Is it safe to rename actors (as in changing their object name, not just label) as a regular part of workflow?
I am asking specifically about actors placed in levels (both WP and non-WP). I understand there are actor labels, but they don’t exist in game, they are not unique, and most debugs (like rewind debugger for example) only work with object names. It would be much more convenient to just rename the actors to something identifiable.
Are there some possible unintended side effects? Does something in engine rely on the original naming format? If not, why isn’t there any UI for this?
It is generally not recommended to rename the object (other than the label) to avoid referencing problems.
When using OFPA, the name of the UObject is used in the generation of the hash used as the name of the file. If done properly, this should result in the generation of a redirector if the editor thinks there are references to the actor. This will generate churn at the storage level (local drive, Perforce).
In the case of a normal level (non-WP/ single umap file), this can break soft references.