Taj's UE ini Lab

Taj's UE ini Lab is a VS Code extension for working on Unreal Engine and game .ini tweak files. It provides a custom ini-tweak language mode, tolerant Unreal-aware parsing, schema-backed CVar documentation, completions, diagnostics, inlay hints, import tools, and reports.

Features

• Language registration for known Unreal config filenames such as Engine.ini, GameUserSettings.ini, Scalability.ini, and Game.ini, plus .engineini and .gameini, with language id ini-tweak. Other files can still use the extension by manually selecting INI Tweak as the language mode.
• TextMate highlighting for sections, Unreal object sections, CVar-looking keys, assignments, values, comments, and +Key, -Key, !Key array mutation syntax.
• Tolerant parser with AST nodes for sections, key-values, comments, blanks, and invalid lines.
• JSONC schema packs with runtime validation through zod.
• Layered schema resolution: user/workspace, game dump, engine schema, generic schema, then heuristics.
• Hover documentation with type, default value, current dump value, user value, help, known values, sections, notes, and provenance.
• Smart completions for CVar names, sections, boolean/enum values, and common snippets. CVar completions are ranked by exact prefix first, namespace/token matches second, and optional fuzzy fallback last.
• Diagnostics for malformed lines, duplicates, conflicting duplicates, unknown CVar-looking keys, typo suggestions, type mismatches, invalid enum values, suspicious sections, and engine-known/game-missing entries.
• Inlay hints for type/default/dump values.
• Quick fixes for typo replacement, boolean normalization, inserting default/current values, commenting tweaks, and generating schema-help comments.
• Dedicated INI Tweak Lab activity bar Workbench with Overview, CVars, Schema Stack, Report, Diff, Explain, and Actions tabs. It shows the active base schema, selected scope, CVar count, bundled UE version buttons, schema stack, report/diff output, and command shortcuts.
• Multi-root-aware schema storage with explicit Workbench scope selection for the active editor, workspace folders, or standalone files.
• Commands for importing dumps/schema files, selecting bundled UE base schemas, validating, reports, schema stack viewing, schema diffing, workspace schema creation, renderer block generation, section sorting, commenting selections, explaining settings, and searching active CVars.

Importing CVar Dumps

Use INI Tweak Lab: Import CVar Dump and select a dump file. The importer accepts:

• Existing INI Tweak Lab schema JSON/JSONC.
• JSON object or array dumps, including common UUU-style objects such as UUU_CVarsDump.json. UUU Helptext, type, value, and Flags fields are normalized when present.
• Best-effort DumpConsoleCommands text/log lines.
• Simple fallback line-based text.

Imported files are written to .ini-lab/schemas/<name>.cvars.jsonc and added to iniTweakLab.schemaStack.

Dump formats vary. The importer preserves best-effort fields and labels imported provenance, but you should review generated schema files before treating them as authoritative.

Schema Stack

Set iniTweakLab.schemaStack in workspace settings. Higher priority files should appear first:

{
  "iniTweakLab.schemaStack": [
    ".ini-lab/schemas/workspace-overrides.cvars.jsonc",
    ".ini-lab/schemas/subnautica2.cvars.jsonc",
    "schemas/examples/ue5-base.example.cvars.jsonc"
  ]
}

Sparse high-priority entries override only the fields they provide. Lower-priority schemas can still supply help text, default values, known values, notes, and suggested sections.

Bundled base schemas can be selected from INI Tweak Lab: Select Unreal Engine Version, INI Tweak Lab: Open Schema Stack, or the INI Tweak Lab activity bar Workbench. Selecting a base schema updates the selected workspace/schema scope while preserving higher-priority game dump and workspace override schemas above it.

Current bundled base schemas are generated from Epic Developer Community HTML exports:

• schemas/ue5.4-base.cvars.jsonc
• schemas/ue5.5-base.cvars.jsonc
• schemas/ue5.6-base.cvars.jsonc
• schemas/ue5.7-base.cvars.jsonc

The source HTML files are kept in SchemaSource/Epic/<version>/ so schema generation is reproducible from files in the repository.

Schema Format

Schemas are JSONC and support comments/trailing commas:

{
  "schemaVersion": 1,
  "id": "ue5.5-base",
  "displayName": "Unreal Engine 5.5 Base CVars",
  "target": {
    "engine": "Unreal Engine",
    "engineVersion": "5.5",
    "game": null,
    "gameBuild": null
  },
  "generatedFrom": {
    "source": "DumpConsoleCommands",
    "generatedAt": "2026-05-15T00:00:00Z"
  },
  "cvars": {
    "r.DynamicGlobalIlluminationMethod": {
      "name": "r.DynamicGlobalIlluminationMethod",
      "kind": "variable",
      "type": "int",
      "defaultValue": "1",
      "currentValue": "1",
      "help": "Selects the dynamic global illumination method.",
      "category": "Rendering / Global Illumination",
      "knownValues": {
        "0": "Disabled",
        "1": "Lumen",
        "2": "Screen Space"
      },
      "iniSections": ["SystemSettings", "/Script/Engine.RendererSettings"],
      "notes": ["May be overridden by project renderer settings or scalability."],
      "sources": [{ "type": "engine-dump", "label": "UE 5.5 DumpConsoleCommands" }]
    }
  }
}

