as soon as you see ClassName and LEGACY_BaseObjectSaveRecord , the only way to guess how to deserialize is at runtime.