Tommy Lahitte | Debug Vault
Editor

Mastering Output Log Filters in Unreal Editor

The Output Log is noisy by default. Learn to use categories, verbosity levels, and custom log channels to cut through the noise and surface exactly the signal you need.

output-logloggingverbositylog-categorieseditor

During a busy session, the Unreal Output Log fills up at thousands of lines per second. Without a filtering strategy, important warnings disappear in the noise. Here's how to tame it.

Custom Log Categories

cpp
// In your module header:
DECLARE_LOG_CATEGORY_EXTERN(LogMyFeature, Log, All);

// In your .cpp:
DEFINE_LOG_CATEGORY(LogMyFeature);

// Usage:
UE_LOG(LogMyFeature, Warning, TEXT("Unexpected state: %s"), *StateName);

Runtime Verbosity Override

ini
# In DefaultEngine.ini — suppress noisy categories:
[Core.Log]
LogNavigation=Error
LogAI=Warning
LogMyFeature=Verbose
You can also change verbosity at runtime in the Output Log filter bar — type a category name and select a verbosity level without restarting.

Output Log Filter Tips

  • Use the "Filters" dropdown to show only Warnings and Errors during test runs
  • Right-click any line → "Copy" to grab a clean message for a Jira ticket
  • Pin important log categories to the Quick Filter bar
  • The "Search" box supports regex — use ^LogMyFeature to match a specific category
  • "Clear on PIE" checkbox (Output Log settings) resets the log each test run

For QA sessions, pre-configure your DefaultEngine.ini to Error-only for irrelevant systems so your custom feature log stays readable during exploratory testing.