Technical Documentation

Architecture

Modules

The plugin has no content (CanContainContent is false). The module class FNsCheatsRuntimeModule has empty StartupModule and ShutdownModule functions. NsCheatsRuntime.Build.cs adds the public definition NSCHEATS_API=NSCHEATSRUNTIME_API. The headers use NSCHEATSRUNTIME_API.

Folders

Main Classes

The delegates of FNsCheatEntry are not UPROPERTY members. Only the fields up to Owner are visible to reflection.

Data Flow

Registration:

1. A provider calls a builder function or a Register...Cheat function.
2. RegisterCheatEntry ignores an entry with an empty Id and logs a warning.
3. It removes any entry with the same Id and adds the new entry.
4. It sorts the full list by tab, then category, then SortOrder.
5. It calls RefreshCheatUI, which builds the window content again if the window is open.

The builder replaces an empty tab with Debug and an empty section with General. The Register...Cheat functions copy Tab and Category as they are.

Delegate choice: every value read, value write, and action first tries the native delegate. If the native delegate is bound, only the native delegate runs. Else the dynamic (Blueprint) delegate runs.

Window build (BuildCheatUIContent):

1. CleanInvalidEntries removes entries whose owner is stale, and stale providers.
2. NormalizeSelection picks the first visible tab and section if the current ones are gone.
3. The window makes a search box, a Reload button, a tab bar, a section list (190 px wide), and the entry panel.
4. The entry panel sorts the entries of the selected tab and section by SortOrder, then by the label text.

Live values: the float field, the check box, and the text field read their values through Slate attribute lambdas, so they update every Slate paint. The debug text and the picker selection are read one time, when the row is built. A button click, a value commit, a selection change, a search edit, and Reload build the window content again.

Threading: all work runs on the game thread. The plugin starts no tasks or threads.

Lifetime

1. The game instance creates UNsCheatsSubsystem. The class does not override ShouldCreateSubsystem, so it exists in all builds and all game instances.
2. Initialize (not in Shipping):
   1. RegisterBuiltInCheats adds four entries in the Debug and Performance tabs.
   2. AutoRegisterSubsystemProviders calls RegisterProvider on each game instance subsystem in the collection at that time, except itself. Then it does the same for each world subsystem of GetWorld(), if there is a world.
   3. RegisterConsoleCommands registers the ns.Cheats.* commands.
3. RegisterProvider ignores a null object, an object that does not implement INsCheatProviderInterface, and an object it already has. Else it stores a weak pointer, calls Execute_RegisterCheats, and refreshes the window.
4. Entries with a destroyed owner stay in the list until the next CleanInvalidEntries. ExecuteEntry, DumpRegisteredCheats, and each window build call it. An entry with no owner is never stale.
5. Deinitialize (not in Shipping) closes the window and unregisters the console commands that this instance registered.

Game instance subsystems start in an order that the engine sets. Discovery only sees the subsystems that started before UNsCheatsSubsystem. A provider subsystem that must be found calls Collection.InitializeDependency<UNsCheatsSubsystem>() and then RegisterProvider(this).

Console commands are global. RegisterConsoleCommands registers a command only if no console object has that name. With more than one game instance in PIE, the first subsystem registers the commands, and the commands call that subsystem. Only the subsystem that registered a command unregisters it.

The window is an SWindow that FSlateApplication::AddWindow adds. CheatWindow is a weak pointer, so the subsystem does not keep a closed window alive. CloseCheatUI calls RequestDestroyWindow.

Shipping

UE_BUILD_SHIPPING removes the bodies of Initialize, Deinitialize, RegisterProvider, UnregisterProvider, RegisterCheatEntry, the unregister and clean functions, ExecuteEntry, and the window functions. In Shipping:

• The Register...Cheat functions and the builder still make an entry, but RegisterCheatEntry drops it.
• ExecuteEntry returns false.
• DumpRegisteredCheats logs and returns only the header line.
• No console commands exist.

Provider code needs no #if guards to compile in Shipping.

Extension Points

Provider interface

UFUNCTION(BlueprintNativeEvent, BlueprintCallable, Category="NsCheats")
void RegisterCheats(UNsCheatsSubsystem* CheatsSubsystem);

C++ classes override RegisterCheats_Implementation. Blueprint classes implement the Register Cheats event.

Builder calls

Description defaults to empty text and SortOrder to 0.

Blueprint functions

RegisterButtonCheat, RegisterToggleCheat, RegisterDebugTextCheat, RegisterFloatCheat, RegisterTextCheat, and RegisterPickerCheat take Id, Tab, Category, DisplayName, Description, Owner, the dynamic delegates (FNsCheatDynamic...Delegate), and SortOrder = 0. There is no Blueprint function for ButtonRow.

Direct entries

RegisterCheatEntry(const FNsCheatEntry&) is public C++. Use it to register an entry that you build by hand. GetEntries() returns the current list.

New entry types

The window picks a widget in BuildCheatEntryWidget: Picker, Text, and ButtonRow have their own build functions. All other types use one generic row that shows debug text, a float field, a check box, or a Run button, based on which delegates are bound. A new type needs a builder call, a value in ENsCheatEntryType, and a branch in BuildCheatEntryWidget.

Dependencies

The .uplugin lists no plugin dependencies.

Performance

• Each registration removes by Id, adds, and sorts the full entry list. If the window is open, it also builds the full window content again.
• Each window build copies the visible entries into a new array and makes a new widget for each row.
• GetVisibleTabs and GetVisibleSectionsForTab scan all entries, and the search check formats one string for each entry.
• The float field, check box, and text field lambdas search the entry list by Id on each read.
• The plugin has no tick and no timer. Nothing runs while the window is closed, except registration calls.

Networking

The plugin does not replicate. Entries, delegates, and the window are local to one game instance.

Contact

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