How to save Unity Tilemaps

Learn how to load and save Unity tilemaps using scriptable objects.
Alternatively, I'll show you how to convert tilemaps into JSON or a compressed string so that you can easily save them to a database and allow players to create their own levels to share.
Extra: Learn how to add buttons to your unity editor scripts.
Scripts: bit.ly/3wLN8Sk
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SUBSCRIBE: bit.ly/3eqG1Z6
0:00 Intro
0:30 Base tile script
2:30 Tilemap Manager
3:45 Create the level scriptable object
5:00 Saving the map
11:00 Adding buttons to the editor
14:00 Clearing the map
15:45 Loading the map
21:00 Saving to JSON
22:40 Manual serialization for compression

[@olon1993]

Why I ❤this channel: Came here to learn about Tilemaps Encountered local functions for the first time Learned about both. Better game dev Better software dev 20/10, video did the job of two videos

[@barriakarl]

Just perfect tutorial. Was a bit scared you wouldnt show how to save to json there but glad you decided to.

[@lollipop.4784]

Dude, you are so underrated!!! Thank you so much for the video and you have helped me a lot! keep up the good work

[@charles_richard]

Thank you so, so much! This video has helped me immensely. It should have 10x more views, man!

[@minetomek]

Amazing vidoe. Helped me a lot!

[@user-zb9lo4sl9h]

Cool, thanks so much for your time and consideration

[@AwataraGame]

Hi @Tarodev it's very very useful tutorial, I have modified your tutorial into very efficient with combine between Scriptable Objects and Tile, so I can call the tiles after I quit the game, Thanks for the tutorials!

[@MalrickEQ2]

Exactly what I needed! Thanks!!

[@Tarodev]

You're welcome ❤️

[@user-ke5jx7hb9e]

Thanks for the video!

[@orick08]

Nice, when I finish the videos of the tactics games I search for how to do exactly this!!!

[@vamporium432]

You didn't tackle the Deserialize() part of the Level struct. Would you do it with string.Split() or string.IndexOf or similar string manipulation? Or do you have another (maybe more efficient) approach?

[@LethalChicken77]

In my implementation I used string.split, and used commas and brackets as seperators

[@Elite_Success]

Hey man can you please share the code? I couldn't figure out how to doit@@LethalChicken77

[@moneodev]

Really nice tutorial! The only thing that was really missing was how to unserialize the .txt file but good overall!

[@Elite_Success]

Love the video man! However I couldn't figure out how to deserialize the more optimized way you showed at the end. Can you please help with that?

[@ironbard4901]

Subscribers++; I'm crunching on a game and this might just save some features from the chopping block. Thank you!

[@MalrickEQ2]

Also, Inspector GUI sounds like a show on BBC.

[@noobcraft5712]

Cool :)

[@bienphamxuan3295]

That's so good. But I'm facing a problem when I using a multiple tiles in tile palette, not just use one tiles to save like this video. Could you give me some advice to do this.

[@atrejoprivate9541]

thanks for helpng me

[@Tarodev]

Glad it helped you 😊

[@322ss]

Thanks for the video, some interesting points there. BTW, it would not probably be a good idea to ever serialize those scriptable objects into json as is, those tile instance IDs can change AFAIK. So after adding or removing some stuff from project and then loading a level might not work as expected, even if the save/load was editor only feature. I guess you already know this, but there is that pretty print parameter for JSONUtility which outputs the data with line breaks and indentations, it is pretty useful when you need to read that data in text editor.

[@Tarodev]

You're right, you should never serialize a ScriptableObject. It was naughty of me to use it as an example. Hopefully viewers don't stop the video right there and take it to heart without listening to the following advice, heh.

[@MetaKnight23]

is there a good solution if I have a mix of RuleTiles, AnimatedTiles and normal Tiles? do I have to create individuell "LevelTiles" and save them in different Lists ?

[@michaelconnell3497]

Yeah, I created a LevelRuleTile and gave it its own tilemap. Only minor changes to the code were necessary.

[@LethalChicken77]

My personal favorite solution to this is to simply not. Unfortunately sometimes it is required.

[@user-by3ov4bh6p]

I need level editor ingame, with tilemaps and layers😥

[@midniteoilsoftware]

I humbly request you zoom into your code editor :)

[@Tarodev]

I do in new videos 😊 I've learned!

[@diego_4812]

Hi, I use this save and load system to load/unload chunks in my tilemap, it works but, when i load a chunk this have a little lag :( , i try changing the max tile change count from my tilemap collider 2d to a lower number but, this only made it slightly better Can you think of any way to fix that?

[@andreman2767]

It should be async save and load (dont really into it)

[@diego_4812]

The problem was that the collider 2d mesh didn't have a simple geometry and that's why it took so long to load and save, currently this system works perfectly for me :)

[@cookiemonster_xx]

Is it possible to use this script with rule tiles? When I try to safe a rule tile to my level the "Tile" field stays empty

[@Tarodev]

Don't try to serialize the entire rule tile, save the tile type and position. When you load you check that it's a rule tile and lay it down

[@skytrymotion]

@@Tarodev Could you explain it a bit, I have no Idea what I should do

[@vomgame]

Пригодится

[@Tarodev]

Making me google translate :P

[@ukidabek]

Enums don't have to have Serializable attribute. :)

[@Tarodev]

Indeed. I serialize them to see them in the inspector (I don't remember if I used them in the inspector in this video)

[@themrfj]

Why don't you just create the scriptableobject at the start, then add and remove SavedTile objects as you place them at runtime? No need to look through the tilemap :)

[@themrfj]

That is NOT the use of the word save I though you were going for :P I thought you were "saving" the tilemap feature from being bad :)

[@Tarodev]

I am only human 😂

[@themrfj]

Ha ha :D In all seriousness, it's not as bad as I first thought. I think I'm finally getting the hang of it. Took a few months though!

[@Korn1holio]

Damn. That's why I kinda hate Unity. Such a commonly needed functionality have to be coded using all sorts of crutches...

[@Tarodev]

Like serializing and saving tile maps? Yeah... I agree things like this should be native

[@light-light]

Why unity does not provide this basic function?