How to save a 2D-grid of instantiated GameObjects in C#?

Questions & Answers
1

With “save” mean a savefile for players to load and overwrite. I made a Map with perlinNoise. That part works fine, it creates a 200x200 gridfield of diffrent terrainfields.

The player should be able to change the map in diffrent ways, like buildings, explosions and stuff like that. So I can not just generate the Map again.

For other values to save I use a Binary Formatter. But I have no idea how to save every gridcell with its information and postion.

Here is my script for generating the map:

private Dictionary<int, GameObject> tileset;
private Dictionary<int, GameObject> tileGroups;
public GameObject[] mapTiles = new GameObject[0];

public int seed;

public int mapWidth;
public int mapHeight;
private Vector2 GSL; //GenerationStartingLocation

private List<List<int>> noiseGrid = new List<List<int>>();
private List<List<GameObject>> tileGrid = new List<List<GameObject>>();

//Detail (recommended between 4 and 20)
public float magnification;

public int xOffset;
public int yOffset;

private void Start()
{
    GSL.x = -mapWidth / 2;
    GSL.y = -mapWidth / 2;
    CreateTileset();
    CreateTileGroups();
    GenerateMap();
}
private void CreateTileset()
{
    tileset = new Dictionary<int, GameObject>();
    tileset.Add(0, mapTiles[0]);
    tileset.Add(1, mapTiles[1]);
    tileset.Add(2, mapTiles[2]);
    tileset.Add(3, mapTiles[3]);
    tileset.Add(4, mapTiles[4]);
}
private void CreateTileGroups()
{
    tileGroups = new Dictionary<int, GameObject>();
    foreach(KeyValuePair<int, GameObject> prefab_pair in tileset)
    {
        GameObject tileGroup = new GameObject(prefab_pair.Value.name);
        tileGroup.transform.parent = this.transform;
        tileGroup.transform.localPosition = new Vector3(0, 0, 0);
        tileGroups.Add(prefab_pair.Key, tileGroup);
    }
}
private void GenerateMap()
{
    for (int x = 0; x < mapWidth; x++)
    {
        noiseGrid.Add(new List<int>());
        tileGrid.Add(new List<GameObject>());
        for (int y = 0; y < mapHeight; y++)
        {
            int tileID = GetIdUsingPerlin(x, y);
            noiseGrid[x].Add(tileID);
            CreateTile(tileID, x, y);
        }
    }
}   
private int GetIdUsingPerlin(int x, int y)
{
    float rawPerlin = Mathf.PerlinNoise((x - xOffset + seed) / magnification, (y - yOffset + seed) /magnification);
    float clampPerlin = Mathf.Clamp(rawPerlin, 0.0f, 1.0f);
    float scaledPerlin = clampPerlin * tileset.Count;
    if(scaledPerlin >= mapTiles.Length)
    {
        scaledPerlin = mapTiles.Length - 1;
    }
    return Mathf.FloorToInt(scaledPerlin);
}
private void CreateTile(int tileID, int x, int y)
{
    GameObject tilePrefab = tileset[tileID];
    GameObject tileGroup = tileGroups[tileID];
    GameObject tile = Instantiate(tilePrefab, tileGroup.transform);

    tile.name = string.Format("tileX{0}_Y{1}", x, y);
    tile.transform.localPosition = new Vector3(x + GSL.x, y + GSL.y, 0);

    tileGrid[x].Add(tile);
}

As you can see, the script also generates Folders containing the MapTiles. So maybe there is a way to save these folders?

2

You could store them in a list of lists? Or if you are going the array route you have the option of jagged or multidimensional arrays:

Or you can just store them in a 1D list or array if you want.

I am not entirely sure what the problem you are having is. Is it serialising it?

3

You could store them in a list of lists? Or if you are going the array route you have the option of jagged or multidimensional arrays:

Or you can just store them in a 1D list or array if you want.

I am not entirely sure what the problem you are having is. Is it serialising it?