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Commandlets and console variables (CVars)

Commandlets - are isolated tasks that can be run:

  • from within the editor's console window by typing the name of the commandlet and pressing enter (args can be provided after the name of the commandlet, separated by spaces),
  • by invoking them via cli by running the engine's executable with the -Commandlet argument followed by the name of the commandlet you want to run and any args you want to provide (e.g. HyperionEngine.exe -Commandlet MyCommandlet arg1 arg2).
  • or as a specifically compiled executable, as long as add_commandlet_target() is used in the Source/Commandlets/CMakeLists.txt. For example, PrecompileShaders is one of these, and can be run by executing PrecompileShaders.exe directly from the command line.

To find all commandlets, do a project-wide search for : public CommandletBase. That will show you all defined console command classes.

When Commandlets are executed outside of the editor, the engine will be initialized in a headless mode, load config and initialize the asset registry as well as any other necessary subsystems, etc. This allows commandlets to perform a wide variety of tasks within an engine context, such as cooking assets, precompiling shaders, building lighting data, etc.

Console variables (CVars) - are global variables that can be set to modify the behavior of the engine. They can be of various types, such as bool, int, float, String, etc. CVars can be defined in code and registered with the engine, allowing them to be accessed and modified at runtime. Most CVars are initialized from the engine config file (Config/EngineConfig.json) on engine startup, but they can also be modified at runtime via the console or programmatically via code.

From within the editor, you can use the console window to set a CVar by name. The name you pass is case-insensitive and can be either the full name of the CVar (e.g. Rendering.SSGI) or just the last part of the name (e.g. SSGI), followed by the value you want to set it to (e.g. true/1 or false/0 for bool CVars, a number for int or float CVars, etc.). For example, you can type ssgi 1 in the console to enable SSGI at runtime.

For a full list of available CVars, do a project-wide regex search for ^CVar<([A-Za-z_]+)> to find all CVars defined in the codebase.