Equipment

Equipment turns an inventory item into a replicated actor attached to a character slot. It also grants the item's abilities and effects while that equipment remains active.

Execution model

• Authority — State Authority equips, unequips, spawns equipment, and grants source abilities/effects.
• Prediction — equipped abilities may predict only when their individual policy allows it.
• Replicated — occupied slots, equipment actors, item instance, ammo/gameplay state, and granted results.
• Local only — smoothed presentation sockets, inspect animations, particles, audio, and HUD selection.

Main types

Type	Responsibility
CharacterEquipment	Slot/socket configuration and replicated equipped instances
EquipmentSlotTag	Strong slot identity such as Weapon or Head
EntityFragmentEquipment	Which slots accept the item
EquipmentInstance	Spawned actor representation of the item
EntityFragmentAbilities	Abilities granted from the equipment source
EntityFragmentEffects	Effects applied while equipped

The equipment prefab comes from ItemDefinition.Prefab. The prefab must contain NetworkObject and a concrete EquipmentInstance, and it must be available to Fusion spawning.

Configure the character

On CharacterEquipment, map each EquipmentSlotTag to a deterministic simulation socket. For a smoothed moving character, add a matching presentation socket under the visual root.

On the equipment prefab, assign EquipmentInstance.Presentation Root to a visual-only child. During Render, that child follows the presentation socket without feeding interpolated transforms into the replicated actor pose.

Configure the item

1. Assign the equipment prefab to ItemDefinition.Prefab.
2. Add EntityFragmentEquipment and list its allowed slots. An empty list permits any configured slot.
3. Add EntityFragmentAbilities for fire, reload, block, or other equipment actions.
4. Add EntityFragmentEffects for effects that should remain while equipped.
5. Ensure the assigned ItemScheme allows these fragments, then normalize the definition.

Equip and unequip

CharacterEquipment equipment = character.GetComponent<CharacterEquipment>();
if (!character.Object.HasStateAuthority || !equipment)
    return;

bool equipped = equipment.EquipItem(item, weaponSlot);

EquipItem validates the character socket and allowed slot, spawns the prefab through World, stores the replicated instance, grants abilities with the equipment NetworkObject as their source, applies configured effects, and calls OnEquipped.

if (character.Object.HasStateAuthority && equipment)
    equipment.UnequipItemFromSlot(weaponSlot);

Unequip revokes abilities granted by that source, removes effects associated with the equipment object, clears the slot, calls OnUnequipped, and normally destroys the actor.

Create an equipment implementation

public sealed class LanternEquipment : EquipmentInstance
{
    [Networked] public bool IsLit { get; private set; }

    public void SetLit(bool value)
    {
        if (Object.HasStateAuthority)
            IsLit = value;
    }
}

Keep mutable gameplay state on the equipment actor or its components. Read authored values from ItemInstance.Definition and fragments.

Common failure checks

• CanEquipItem fails: confirm the character has the slot and the fragment permits it.
• Nothing spawns: confirm ItemDefinition.Prefab, NetworkObject, and Fusion prefab registration.
• Ability remains after unequip: grant it through the equipment fragment/source path, not independently.
• Visuals jitter: separate the presentation root and configure the matching presentation socket.

Try it: Recipe: Equip a Weapon.

Next: Interaction.