Skip to main content

​
Symptoms

You edited a file in a product’s configs directory and the product behaves exactly as it did before. The console may show nothing at all.

​
Likely cause

In rough order of frequency:
  1. The resource was not restarted. Configuration is read once, at start.
  2. The file cannot be read. A syntax error means the whole file is discarded and every setting in it falls back to the value the release shipped. This is reported once, as a warning you may miss among startup output.
  3. The key name does not match. An unrecognised key is ignored without any message. A misspelling, or a key that was renamed in a newer release, behaves exactly like no edit at all.
  4. The file was replaced by an update. An update replaces the whole resource directory, including configs.
  5. The value is not what the product expects. Values are not checked, so a string where a number belongs reaches the product as you wrote it and produces incorrect behaviour rather than an error.
  6. The setting belongs to a different file. Products group settings by area, one file per group.

​
Resolution

Restart the resource

If the change now applies, that was the cause.

Look for a configuration warning

That line means the file was discarded. The usual causes are a trailing comma after the last value, a missing bracket, an unquoted key, or a missing comma between two values. Correct the syntax and restart.Comments are allowed in these files, so // and /* */ are not the problem.Two more warnings on the same channel name a field that was edited but decides nothing: scope and namespace. Both mean the file was read and applied, and that the edit to that field did nothing:

Check the key against the product's page

Compare the key name, character for character, with the product’s configuration page for that file. Check the nesting too: a key that belongs inside a group has no effect at the top level.

Reduce the file

Replace the file with the shipped one, then add your changes back one key at a time, restarting after each. The first key that fails to take effect is the one to investigate.Remember that you only need the keys you change: a file containing one key is valid and complete.

Check whether an update replaced it

If the setting worked before an update and does not now, the release’s own file is back in place. Restore your copy, and see Update a product or the SDK for the procedure that avoids this.

​
Verification

Restart the resource and confirm two things:
  • the console shows no Config file for "…" missing or invalid warning;
  • the behaviour you changed is different in game.
The console alone is not enough. A renamed or misspelled key produces a clean start and no change, so the in-game check is the one that proves it.