Unity Development Cookbook, 2nd Edition

Chapter 13. Files, Networking, and Screenshots

Rich, complex, visual computer programs, like the sort of thing you might make with Unity, also need to do mundane, traditional computer things, like saving, loading, and parsing files. We’ve saved the most thrilling chapter for last: here you’ll find recipes for saving screenshots, state, and textures, as well as for importing files using a custom pipeline. Utterly thrilling (not really), but utterly essential (really!).

13.1 Saving Files

Problem

You want to know where you can save files that your project generates, like screenshots and saved games.

Solution

Use the Application.persistentDataPath property to get the location of a folder to which you can save data:

public string PathForFilename(string filename) {

    // Application.persistentDataPath contains a path where we can
    // safely store data
    var folderToStoreFilesIn = Application.persistentDataPath;

    // System.IO.Path.Combine combines two paths, using the current
    // system's directory separator ( \ on Windows, / on just about
    // every other platform)
    var path = System.IO.Path.Combine(folderToStoreFilesIn, filename);

    return path;

}

Discussion

The directory provided by persistentDataPath is not guaranteed to be exposed to the user; for example, it won’t be exposed on mobile platforms where the user doesn’t have direct access to the filesystem.

13.2 Saving an Image File of Your Game to Disk

Problem

You want to capture an image of your game (a screenshot), and save it to ...