Name: Creating an Inventory System and Interaction System in Unreal Engine 5.4 | Episode 02
Uploaded: 2025-01-31 16:51:31
Duration: 86 min 18 s

Question 1

How do you create an inventory system in Unreal Engine 5.4 using Blueprints?

Accepted Answer

I start with a Blueprint struct called InventorySlot that holds an Item Tag (Gameplay Tag) and an Item Quantity (int). Then I store an array of that struct on an Item Container component and resize it on Begin Play to my Max Inventory Size. That way the inventory has a fixed number of slots from the start, and I just fill them as items come in.

Question 2

How do you check if an item already exists in an inventory array (Gameplay Tags)?

Accepted Answer

Because each array entry is a struct, I don’t use a simple “Find” node—I make a helper function that loops the inventory and compares the slot’s tag to the incoming tag with an exact match. If I find it, I return the found index and quantity. If I don’t, I return -1 values so it’s obvious in debug when something didn’t resolve.

Question 3

How do you handle stack sizes when adding items to an inventory in UE5?

Accepted Answer

I pull Max Stack Size from my item data (by tag) and calculate the new quantity based on Current Quantity + Quantity To Add. If that would exceed the max, I only add what I’m allowed to add (MaxStack - Current). Later on you can expand this to overflow into a new slot, but in this episode I keep it clean and predictable.

Question 4

Why do you resize the inventory array on Begin Play?

Accepted Answer

I do it so the UI isn’t “empty” in the weird way where you only see squares for items you already have. Resizing up front creates the full set of slots (like 25), and then the system fills the valid ones. It’s just a better player-facing inventory experience and it keeps the UI logic straightforward.

Question 5

How do you find the first empty slot in a Blueprint inventory?

Accepted Answer

I loop through the inventory array and check for Item Tag == None. The first time I hit a None tag, I break and return that index as my empty slot. If nothing is found, I return -1 so I can fail the add safely.

Question 6

How do you remove items from inventory and optionally drop them in the world?

Accepted Answer

I find the item by tag, subtract Quantity To Remove, and clamp so it never goes below zero. If the new quantity hits zero, I invalidate the slot (basically set it back to empty). If Drop Item is true, I spawn the item actor in front of the player and call a Set Quantity function on it so one actor can represent multiple items.

Question 7

How do you set up a scalable UI foundation for inventory in UE5?

Accepted Answer

I build a Player Display parent widget with a 1920x1080 size box wrapped in a scale box so everything stays consistent across resolutions. Then I add a HUD screen widget and a simple crosshair so I can verify the pipeline. A UIManager component creates the player display once and adds it to the viewport through initialization events.

Creating an Inventory System and Interaction System in Unreal Engine 5.4 | Episode 02

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