Lightweight Editor Performance Mode is an editor-only tool for Unreal Engine that gives you a one-click way to switch the editor into a highly optimized “lightweight” state for heavy scenes.
Instead of manually tweaking scalability, CVars, and viewport settings every time a map becomes slow, you pick a profile (Mild, Balanced, Aggressive, Extreme), hit Enable Lightweight Mode, and the plugin applies your predefined performance configuration. When you’re done, Disable restores your original quality settings and viewport view modes as safely as possible.
The tool is ideal for large worlds, heavy lighting setups, and asset-dense environments where the editor becomes sluggish, but you still want precise control over how far you dial down quality.
⭐ Key Features
Automatic, profile-based performance control
Configure four profiles (Mild, Balanced, Aggressive, Extreme) in Project Settings → Plugins → Lightweight Editor Mode. Each profile controls:
Overall quality level (mapped to engine scalability)
Screen percentage (r.ScreenPercentage)
Lumen GI & reflections on/off
Virtual shadow maps on/off
Volumetric fog & fog on/off
Whether viewports are forced to Unlit
Whether viewport realtime is disabled
One-click Lightweight Mode toggle
Use the dockable “Lightweight Editor Mode” tab to:
Select a profile and Enable Lightweight Mode
Apply all scalability, CVar and viewport changes in one step
Disable the mode to restore original settings and clear backups
Safe scalability and CVar backup/restore
When enabled, the plugin:
Backs up the current scalability quality levels once per editor session
Backs up only the specific CVars it changes and restores them on disable
Logs each change and restoration using dedicated log categories
Viewport-aware behavior with fallback
The plugin:
Stores each editor viewport’s current view mode when enabling
Can optionally force Unlit and disable realtime for all viewports
On disable, restores the per-viewport view modes from backup
If the session backup is missing (e.g. after restart), uses a persisted LastViewModeBeforeLightweight to avoid getting stuck in Unlit
“Enable on Editor Startup” option
In the widget you can enable:
“Enable on Editor startup” to automatically apply the current profile when the editor launches
If you later click Disable Lightweight Mode, this startup flag is automatically turned off and saved, so the editor won’t re-apply the mode against your intent.
🔹 Requirements & Compatibility
Engine: Unreal Engine 5.x
Platforms: Editor-only tool (no effect on packaged builds)
Code: C++ plugin with Slate-based UI and a config UObject
Tested with: UE 5.4+
🔹 Included Content
LightweightEditorMode plugin (C++ source)
Project Settings integration (ULightweightEditorModeSettings)
Dockable Slate widget tab (SLightweightEditorModeWidget)
Internal helper for scalability/CVar/viewport handling (FEditorLightweightMode)
User documentation included inside the plugin (PDF/README)
🔹 Documentationhttps://docs.google.com/document/d/1ojkiT1_6Z9Hu8gMSIqB3-1BvsJHhsEIKJQ4eshD2RDg
🔹 Discord Support Channel
Downgrade available if needed. Ask for Yves.Tanas (at) gmx.de.