# Set up your project and test saving in the editor

> Answer a few questions to set how your game saves, see in the outliner and the viewport which actors save and why, and start Play In Editor from a saved slot.

Product: Rolly Save 1.0.0 | Sheet: guide | Updated: 2026-10-31 | HTML: https://rolly-docs.pages.dev/save/guides/set-up-and-test/

## Answer the setup questions

Choose **Tools > Rolly Save > Set Up Project...**. The first time the editor opens a project whose `Config/DefaultGame.ini` holds no Rolly Save settings, a notification offers the same panel once, with Set Up Project and Not Now.

![The setup panel](https://rolly-docs.pages.dev/save/_files/Images/SetupPanel.png "Set Up Rolly Save with Autosave every 5 minutes, quick keys F5 and F9 and File Prefix tavern chosen: each question with the help of its answer, the note on the engine's debug commands with Remove Them, where the settings are saved, and Apply.")

| Question | Answers | Sets in Project Settings > Plugins > Rolly Save |
|---|---|---|
| Saves | Save slots the player picks; One save per playthrough; Single-slot runs | Autosaves Write To and Checkpoints Write To: both Current Slot for a playthrough, otherwise Own Slot; Rolly Save Screens > Slot Style: Free Slots (Numbered Slots stays as it is), Playthroughs or Runs |
| Autosave | Off; Every 0.5 to 120 minutes | Autosave Interval (Off: 0) |
| Quick save keys | Off; On, with a key that saves and one that loads | Enable Quick Keys, Quick Save Key, Quick Load Key |
| Slot screen | Rolly's slot screen; Your own menu | Rolly Save Screens > Show Slot Screen |
| Levels the player leaves | Keep them as the player left them; Start them as designed on each visit | Remember Levels and Remember Streamed Levels, both on or both off |
| Actors that save | Actors with saved state; Only actors you choose | Actor Defaults > Saving: With Saved State or Never |
| Harvested foliage and instances | Not saved; Saved for foliage and PCG output; Saved for every instanced mesh | Actor Defaults > Instances > Mode, Off or Changes, and Components, Foliage and PCG Output or Every Instanced Mesh; Meshes stays as it is (see [Save harvested foliage and instanced meshes](https://rolly-docs.pages.dev/save/guides/harvest-and-instances/)) |
| File prefix | 1 to 16 lowercase letters and digits, starting with a letter | File Prefix |

When the quick keys are keys the engine also gives debug commands outside Shipping, such as F5 (`viewmode shadercomplexity`) and F9 (`shot showui`), a note under the row names them, and **Remove Them** adds `-DebugExecBindings` lines for them to `Config/DefaultInput.ini` at once, as one step of Edit > Undo.

Keep them as the player left them keeps levels that travel leaves and streamed levels and cells that unload; Start them as designed starts each level as designed when travel opens it or it streams in, and a load still sets the levels its save holds. When the two settings differ, neither answer is selected and the row says "Travel and streaming keep levels differently now; pick one to set both."

Under the questions the panel lists every setting Apply would change, with its old and new value. **Apply** writes only those to `Config/DefaultGame.ini`, as one step of Edit > Undo, checking the file out of revision control or making it writable first; when neither works it changes nothing and says why. The panel opens with the current settings each time, so run it again whenever you like; questions you have not answered follow changes made in Project Settings while it is open.

## See which actors save

The **Rolly Save** column of the level editor's outliners, right of Type, shows what a save keeps of each actor:

![The outliner with the Rolly Save column](https://rolly-docs.pages.dev/save/_files/Images/OutlinerColumn.png "The outliner sorted by Rolly Save: two chests sharing a Custom Save ID, a lamp whose struct members do not save, then a door with a component, a lamp matched by DA_Glow with a SaveGame variable, a campfire with a Rolly Save Trigger, a banner a rule sets to Never and a chair that saves only that it was destroyed.")

| Icon | Word | Means |
|---|---|---|
| Triangle | The check's name, such as Duplicate ID | The last check named it with an error |
| Circle | The check's name, such as Struct members | The last check named it with a warning |
| Disk | Where its state comes from: Component, a Save Rule's name, SaveGame, Level tool, Instances, Destruction, PCG or Actor Defaults, then "+1" for each other source; Restored in Play In Editor | It saves its state |
| Minus | Never, Nothing, Actors off or Child actor | Rolly Save keeps nothing of it |
| Bin | If destroyed | It saves only that it was destroyed, so it stays destroyed after a load |
| Question mark | Unloaded | It is not loaded and its class is not in memory |

Hover a row for the reasons: the last check's problems, then each source in the order they apply, such as `DA_Glow (Priority 0): Saving Always` and `SaveGame: Is Lit in BP_LampBase`, the instances, broken pieces and PCG values each source decides to save, and for an actor whose settings take instanced components how many, their instances and the memory their design copies hold. Click the column's header to sort by it: problems first, then actors that save, then the rest, by label within each.

