Can not use type 'NetworkVariable<string>' in develop branch

[ojh6t3k]

My project is using the MLAPI develop branch.
The following error appears when using 'NetworkVariable< string>'

error CS8377: The type 'string' must be a non-nullable value type, along with all fields at any level of nesting, in order to use it as parameter 'T' in the generic type or method 'NetworkVariable'

I think that NetworkVariable is not supported.
Is there any other way if I need to synchronize a string type variable?

[JesseOlmer]

As the error says, NetworkVariable only supports unmanaged types in recent develop branch commits, and string is not an unmanaged type. Currently, there's not a good solution to synchronizing strings in develop. You can create your own struct which implements INetworkSerializable and is backed by a char[] or Unity.Collections FixedString types.

We have a PR incoming in the next few days which will make NetworkVariable serialization "just work" for any unmanaged types, so you will soon be able to do NetworkVariable<FixedString64Bytes> for example.

[XPOL555]

@JesseOlmer can we have an example implementation of a struct as alternative to the old NetworkVariableString?

[JesseOlmer]

@XPOL555 this issue is a bit old now and as I mentioned, you can look at FixedStringXXBytes from the Unity Collections package. If you want something which "just works", use these types. You can also look at their implementation by installing the package. You can read more about unmanaged types from the official .NET docs

[XPOL555]

@JesseOlmer WoW! Thank you. I am using it now to set Player names. I guess this type is quite heavy on rpcmessages, clients are now really slow on host.

[JesseOlmer]

@XPOL555 if you need support please either file a new issue with the proper label, or join our discord and chat with the community and our community engineers there

[XPOL555]

Just Joined :D @JesseOlmer