> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.elementlabs.net/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Configuration changes have no effect

> Diagnose an edited setting that changes nothing in game.

## 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

<Steps>
  <Step title="Restart the resource" icon="arrows-rotate">
    ```text theme={null}
    restart element_map
    ```

    If the change now applies, that was the cause.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Look for a configuration warning" icon="triangle-exclamation">
    ```text theme={null}
    [WARN ] [    Config] Config file for "controls" missing or invalid.
    ```

    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:

    ```text theme={null}
    [WARN ] [    Config] Config file for "controls" declares scope "server" but the release owns it as "client"; the scope cannot be changed by editing the file.
    ```
  </Step>

  <Step title="Check the key against the product's page" icon="spell-check">
    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.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Reduce the file" icon="scissors">
    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.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Check whether an update replaced it" icon="clock-rotate-left">
    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](/getting-started/updating) for the procedure that avoids this.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## 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.

<Warning>
  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.
</Warning>