Saving packed scenes by resource many times results in large file size

[GlaceonIcc]

Godot Version

v4.5.1

Question

im making a game and i tried to implement a save system using resources. it saves a few variables, but also all of the coins as packed scenes with this script:

		var coins = get_tree().get_nodes_in_group("collectable")
		for collectable in coins:
			var cointhing = PackedScene.new()
			cointhing.pack(collectable)
			globalvariables.save_file_1.coins_i_think.append(cointhing)

saving a few times makes the save file very big, which makes the game lag. does anybody know how to fix it?

[dragonforge-dev]

Why are you saving all the coins?

[GlaceonIcc]

so each coin can be collected only once

[FreakyGoose]

Saving packed scenes is not the best way to implement a save system.

What you need to do is to store a variable in the coin scene that stores if has been collected. When instantiating the coin, just check the ‘collected’ variable related to that particular coin to determine if to spawn it or not.

[GlaceonIcc]

oh, thats a good idea!

[dragonforge-dev]

Here’s an article from Godot on Saving Games. You can also check out the lengthy write-up I did in this thread on how to implement the exact thing you’re looking for:

Preventing queue_free()'d node from reappearing on scene change

So your problem is persistence. Nodes only retain changes while they are in memory unless you save those changes to a disk. So if you close the scene, you lose all the scene data. If you close the game, you lose all the global data. What I do is give each pickup in a game a bool value like @lastbender suggested, but then I save that value on disk. So let’s walk through it with my game Eternal Echoes which I made for a gam jam. In-Game View [Screenshot 2025-11-28 011522] So in the game (above)…

[GlaceonIcc]

its not really what i was looking for, since i’m doing the save system with resources. is there a way of saving each coin’s collected variable in one resource?

[dragonforge-dev]

Sure.

1. Create a Resource with a Dictionary where the key is a String, and the value is a bool.
2. Create a function to add a coin’s info to the Resource.
3. Create a function to retrieve the coin’s info.
4. Put the Resource in a global autoload.
5. In the coins, pass the UID and whether it’s been collected to the coin Resource whenever they are collected.
6. Have the coins query with their UID when loading. If they are not found, they aren’t collected. If they are, they’re collected.

[GlaceonIcc]

ok so i didnt really get it and ended up saving the coins name in an array in the save file resource whenever its collected, and when the level is loaded, the coin checks if its name is there. it seems to work. thanks for help anyways!