How to: Remove “Runtime” Suffix from GameFeature Code Names

I found it annoying that my XistGame GameFeature plugin was automatically code-named XistGameRuntime by the UE5 Editor, which gave me cpp tags like XISTGAMERUNTIME_API.

And thus I set out to remove Runtime from my Plugin’s code names.

This procedure is documented in PowerShell 7.

If you use PowerShell, you can literally copy/paste most of this to rename your Plugin.

Make sure you read and understand the code BEFORE you execute it.

I am not responsible for damage you may cause by misuse.

USE AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Though PowerShell supposedly works on Mac + Linux, I imagine many of you may not have it. In your case, PowerShell is very easy to understand and you can use this as procedural documentation to inspire you to do the same on your system.

NOTE: THIS DOES NOT WORK ON BINARY .uasset FILES

If you want to do this, you need to do it when you first create your GameFeature plugin, BEFORE you start adding binary assets.

This procedure works on C++, C# and uplugin files but NOT on Blueprints. Binary .uasset files are a pain.

1) Create New Game Feature Plugin in UE5 Editor

• Start UE5 Editor
• New Plugin: XistGame
  • GameFeatures Plugin with C++ (yes we DO want C++)
  • This might take a bit, be patient.
• Shutdown Editor

You’ll notice that you now have some files and directories with names like XistGameRuntime, which is not what you asked for.

2) Open PowerShell 7 Terminal

You MUST modify the following few lines of code to match your system.

# Make sure you start in your project directory,
#  For example:
cd D:/Dev/LyraStarterGame # <-- REPLACE THIS WITH YOUR PROJECT DIRECTORY

# Plugin Code Name (NO SPACES)
$PluginName = "XistGame" # <-- REPLACE THIS WITH YOUR PLUGIN NAME

$RuntimeName = "${PluginName}Runtime" # E.g. "XistGameRuntime", the name we want to replace

# cd into the plugin directory
cd "Plugins/GameFeatures/$PluginName"

The rest of this page requires you to be in the above directory as paths are relative to here.

2.A) Delete previously generated binaries & project files

# Remove any pre-generated binaries + project files that use the wrong names
Remove-Item -Force -Recurse -Path Binaries
Remove-Item -Force -Recurse -Path Intermediate

If you get errors that those directories do not exist, you can ignore them.

If you get other errors, investigate before you continue.

2.B) Rename Plugin Source Directory

Write-Host "Change name:" Source/$RuntimeName "to" Source/$PluginName

Rename-Item -Path "Source/$RuntimeName" -NewName $PluginName

• Change name: Source/XistGameRuntime to Source/XistGame

2.C) Rename all *XistGameRuntime* Files and Directories

# Recursive list all files/dirs with $RuntimeName in their name
$Items = Get-ChildItem -Recurse | Where {$_.Name -match $RuntimeName}

foreach ($I in $Items) {
    $NewName = $I.Name -replace $RuntimeName,$PluginName

    Write-Host "Rename" $I.Name "to" $NewName
    Rename-Item -Path $I.FullName -NewName $NewName
}

Output:

• Rename XistGameRuntime.Build.cs to XistGame.Build.cs
• Rename XistGameRuntimeModule.cpp to XistGameModule.cpp
• Rename XistGameRuntimeModule.h to XistGameModule.h

2.D) Replace String References in Code

Replace XistGameRuntime string references in Source files

# Grep output, 1 text match per line, at least 1+ line per matching file
$GrepMatch = Get-ChildItem -Recurse | Select-String $RuntimeName

# Filter grep output to get unique file paths
$Files = $GrepMatch | Select-Object Path | Sort-Object {$_.Path} | Get-Unique -AsString

# Replace all references of $RuntimeName in the affected $Files with $PluginName
foreach ($Item in ($Files | Get-Item)) {
    $old = Get-Content -Path $Item.FullName  # read file
    $new = $old.Replace($RuntimeName, $PluginName)  # replace XistGameRuntime references
    $new = $new.Replace($RuntimeName.ToUpper(), $PluginName.ToUpper())  # replace XISTGAMERUNTIME references
    Write-Host "Replace file:" $Item.Name
    $new | Set-Content -Path $Item.FullName  # write file with new contents
}

Output:

• Replace file: XistGameModule.cpp
• Replace file: XistGameModule.h
• Replace file: XistGame.Build.cs
• Replace file: XistGame.uplugin

3) Clean Rebuild Unreal Project

• Full clean LyraStarterGame project

• Rebuild Visual Studio Project Files

• Build LyraStarterGame project

It’s possible you don’t NEED to do a full clean and rebuild, but that’s generally what I like do with a change this significant.

You obviously don’t need to rebuild your custom engine, if you have one.

To be on the safe side though you probably DO want to completely clean and nuke all previously-generated assets in your own game project though.

I’m not sure what references there may be in there to old files that no longer exist after these renames.