Shard Autosaver

Based on game build 714014 | Last updated: 2026-03-03

Overview

Shard_AutoSaver is a lightweight component responsible for coordinating autosave snapshot state between the master shard and non-master shard instances in a DST multiplayer context. It ensures that when the master shard updates its autosave snapshot, all shards receive and propagate that snapshot state, and conversely, that shards signal when their local snapshot has changed. The component only functions on the master simulation (ismastersim), and behaves differently depending on whether the current instance is the master shard.

Usage example

-- Typically added to a persistent world entity during world initialization
local inst = TheWorld
inst:AddComponent("shard_autosaver")
-- No further manual interaction required; component operates via event callbacks

Dependencies & tags

Components used: None identified
Tags: None identified

Properties

Property	Type	Default Value	Description
inst	GObject	inst passed to constructor	The entity instance the component is attached to (typically TheWorld).

Main functions

None. This component does not expose any public methods. All logic is internal and event-driven.

Events & listeners

• Listens to:
  • master_autosaverupdate (on master shard only): Triggered when the master shard updates its autosave snapshot. Updates the network variable _snapshot.
  • snapshotdirty (on non-master shards only): Triggered locally when the shard’s snapshot changes. Pushes secondary_autosaverupdate with the current snapshot data.
• Pushes:
  • secondary_autosaverupdate (on non-master shards): Announces the current snapshot value to other systems needing coordination (e.g., save triggers or diagnostics).

Note: _snapshot is a network variable (net_uint) scoped to the instance’s GUID, named "shard_autosaver._snapshot", and synced via "snapshotdirty" propagation.