Settings

• iniTweakLab.profile
• iniTweakLab.schemaStack
• iniTweakLab.enableDiagnostics
• iniTweakLab.warnUnknownCvars
• iniTweakLab.warnDuplicateKeys
• iniTweakLab.warnTypeMismatches
• iniTweakLab.warnKnownInEngineButMissingFromGameDump
• iniTweakLab.showHoverSourceProvenance
• iniTweakLab.showDumpValuesAsInlayHints
• iniTweakLab.maxCompletionItems
• iniTweakLab.completion.matchMode
  • strictPrefix: only canonical startsWith CVar matches.
  • smart: exact prefix matches first, then namespace-aware token matches, then contains-token matches.
  • fuzzy: smart matching plus fuzzy fallback.
• iniTweakLab.completion.fuzzyFallback
• iniTweakLab.debug.completions
• iniTweakLab.schemaSearchPaths
• iniTweakLab.defaultIniSections
• iniTweakLab.assumeUnrealSyntax
• iniTweakLab.enableInlineCommentParsing

Completion behavior is intentionally handled by the extension, not left to VS Code fuzzy filtering. For example, r.Shader should not show r.Shadow.*, while r.Lumen can show exact r.Lumen.* matches first and related Lumen token matches lower in the list. Enable iniTweakLab.debug.completions to inspect detected prefixes, ranges, and candidate lists in the INI Tweak Lab Completions output channel.

Commands

• INI Tweak Lab: Import CVar Dump
• INI Tweak Lab: Import Schema File
• INI Tweak Lab: Validate Current File
• INI Tweak Lab: Generate Tweak Report
• INI Tweak Lab: Explain Selected Setting
• INI Tweak Lab: Compare Current INI Against Active Schema
• INI Tweak Lab: Diff Schema Packs
• INI Tweak Lab: Open Schema Stack
• INI Tweak Lab: Select Unreal Engine Version
• INI Tweak Lab: Create Workspace Schema
• INI Tweak Lab: Generate Unreal Renderer Block
• INI Tweak Lab: Sort Current Section
• INI Tweak Lab: Comment Out Selected Tweaks
• INI Tweak Lab: Search Active CVars

Development

npm install
npm run compile
npm test -- --run
npm run lint

npm run compile type-checks the TypeScript sources and bundles the extension into dist/extension.js with esbuild. For development watch mode, run:

npm run watch

Run the full recommended local check set with:

npm run check

Package a local .vsix with:

npm run package

Launch an Extension Development Host with the included .vscode/launch.json. The workspace also includes VS Code tasks for compile, watch, test, lint, check, and package.

Regenerating Epic Base Schemas

Epic Developer Community HTML exports for Unreal Engine Console Variables Reference live under SchemaSource/Epic/<version>/. Current source files are:

• SchemaSource/Epic/5.4/Unreal Engine Console Variables Reference _ Unreal Engine 5.4 Documentation _ Epic Developer Community.html
• SchemaSource/Epic/5.5/Unreal Engine Console Variables Reference _ Unreal Engine 5.5 Documentation _ Epic Developer Community.html
• SchemaSource/Epic/5.6/Unreal Engine Console Variables Reference _ Unreal Engine 5.6 Documentation _ Epic Developer Community.html
• SchemaSource/Epic/5.7/Unreal Engine Console Variables Reference _ Unreal Engine 5.7 Documentation _ Epic Developer Community.html

To regenerate bundled base schemas, run:

npm run generate:epic-schemas

The generator recursively reads rendered Epic HTML tables and writes schemas/ue<version>-base.cvars.jsonc. You can pass a custom source folder as the first argument if needed.

Completion Matching

The extension uses explicit CVar-aware matching and returns incomplete completion lists so VS Code recomputes suggestions as you type. The default smart mode works as:

1. Exact prefix: r.Shadow matches r.Shadow.MaxResolution.
2. Namespace token: r.Lumen can also match r.Scene.LumenSomething because it stays in the r namespace and contains a real Lumen token.
3. Contains token: lumen can find CVar names containing a Lumen token across namespaces.
4. Fuzzy fallback: disabled by default, and only intended for explicit typo-search behavior.

Token matching deliberately avoids short ambiguous terms, so partial input such as r.shad remains prefix-driven and does not turn into broad contains search.

Known Limitations

• Raw DumpConsoleCommands and arbitrary game dump parsing is best-effort, not exact.
• The Workbench CVar browser is intentionally lightweight. It supports scoped schema search and insertion, but deeper conflict visualization and preset workflows are still future work.
• Diagnostics are conservative because Unreal config files can rely on project/game-specific behavior.
• There is no LSP yet. The core modules are separated so they can move to an LSP later.
• Epic base schemas are generated from public documentation exports. They are useful as base documentation, but runtime/game/plugin CVars still require game dumps or workspace schemas.

Roadmap

• Preset workflows with preview diffs and safe application to INI files.
• Effective INI visual view with filters for overridden duplicates, default/current matches, array mutations, and unknown CVar-like keys.
• More dump format adapters for specific Unreal tools and game builds.
• Schema conflict viewer and validation diagnostics for schema files.
• Export report as Markdown.
• Optional LSP backend for very large workspaces.
• More code actions for duplicate handling and section insertion.