Migration guide

This page collects the breaking changes (and the new defaults) between the supported releases. Pick the section that matches your current state.

v2.1.0 → v2.2.0

No breaking changes — only ergonomic improvements. Old code keeps compiling; the new patterns are simpler and worth adopting.

1. Plugin construction — the short form

Before:

struct MyPlugin;

impl SampPlugin for MyPlugin {}

initialize_plugin!(
    natives: [MyPlugin::my_native],
    { return MyPlugin; }
);

Now:

#[derive(SampPlugin, Default)]
struct MyPlugin;

initialize_plugin!(
    type: MyPlugin,
    natives: [MyPlugin::my_native],
);

#[derive(SampPlugin)] emits impl SampPlugin for T {} for stateless plugins. As soon as a lifecycle hook (on_load, on_tick, …) needs an override, drop the derive and write the impl by hand — and switch back to the constructor-block form of initialize_plugin!.

Situation	Recommended form
Stateless plugin	initialize_plugin!(type: T, natives: [...])
Setup logic (on_load, logging, …)	initialize_plugin!(natives: [...], { ... })
Initial struct state	initialize_plugin!(natives: [...], { return T { ... }; })

2. AmxString — use Deref instead of .to_string()

AmxString implements Deref<Target = str>, so every &str method is available without an extra allocation.

Before:

fn say_hello(&mut self, _amx: &Amx, name: AmxString) -> AmxResult<bool> {
    let name = name.to_string();
    println!("Hello, {name}!");
    Ok(true)
}

Now:

fn say_hello(&mut self, _amx: &Amx, name: &AmxString) -> AmxResult<bool> {
    println!("Hello, {}!", &**name);
    Ok(true)
}

Other usage patterns:

if name.starts_with("Admin") { /* ... */ }
if name.contains("vip")      { /* ... */ }

let msg = format!("Welcome, {}!", &**name);
connect_to_server(&**name);

The decoding is lazy: the underlying String is only built on the first Deref access, then cached in a OnceCell<String>. If the native never touches the content, no String is allocated.

3. Output strings — write_str

Before:

fn get_value(_amx: &Amx, buffer: UnsizedBuffer, size: usize) -> AmxResult<bool> {
    let mut buf = buffer.into_sized_buffer(size);
    let _ = samp::cell::string::put_in_buffer(&mut buf, "value");
    Ok(true)
}

Now:

fn get_value(_amx: &Amx, buffer: UnsizedBuffer, size: usize) -> AmxResult<bool> {
    buffer.write_str(size, "value")?;
    Ok(true)
}

The previous helper silenced the error with let _ = …. write_str propagates AmxError::General through ? when the encoded string is too long for the buffer.

Available on both Buffer and UnsizedBuffer:

let mut buf = allocator.allot_buffer(32)?;
buf.write_str("Hello, AMX")?;

Internally put_in_buffer still exists but is pub(crate) — every public surface goes through write_str.

4. Typed Pawn arrays — get_as / set_as

Float:arr[] and bool:arr[] no longer require manual bit manipulation.

Before:

fn process_floats(_amx: &Amx, array: UnsizedBuffer, len: usize) -> AmxResult<bool> {
    let buf = array.into_sized_buffer(len);
    for i in 0..buf.len() {
        let value = f32::from_bits(buf[i] as u32); // manual conversion
        println!("{value}");
    }
    Ok(true)
}

Now:

fn process_floats(_amx: &Amx, array: UnsizedBuffer, len: usize) -> AmxResult<bool> {
    let buf = array.into_sized_buffer(len);
    for i in 0..buf.len() {
        if let Some(value) = buf.get_as::<f32>(i) {
            println!("{value}");
        }
    }
    Ok(true)
}

Types supported by get_as / set_as / iter_as: i8, u8, i16, u16, i32, u32, isize, usize, f32, bool.

get_as and set_as rely on the CellConvert trait, not on AmxCell. AmxCell converts native arguments; CellConvert converts individual cells of a buffer. They live in different layers intentionally — CellConvert does not need an &Amx.

v2.x → v3.0.0 — native Open Multiplayer support

No source-level breaking changes. Existing code compiles unchanged. What changes is what the SDK generates by default.

