Enhanced Output Log (code plugin)

Community Marketplace
1

Update: now available on Gumroad

Hey,

I am currently working on a small plugin which aims to improve the output log with some new features. I am open to suggestions if you have any!

Here is what I currently have:

  • The search can be toggled to allow regular expressions

Regex.png
Regex.png804×341 137 KB

  • The messages are parsed for links, file and folder paths, source files and possible blueprint references. If a valid match is found, they can be clicked to be opened. For example, you can directly jump from a stack trace to the problematic blueprint function:

Hyperlinks.png
Hyperlinks.png1128×167 99.2 KB

  • The text rendering is improved (shadowing) to be better legible:

Regex.png
Regex.png804×341 161 KB

  • “Collapsed” mode - filter out repeated log messages, e.g. from an error occurring in a loop. In this example, a blueprint logs the same string each tick, but does not clutter up the log:

Collapsed.gif

  • Many customization options

Settings.png
Settings.png1308×508 109 KB

  • Custom filter groups with separate formatting

LogCategories.png
LogCategories.png1537×426 207 KB

  • Allows multiple log windows at the same time (each with a separate filter)

Hyperlinks.png
Hyperlinks.png1128×167 108 KB

  • Anti Spam Mode: Filters out common and uninteresting log messages to remove clutter from the log

Open ideas I still have:

  • Append log output to a file
  • Highlight matched search substrings

Any thoughts? :slight_smile:

2

Interesting.
Is it possible to open up several windows?
e.g. General log + one with a filter to only show a specific warning.

3

At the moment it is not possible to open several windows of the new output log. It is however possible to use the standard log window together with the new output log (as you can see in one of the screenshots).

This is a problem that all “tool windows” in UE4 have. Their current workaround is to just add 4 menu entries for the same thing into the main menu. So you have “Viewport 1”, “Viewport 2”, etc. as menu entries, which is pretty horrible as far as UX goes.
But that is a very easy solution that I might add for the new log window.

4

I’m really interested in this tool. I like especially the collapsed mode and adjusting font size/appearance. I would also like to see a possibility to show value of one variable in the same line, the way you would display FPS counter on the screen. But this should maybe be done in a separate window.

5

At least it would be consistent :slight_smile:

6

Well EPIC did not do it for their current log window.
I think this is because each additional window duplicates all of the log messages and has to parse and display them separately, which might cause performance issues.
But in my tests I did not find any problems with that, so who knows, maybe they just did not see the use case?

7

Or maybe a simple UMG widget would be better suited for that need.

8

Added plugin settings (which are saved to the projects .ini file), custom log groups and multiple windows.

The hardest part about creating a log plugin is that you can’t use logging to debug any problems during development :wink:

9

I swear to god link parsing should be a built in engine feature. Same with log category verbosity configuration.

I will buy this, but I also hope somehow it becomes first party, without you losing sales.

10

Update: I added the Anit-Spam mode, made some performance improvements and submitted it to the marketplace :slight_smile:

I also released in on gumroad for anyone interested!

11

Does this plugin come with a source?

12

Yes, of course all the source files are included!

13

Hello, Cultrarius

What influence your plugin should have on editor perfomance?
My project packaging time increased dramatically with your plugin activated (default settings, no custom categories)
455.10 seconds vs 167.66 with your plugin deactivated

Also, editor often hangs\freezes during cooking with your plugin