How do I Statically link a plugin to my game code

Development Pipeline & Plugins Plugins
, , , , ,
1

OK, I think I am getting to the crux of the issue here. I have a plugin that contains an actor class. I would like to call methods on that actor from a game C++ file. I have read the plugins page very carefully and these two questions:(How exactly do game plugins work?, How to include the header from a plugin).

I have managed to get the include working but it is failing to link (for example, I can’t call StaticClass() on the class in question.

I have moved both the .h and .cpp file in to the public folder of the plugin but this hasn’t worked. My build.cs file contains this:

PrivateDependencyModuleNames.AddRange(new string[] { "VaOceanPlugin" });
PrivateIncludePathModuleNames.AddRange(new string[] { "VaOceanPlugin" });

 PrivateIncludePaths.AddRange(new string[] { "VaOceanPlugin/Public", "VaOceanPlugin/Classes", "VaOceanPlugin/Private" });

What further step(s) do I need to perform to statically link to a method? I can’t seem to work it out and having an explicit answer may help future people.

2

It sounds like the symbols for your class aren’t being exported. Are you declaring your class with an _API macro, like this?

class VAOCEANPLUGIN_API MyActorClass : public AActor
{
     ...
}

This page has more information on how the _API macros work: https://docs.unrealengine.com/latest/INT/Programming/Modules/API/index.html