Summary

Starting with v3.0.0, every build that does not enable the samp-only feature emits the SA-MP exports and the Open Multiplayer ComponentEntryPoint. The same binary loads on SA-MP and is treated as a first-class component on Open Multiplayer.

Version	Generated binary
v2.x	SA-MP exports only.
v3.0.0 (default)	SA-MP exports and ComponentEntryPoint.
v3.0.0 with samp-only	SA-MP exports only (identical to v2.x).

Unified on_tick

The trait method previously called process_tick is now on_tick(&mut self, ctx: TickContext). The opt-in switched from samp::plugin::enable_process_tick() to samp::plugin::enable_tick() (or enable_tick_with(TickConfig) for custom interval / per-server control).

The unified callback fires on both servers:

• SA-MP — the ProcessTick export forwards to on_tick with ctx.source == TickSource::SaMp. Cadence is whatever the server's main loop is configured for.
• Native Open Multiplayer — the SDK queries ITimersComponent and creates a repeating timer whose timeout dispatches the same callback with ctx.source == TickSource::OmpTimer. Interval defaults to 5 ms; configurable through TickConfig::omp_interval.

ctx.elapsed is the wall-clock time since the previous dispatch (zero on the first call), useful for delta-based logic without calling Instant::now() in the plugin.

Common TickConfig patterns come with builder shortcuts:

use std::time::Duration;
use samp::plugin::{enable_tick_with, TickConfig};

// SA-MP only — Open Multiplayer timer disabled.
enable_tick_with(TickConfig::sa_mp_only());

// Open Multiplayer only, at a custom interval — SA-MP export stays inert.
enable_tick_with(TickConfig::omp_only(Duration::from_millis(50)));

// Full builder when you need both servers with tweaked Open Multiplayer cadence.
enable_tick_with(TickConfig::new().omp_interval(Duration::from_millis(20)));

Targets

Platform	Target	SA-MP	Native Open Multiplayer
Linux	i686-unknown-linux-gnu	✅	✅
Windows	i686-pc-windows-msvc	✅	✅
Windows	i686-pc-windows-gnu	✅	❌

For Windows builds with native Open Multiplayer support, cross-compile from Linux through cargo-xwin:

cargo install cargo-xwin
cargo xwin build --xwin-arch x86 --target i686-pc-windows-msvc

i686-pc-windows-gnu does not support native Open Multiplayer — use it only for SA-MP-only builds (--features samp-only).

Compile-time error after upgrading

error[E0080]: evaluation panicked: OmpComponent: invalid size for the
Itanium ABI. Use --target i686-unknown-linux-gnu to compile with
native Open Multiplayer support.

Cause: the build target is x86_64 instead of i686. The SDK validates OmpComponent's layout at compile time against the i686 Itanium ABI, and on x86_64 pointers are 8 bytes.

Fix: create .cargo/config.toml at the project root:

[build]
# Linux — SA-MP + native Open Multiplayer (default)
target = "i686-unknown-linux-gnu"

# Windows — SA-MP + native Open Multiplayer (requires cargo-xwin)
# target = "i686-pc-windows-msvc"

# Windows — SA-MP only (combine with the samp-only feature)
# target = "i686-pc-windows-gnu"

Option A — keep v2.x behavior (SA-MP only)

Enable the samp-only feature. The ComponentEntryPoint is not emitted; the plugin behaves exactly like in v2.x:

[dependencies]
samp = { git = "https://github.com/NullSablex/rust-samp.git", tag = "v3.0.0", features = ["samp-only"] }

No other change is required.

Option B — adopt native Open Multiplayer support

Update the dependency without samp-only. The SDK emits the ComponentEntryPoint and, when the UID is missing, derives one via FNV-1a and writes it back to Cargo.toml:

[dependencies]
samp = { git = "https://github.com/NullSablex/rust-samp.git", tag = "v3.0.0" }

After the first build the Cargo.toml ends up with a new section:

[package.metadata.samp]
uid = "0x<generated_value>"

That is the only required change. The same binary loads on SA-MP and is recognized as a native component by Open Multiplayer.

