Engine Settings

Engine Settings Skill

🔀 Registered settings moved to the engine. Category-based registered-setting access (list_categories / list_settings / get_setting / set_setting) is now Unreal 5.8's native ConfigSettingsToolset — reach it with call_tool (run describe_toolset on ConfigSettingsToolset for its actions/params). VibeUE's EngineSettingsService was trimmed to the delta the engine doesn't cover: console variables (cvars), scalability levels, raw engine INI read/write, and config save. Use those from execute_python_code as shown below.

Critical Rules

⚠️ CVars (VibeUE) vs Registered Settings (engine toolset)

• CVars (console variables) → unreal.EngineSettingsService.get_console_variable / set_console_variable (kept in VibeUE).
• Registered settings (category + key, e.g. RendererSettings) → engine ConfigSettingsToolset via call_tool. EngineSettingsService.get_setting / set_setting / list_categories / list_settings were removed in the 5.8 consolidation.

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# CVars (names like r.ReflectionMethod) — VibeUE
value = unreal.EngineSettingsService.get_console_variable("r.ReflectionMethod")
unreal.EngineSettingsService.set_console_variable("r.ReflectionMethod", "1")

# Registered settings (category-based) — use the engine ConfigSettingsToolset via call_tool.
# Raw INI is also still available in VibeUE when you know the section/key:
value = unreal.EngineSettingsService.get_engine_ini_value(
    "/Script/Engine.RendererSettings", "bEnableRayTracing", "Engine.ini")

⚠️ Check Read-Only Before Setting CVars

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info = unreal.ConsoleVariableInfo()
if unreal.EngineSettingsService.get_console_variable_info("r.MaxQualityMode", info):
    if not info.is_read_only:
        unreal.EngineSettingsService.set_console_variable(info.name, "1")

⚠️ Some Settings Require Restart

set_console_variable / set_engine_ini_value return an FEngineSettingResult whose requires_restart flag tells you whether the change takes effect immediately. (Registered-setting results come from the engine ConfigSettingsToolset instead.)

Browsing registered settings

Listing categories and the settings inside them is now an engine ConfigSettingsToolset job — call it via call_tool and run describe_toolset for the available actions. These engine categories cover rendering, physics, audio, GC, networking, collision, AI, input, and the rest.

For everything VibeUE still owns, see the cvar / INI / scalability workflows below.

Workflows

Enable Ray Tracing

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import unreal
import json

rt_settings = {
    "r.RayTracing": "1",
    "r.RayTracing.Shadows": "1",
    "r.RayTracing.Reflections": "1",
    "r.ReflectionMethod": "1"
}
result = unreal.EngineSettingsService.set_console_variables_from_json(json.dumps(rt_settings))
unreal.EngineSettingsService.save_all_engine_config()

Optimize for Performance

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import unreal
import json

# Set overall scalability to Low (0)
unreal.EngineSettingsService.set_overall_scalability_level(0)

# Disable expensive features
perf_settings = {
    "r.RayTracing": "0",
    "r.VolumetricFog": "0",
    "r.MotionBlurQuality": "0",
    "r.Shadow.MaxResolution": "512"
}
unreal.EngineSettingsService.set_console_variables_from_json(json.dumps(perf_settings))

Search CVars

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import unreal

shadows = unreal.EngineSettingsService.search_console_variables("shadow", 100)
for cvar in shadows:
    print(f"{cvar.name}: {cvar.value} ({cvar.type})")

Set Engine INI Values

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import unreal

result = unreal.EngineSettingsService.set_engine_ini_value(
    "/Script/EngineSettings.GameMapsSettings",
    "GameDefaultMap",
    "/Game/Maps/Lvl_Main.Lvl_Main",
    "DefaultEngine.ini"
)

Data Structures

Python Naming Convention: C++ types like FEngineSettingResult are exposed as EngineSettingResult in Python (no F prefix).

EngineSettingResult (returned by set_* and INI write methods)

• success, error_message
• modified_settings, failed_settings
• requires_restart

ConsoleVariableInfo

• name, value, default_value, description
• type, flags, is_read_only

VibeUE EngineSettingsService covers:

• Rendering optimization: Adjust r.* cvars, ray tracing, shadows
• Performance profiling: GC cvars (gc.*), streaming, scalability
• Quality presets: Apply overall or per-group scalability levels
• Raw engine INI: read/write sections directly when you know the key

For browsing/editing registered settings by category (physics, audio, collision, AI, input classes, etc.), use the engine ConfigSettingsToolset via call_tool.

Sample scripts (run via execute_python_code)

• scripts/set_cvars.txt — read scalability and set a console variable.