Is there a way to pool/cache SKReferenceNodes in SpriteKit using Swift?
I am creating a game using xCodes visual level editor. I am creating different .sks files with the visual level editor that I am than calling in code when I need to. I am calling them in code because I am using them to create random levels or obstacles so I don't need all of them added to the scene at once.
At the moment I am doing it like this
I create a convince init method for SKReferenceNodes to init them with URLs. I am doing this because there is some sort of bug calling SKReferenceNodes by file name directly (https://forums.developer.apple.com/thread/44090). Using such an extension makes makes the code a bit cleaner.
extension SKReferenceNode {
convenience init(roomName: String) {
let path: String
if let validPath = NSBundle.mainBundle().pathForResource(roomName, ofType: "sks") {
path = validPath
} else {
path = NSBundle.mainBundle().pathForResource("RoomTemplate", ofType: "sks")! // use empty roomTemplate as backup so force unwrap
}
self.init(URL: NSURL(fileURLWithPath: path))
}
}
and than in my scenes I can create them and add them like so (about every 10 seconds)
let room = SKReferenceNode(roomName: "Room1") // will cause lag without GCD
room.position = ...
addChild(room)
This works ok but I am getting some lag/stutter when creating these. So I am using GCD to reduce this to basically no stutter. It works well but I am wondering if I can preload all .sks files first.
I tried using arrays to do this but I am getting crashes and it just doesn't seem to work (I also get a message already adding node that has a parent).
I was trying to preload them like so at app launch
let allRooms = [SKReferenceNode]()
for i in 0...3 {
let room = SKReferenceNode(roomName: "Room\(i)")
allRooms.append(room)
}
and than use the array when I need too. This doesn't work however and I am getting a crash when trying to use code like this
let room = allRooms[0]
room.position =
addChild(room) // causes error/crash -> node already has parent
Has anyone done something similar? Is there another way I can pool/cache those reference nodes?. Am i missing something here?
I just figured it out, I was just being an idiot.
Using arrays like I wanted to is fine, the problem I had which caused the crash was the following.
When the game scene first loads I am adding 3 rooms but when testing with the arrays I kept adding the same room
let room = allRooms[0]
instead of using a randomiser. This obviously meant I was adding the same instance multiple times, hence the crash.
With a randomiser, that doesn't repeat the same room, this does not happen.
Furthermore I make sure to remove the room from the scene when I no longer need it. I have a node in the rooms (roomRemover) which fires a method to remove/create a new room once it comes into contact with the player. This would be the code in DidBeginContact.
guard let roomToRemove = secondBody?.node.parent?.parent?.parent?.parent else { return }
// secondBody is the roomRemover node which is a child of the SKReferenceNode.
// If I want to remove the whole SKReferenceNode I need to add .parent 4 times.
// Not exactly sure why 4 times but it works
for room in allRooms {
if room == roomToRemove {
room.removeFromParent()
}
}
loadRandomRoom()
Hope this helps someone trying to do the same.