Setting Custom Console Variables from Command Line

Development Programming & Scripting
1

Hey All!

So I’m wondering if there’s a way to do this that’s simpler than my current method. Let’s say I have two machines that are running from the same install of UE4 ( let’s assume it’s on a shared network drive that both have access to ). What I want to be able to do, is pass a command line argument to each instance when I start them to set a specific console variable to a value that’s different per machine.

As a contrived example, let’s say the variable is “r.ControllerType” and on one machine I want “Xbox360” and on the other I want “PS4”. I know what I COULD do, is create two custom ini files for each machine and use a command line to load those custom ini files instead of the normal ones, or I could have a custom c++ function that can be used as a command line minus command to set the data.

I was hoping there’s a simpler way to set these console variables, that could hopefully be as simple as adding “r.ControllerType=“Type”” or something along those lines. I want to avoid editing INI files as much as humanly possible, and I’d also like to avoid writing custom c++ code to allow this type of workflow for every new console variable I create.

Thanks for any help!

Branden

2

To directly answer your question, the [docs are here][1] for adding your own variable like this:

static TAutoConsoleVariable<int32> CVarRefractionQuality(
    TEXT("r.RefractionQuality"),
    2,
    TEXT("Defines the distortion/refraction quality, adjust for quality or performance.\n")
    TEXT("<=0: off (fastest)\n")
    TEXT("  1: low quality (not yet implemented)\n")
    TEXT("  2: normal quality (default)\n")
    TEXT("  3: high quality (e.g. color fringe, not yet implemented)"),
    ECVF_Scalability | ECVF_RenderThreadSafe);

But then you’d have to register for changes, or poll the variable. You could make a console function instead of a variable. There are a few classes where an Exec function works, but I like the PlayerController because it’s likely that you have your own custom one, and it looks like you’re doing something with input.

Inside your PlayerController add a function like this:

UFUNCTION(Exec)
void HelloComputer(FString value)
{
	UE_LOG(LogTemp, Warning, TEXT("Generating Plans for %s"), *value);
}

Then when you type in the console HelloComputer Transparent Aluminum you get something like this:

67197-hellocomputer.png

1 Like
3

Yes you can. From Console Variables in C++:

Command line

The command line allows to set console
variables, call console commands or
exec commands. This an example:

UE4Editor.exe GAMENAME -ExecCmds="r.BloomQuality 12;vis 21;Quit"

Here we execute 3 commands. Note that
setting a console variable this way
requires you to omit the ‘=’ you would
need in an ini file.

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