How to reload config files modified in the editor?

Development Programming & Scripting
1

How to reload config files modified in the editor? Generally , these modifications seem to take effect after restarting the editor only. Is there a way don’t need to restart editor?

2

This worked quite a while ago (like 4.5 or so), but broke in some version after that. I got it working again with some minor engine fixes in 4.6, but since 4.7 the functionality seems to be completely gone and I can’t figure out how to restore it. Every question I saw so far was left unanswered (like this one). Hopefully someday we get this feature back. Having to wait multiple minutes for the editor to start again is unacceptable!

3

Thanks for your answer!

4

As a workaround (in UE4.9) I got config files to reload in-editor by calling GConfig->LoadFile() from a derived actor’s BeginPlay(). For example:

    void AnActorInTheSceneClass::BeginPlay()
    {
        for(auto const& e : *GConfig)
        {
            GConfig->LoadFile(e.Key);
        }

        Super::BeginPlay();
    }

Since I was interested only in a couple of files, I loaded them explicitly (eg GConfig->LoadFile(GGameIni)) instead of the loop above.

5

Thanks jppm! It’s a good news . But the version of our project is U4.82 still, And in that version , the hotreloading function of those config files seems can’t work.

6

This is brutal bug for iteration. Any chance there’s a fix coming soon?

7

+1

8

This bug seems to have returned in UE 5. If I change the DefaultInput.ini file I have to restart the entire UnrealEngine editor which takes quite a bit of time and is relatively inefficient :frowning: Does anyone know how to fix this regression?

2 Likes
9

Checkout FConfigCacheIni::InitializeConfigSystem() in ConfigCacheini.cpp

you should call FConfigCacheIni::LoadGlobalIniFile functions a second time with bforcereload=True for every ini file that you want to reload

1 Like
10

Is there a way to fresh the INI files via Python, or only via C++?

I’ve made an Editor Widget Utility that successfully makes changes to “EditorPerProjectUserSettings.ini”. However, those changes don’t take affect.

Is there a way to ‘force’ Unreal to reload “EditorPerProjectUserSettings.ini” via python?

1 Like
11

Just an update to this: the only way to update Editor Preferences is with C++. I have an upcoming plugin in the UE Marketplace that does this, coded by Alexandru Oprea. He’s a fantastic programmer - you can check out his work at https://outofthebox-plugins.com/

12

Bump.
Using the above c++ methods doesnt seeem to work either. Anyone found a working solution to this?

13

Another epic story by unreal engine maintainers :slight_smile: