Problem with Material Parameter Collection Reference Variable in Set Scalar Parameter funcion

Question

I was following a tutorial on using GameInstance. Where the guy in the video would teach how to choose the color of the ship by clicking a button on a level (x), so as to affect the ship on another level (y).

LINK OF VIDEO (in portuguese):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTiCjPHMJXI&list=PLnwVxZ2WVVpl1sOPaEzK--4fXzq2ZQvE-&index=42

LEVEL X:

CODE OF BLUEPRINT MENU OF LEVEL X (when buttons are clicked):

This code is associated with an enumeration with these three colors (red, green and blue).

My problem appears when I set the target in the function (Set Scalar Parameter Value), it only appears these options for me:

Much like the problem this person had:

https://forums.unrealengine.com/development-discussion/blueprint-visual-scripting/90544-material-parameter-collection-reference-variable

In the video it can give a "get" in the variable, which later (apparently) I discovered to be a reference to the object:

I made the "discovery" based on the sign (blue circle):

I did tests with the "blue circles" type variables, but the ones I did did not work.

https://answers.unrealengine.com/questions/169593/how-to-properly-set-vector-parameter-value.html

I would like to know what I have to do so that the referral is done correctly.

Another link that I researched, but that did not help me much.

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EDIT 1 (attempt based on Stephen's answer)

**I created a material instance and put it right after the Event Begin Play (I found 2 options, so I did the test with both).

Available Options:

Blueprint:

I defined them as editable, just as I was instructed.

But even so, I could not:

I could not connect the nodes. Warning "Material Intance Dynamic Object Reference is not compatible with Material Parameter Collection Object Reference" is displayed.

Answer 1

(Apologies, I'm at work so can't provide pictures, hope my descriptions are good enough but I'll try to edit later)

The reference you are referring to isn't just a random reference, you have to tell the editor what you're trying to change the material instance of. In my experience, this would be a static mesh of some sort.

At Begin Play in your ship blueprint, you need to create that Material Instance. From the Return Value of this, right click and choose Promote to Variable. Name it and make it editable.

In the blueprint which is choosing the colour, at Begin Play, get player character (or pawn), pull the right pin and choose CastTo[YourPlayerBlueprint] then from the result of this, promote it to a variable as well. You can do this when choosing the colour as well but casting is expensive so it's always worth doing it as few times as possible.

Now when you want to change the colour, drag your character / pawn reference into the blueprint, pull off the pin and choose the material instance reference you made and it's this you plug in to the Target pin.

Answer 2

Exactly at 5:37 minute of that video (same person as the first tutorial) I was able to figure out how to solve my problem:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CPFt_vEqfk&list=PLnwVxZ2WVVpl1sOPaEzK--4fXzq2ZQvE-&index=49

I realized that to call the function he first called the variable (get variable):

But no use, if I do not know the correct type of variable (as you can see in the image above, circled in pink).

Only write Material Instance when defining the variable type:

Of the 7 options I tested option 4 and option 7. The correct one is option 7 (circled in pink in the image above).

To deduce that this option was correct, I had to see the 5:40 moment of the video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CPFt_vEqfk&list=PLnwVxZ2WVVpl1sOPaEzK--4fXzq2ZQvE-&index=49):

Step by step:

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Important addition.

For the color to be set correctly, you need to set this variable first.

Just add this code to the Contruction Script: