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Complex Data Types

How complex data types are handled

The plugin intelligently handles Unreal Engine's complex data types by preserving their internal structure and metadata. For certain field types, additional path information is included to maintain data integrity.

Transform and Rotation Data

When working with FTransform or FRotator types, it's important to understand how the plugin handles rotation data:

FTransform Rotation (Quaternions)
The plugin exports rotation from FTransform as a quaternion (X, Y, Z, W values), not as degrees. This is Unreal's internal representation of rotation.

  • In UE Editor: You see rotation as Roll/Pitch/Yaw in degrees (e.g., 0°, 0°, 135°)
  • In Google Sheets: You see the quaternion values (e.g., X≈0.0047, Y≈-0.0114, Z≈0.9238, W≈0.3827)
  • After Import: UE converts the quaternion back to degrees, which may show slightly different values due to floating-point precision

Quaternion Requirements

Quaternions must be unit quaternions (length = 1). Arbitrary values like "111" will be normalized by the engine and produce unexpected rotation angles.

Common Quaternion Values:

  • No rotation: X=0, Y=0, Z=0, W=1
  • 90° Yaw: X=0, Y=0, Z=0.70710678, W=0.70710678
  • 90° Pitch: X=0, Y=0.70710678, Z=0, W=0.70710678
  • 90° Roll: X=0.70710678, Y=0, Z=0, W=0.70710678

FRotator (Direct Degrees)
If you use FRotator instead of FTransform, the plugin exports rotation as Pitch/Yaw/Roll in degrees, making it much more intuitive to edit in Google Sheets.

Recommended approach for manual editing

For DataTables that require frequent manual rotation editing, consider splitting FTransform into separate fields:

  • FVector Location
  • FRotator Rotation (exported as degrees)
  • FVector Scale

Then combine them into FTransform in your code/Blueprint. This keeps the Google Sheets data human-readable.

Asset References

When your DataTable contains references to assets (textures, meshes, blueprints, etc.), the plugin exports the full asset path along with the reference data. This ensures that when you import the data back, Unreal Engine can correctly resolve and link to the original assets.

Localized Text (NSLOCTEXT)

The plugin preserves Unreal's localization format completely. In Google Sheets you'll see the full NSLOCTEXT("Package","Key","Source") structure, which includes:

  • Package: The localization namespace
  • Key: The unique identifier for this text entry

  • Source: The actual display text

  • In UE:

UeExampleText

  • In Sheets:

GoogleExampleText

Editing localized text

To change the visible text, edit only the last "Source" parameter.
Do not change Package and Key unless you know your localization pipeline.

Other Complex Types

Similar data preservation applies to:

  • Soft Object References: Full asset paths with package information
  • Class References: Blueprint class paths and metadata
  • Curve References: Data table and curve asset paths
  • Material Parameter Collections: Parameter names and collection paths

This approach ensures that no critical linking information is lost during the export/import process, maintaining the integrity of your game data.