Option B+ — react to Open Multiplayer-only events

To hook into events specific to native Open Multiplayer, add the optional methods to the trait impl:

impl SampPlugin for MyPlugin {
    fn on_load(&mut self) {
        // called on SA-MP and on Open Multiplayer
    }

    // Every Open Multiplayer component finished initializing.
    // The #[cfg] is required only if the plugin must compile both
    // with and without the samp-only feature.
    #[cfg(not(feature = "samp-only"))]
    fn on_omp_ready(&mut self) {
        if let Some(_core) = samp::plugin::omp_core() {
            log::info!("running on native Open Multiplayer");
        }
    }

    #[cfg(not(feature = "samp-only"))]
    fn on_component_free(&mut self) {
        log::info!("an Open Multiplayer component was released");
    }
}

Migration checklist

• Update the dependency tag to v3.0.0.
• Configure .cargo/config.toml with the correct i686 target (if not yet done).
• Decide: keep samp-only for SA-MP-only behavior, or drop the feature to enable dual support.
• If using dual support: rename any process_tick overrides to on_tick(&mut self, ctx: TickContext), and the opt-in call to enable_tick() (or enable_tick_with(...) for custom interval / per-server control). The TickContext parameter is mandatory — use _ctx if you don't read it.
• Build once and verify the UID was written into [package.metadata.samp].

Legacy samp_sdk → current API

This section covers the move from the original samp_sdk (pre-v1) to the current samp crate.

Summary

Before	Now
samp_sdk = "*"	samp = { git = "https://github.com/NullSablex/rust-samp.git", tag = "v3.0.0" }
new_plugin!(Plugin)	initialize_plugin!(type: T, natives: [...]) or constructor-block form
define_native!(name, args)	#[native(name = "Name")]
impl Default for Plugin	#[derive(Default)] or a constructor block
AMX (raw)	Amx (safe wrapper)
Cell	i32, Ref<T>, AmxString, custom AmxCell impls
Manual native registration	Automatic, through initialize_plugin!
string.to_string()	&*string via Deref<Target = str>
process_tick	on_tick(ctx: TickContext) (unified across servers; opt in via enable_tick() / enable_tick_with(TickConfig))

1. Update Cargo.toml

- [dependencies]
- samp_sdk = "*"

+ [dependencies]
+ samp = { git = "https://github.com/NullSablex/rust-samp.git", tag = "v3.0.0" }

2. Update imports

- use samp_sdk::new_plugin;
- use samp_sdk::...;

+ use samp::prelude::*;
+ use samp::{native, initialize_plugin, SampPlugin};

3. Replace define_native! with #[native]

Before:

define_native!(my_native, string: String);
define_native!(raw_native as raw);

Now:

#[native(name = "MyNative")]
fn my_native(&mut self, _amx: &Amx, text: &AmxString) -> AmxResult<bool> {
    println!("{}", &**text);
    Ok(true)
}

#[native(name = "RawNative", raw)]
fn raw_native(&mut self, amx: &Amx, args: Args) -> AmxResult<f32> {
    Ok(1.0)
}

4. Replace new_plugin! with initialize_plugin!

Before:

impl Default for Plugin {
    fn default() -> Plugin { Plugin { /* ... */ } }
}
new_plugin!(Plugin);

Now (short form):

#[derive(SampPlugin, Default)]
struct Plugin;

initialize_plugin!(
    type: Plugin,
    natives: [Plugin::my_native],
);

Now (full form):

initialize_plugin!(
    natives: [Plugin::my_native],
    { return Plugin { /* ... */ }; }
);

5. Update the lifecycle impl

// Without overrides — use the derive
#[derive(SampPlugin, Default)]
struct Plugin;

// With overrides — write the impl by hand
impl SampPlugin for Plugin {
    fn on_load(&mut self) {
        // native registration is automatic
    }
    fn on_unload(&mut self) { }
}