Logging

Introduction Logging means keeping an ordered record of events, function calls, variable values at a certain time during runtime, etc. This is usually saved in the form of text in a log file. It is...

Updated over 3 years ago

Introduction

Logging means keeping an ordered record of events, function calls, variable values at a certain time during runtime, etc. This is usually saved in the form of text in a log file. It is an invaluable tool for a software developer, especially when debugging, as it can provide detailed information on what the code is doing at any given moment. Good use cases include ensuring certain blocks of code are being executed, inspecting data values passed between functions, and reporting potential issues.

Accessing Logs

There are a few different ways to access the logs when working with UE4:

  • If your Play-In-Editor session has ended, you can find the full log of that session in YourProjectName\Saved\Logs folder. The logs from previous sessions will be there as well, in case you ever need to access them. If you do not know where your project is located, you can open your project library in the Epic Games launcher, right-click on the project in question, and then select Show in Folder option.
  • You can see the log output in real time while playing in Editor in the Output Log tab. If it is not open by default, you can find it under Window->Developer Tools->Output Log. In addition to real-time logging, this tab will keep all log information from all play sessions that happened during the current Unreal Editor session.
  • If you have an executable, you can create a shortcut with -Log at the end of its name to open the log as you launch the executable.
  • You can open the console when your game is running by pressing the tilde (~) key and access the log by typing in the console command showlog and pressing the Enter key. Note that if you do this during a Play-In-Editor session, clicking x to close the log will close your Unreal Editor session.

Log Verbosity Levels

In certain cases, it is useful to see a less or more detailed log output. Log verbosity levels allow for easy control of the level of detail present in a given log. If a particular log statement is more verbose than the compile-time verbosity, it will not be compiled into the game code. Afterwards, the level of the whole log is set to default verbosity, which can be changed in the Engine.ini file. Runtime verbosity can be changed through the command line. Given a certain verbosity level of the log, only log messages with matching or lower verbosity level will be printed to it. Messages with a higher verbosity level will be ignored.

The following table lists all available verbosity levels, from lowest verbosity to highest:

Verbosity Level | Printed in Console? | Printed in Editor's Log? | Notes

--------------- | ------------------- | ------------------------ | -----------------------------------------------

Fatal | yes | -- | crashes the session even if logging is disabled

Error | yes | yes | log statement text is red

Warning | yes | yes | log statement text is yellow

Display | yes | yes | log statement text is light gray

Log | no | yes | log statement text is light gray

Verbose | no | no | --

VeryVerbose | no | no | --

Each log statement declares which log category it belongs to as well as its verbosity level.

Logging Syntax

Here is an example of a simple log message:

UE_LOG(LogTemp, Warning, TEXT("Your message"));
UE_LOG

is a macro that outputs the log message into the log file. The first input parameter it takes is the name of the logging category. There are many of these categories already built into the engine. If interested, you can see them all in the CoreGlobals.h header file. You can also create your own custom logging categories. The process for doing so is described in the next section.

LogTemp is a temporary category intended to be used during active development only.

The second parameter the

UE_LOG

macro takes is the verbosity level of the message. The final parameter in the example above is the text message itself; however, one could add more parameters if the string uses some printf format specifiers. See below for some formatting examples.

Formatting Examples Quick Reference

Logging an FString

UE_LOG(LogTemp, Warning, TEXT("The Actor's name is %s"), *YourActor->GetName());

Logging a Bool

UE_LOG(LogTemp, Warning, TEXT("The boolean value is %s"), ( bYourBool ? TEXT("true") : TEXT("false") ));

Logging an Integer

UE_LOG(LogTemp, Warning, TEXT("The integer value is: %d"), YourInteger);

Logging a Float

UE_LOG(LogTemp, Warning, TEXT("The float value is: %f"), YourFloat);

Logging an FVector

UE_LOG(LogTemp, Warning, TEXT("The vector value is: %s"), *YourVector.ToString());

Logging with Multiple Specifiers

UE_LOG(LogTemp, Warning, TEXT("Current values are: vector %s, float %f, and integer %d"), *YourVector.ToString(), YourFloat, YourInteger);

Custom Log Categories

...To be written...

Further Reading