- **Unloaded World Partition actors** are read from their World Partition data, without loading them: an actor with a Rolly Save component shows Component; otherwise its class decides while it is in memory.
- **Filters:** Other Filters > **Rolly Save State** in the outliner's filter menu holds **Saves State**, **Saves Nothing** and **Save Problems**. With several on, the outliner shows actors that match any of them; the group's own entry turns all three on. They work with the column hidden. Type Filters > Rolly Save filters by the classes of Rolly Save's level tools.
- **Header menu** (the arrow on the header): **Show Reasons** switches between icon and word and icon only, **Hide in Every Outliner** removes the column, **Check Open Map** runs the check that gives the problem icons, and **Editor Preferences...** opens your settings.
- In Play In Editor the outliner shows the play world: after each load, Play from Slot's or your game's own, part loads and loads that keep the map included, the actors whose values it set read Restored on the server's world.

## See saving actors in the viewport

**Show > Developer > Rolly Save Markers**, on by default in each viewport, draws a pin over each actor that saves state and over each actor the last check named. A problem pin has an orange ring and an exclamation mark. A selected actor's pin is larger and drawn on top.

![The viewport markers](https://rolly-docs.pages.dev/save/_files/Images/Markers.png "The pin and the problem pin at 12, 20 and 48 pixels, on a dark and a light ground: only the problem pin's ring is orange.")

![Markers in a level viewport](https://rolly-docs.pages.dev/save/_files/Images/Viewport_Markers.png "From the left: a chair that saves nothing, a door with a Rolly Save component, a lamp whose struct members do not save under a problem pin, a lamp that saves, and two chests that share a Custom Save ID under problem pins.")

An actor gets no pin when it is farther than **Max Distance** (5,000 cm; pins fade over the last quarter), past **Max Markers** (500, nearest first), hidden in the editor, saves only that it was destroyed, or is a Save Point or a Checkpoint, Autosave or Reset Area Volume, which show their own sprites (**Mark Level Tools** marks them too). Game View (G) draws none, and Play In Editor windows draw none unless **Markers in Play** is on. Pins are not clickable: select actors in the outliner.

## Play from a saved slot

### Play In Editor

The save icon right of Play (tooltip "Play from a Rolly Save slot") chooses a slot that Play loads each time.

![The Play from Slot menu](https://rolly-docs.pages.dev/save/_files/Images/PlayFromSlot.png "The menu of the save icon right of Play with Slot 1 chosen: No Slot, four slots newest first with map, location, play time, kind and save time, then Keep Current Map, Standalone Game from This Slot and Refresh.")

The menu lists the saves of the project's File Prefix, newest first, read from the slot index as the menu opens; nothing is written. Each row shows the map, place, play time, kind and save time; a search box appears from 11 saves, and at most 100 rows show. A save of a newer Game Data Version is disabled. While a slot is chosen the button reads "From: Slot 1".

Press Play: once the start map begins play, the slot loads as Load Game from Rolly Slot does in your game, opening its saved map. **Keep Current Map** sets the slot's values in the map you play instead, which is faster but not how your game loads. **No Slot** plays as usual. A load that fails shows a notification and a Message Log line, and play goes on in the start map. Simulate loads nothing.

### With several players

With Play As Listen Server, or Play As Client with Run Under One Process on, the server's world loads the slot and clients follow it to the saved map. Play As Client with Run Under One Process off joins a server in a process of its own, outside the editor, so nothing loads and a notification says so: turn Run Under One Process on in Editor Preferences > Level Editor > Play, or use a standalone game.

### Standalone game

**Standalone Game from This Slot** starts a standalone game of the open map with `-RollySaveLoad="<slot>"`, and `-RollySaveKeepMap` with Keep Current Map. It is disabled for a slot name with a quote, which a command line cannot pass.

## Load a slot from the command line

```
MyGame.exe -RollySaveLoad="Slot 1" [-RollySaveKeepMap]
```

Once the first map of the server or a standalone game began play, the slot loads as Load Game from Rolly Slot loads it, opening its map; with `-RollySaveKeepMap` its values are set in the map the game started in. `autosave_1`, `checkpoint` and the other slots Rolly Save writes itself load too. Clients ignore the switch and follow their server. A name that cannot be used or a load that fails is reported in the Message Log. Shipping builds read the switch only with Project Settings > Plugins > Rolly Save > Testing > **Command Line Load in Shipping** on, so a shortcut cannot start a shipped game in another save.

## Change what the editor shows for you

**Editor Preferences > Plugins > Rolly Save** holds your own settings for this project; teammates keep theirs.

| Setting | Default | Sets |
|---|---|---|
| Outliner Column | Icon and Reason | Icon Only for narrow outliners; Hidden removes the column from every outliner |
| Max Distance | 5,000 cm | The farthest actor with a pin; 0: no limit |
| Max Markers | 500 | Pins per viewport, 1 to 100,000 |
| Marker Size | 20 | Pin height in pixels, 12 to 48, times the editor's scale |
| Mark Level Tools | Off | Pins on Save Points and the Checkpoint, Autosave and Reset Area Volumes |
| Markers in Play | Off | Pins in Play In Editor windows |
| Start Slot | None | The slot Play loads; the save icon right of Play sets it |
| Map | Open Saved Map | Keep Current Map, as in the button's menu |
| Show in Toolbar | On | The save icon right of Play |