Extra Module Setups

Unreal Engine Modules is how the engine handles its C++ code physical design. You'll need to be pretty familiar with the system to scale up your C++ project.

We split extra samples in two modules. The first is DataConfigExtra which does not depend on Engine/UnrealEd module. It can be built along program target. DataConfigExtra is basically a set of C++ source files bundled and there's no special setup for it. The key setup is to set ModuleRules.bRequiresImplementModule to be false:

• DataConfigExtra.Build.cs

// DataConfigExtra/DataConfigExtra.Build.cs
public class DataConfigExtra : ModuleRules
{
	public DataConfigExtra(ReadOnlyTargetRules Target) : base(Target)
	{
	    bRequiresImplementModule = false;
	    Type = ModuleType.CPlusPlus;
		PCHUsage = PCHUsageMode.UseExplicitOrSharedPCHs;
		PublicDependencyModuleNames.AddRange(
			new string[] {
			"DataConfigCore",
			"Core",
			"CoreUObject",
             // ...
			});
	}
}

The other module is DcEngineExtraModule, which is a more conventional runtime module that introduces DataConfig dependency. We also put samples that depends on Engine and other gameplay system in here.

Most of integration code is in IModuleInterface::StartUpModule/ShutdownModule().

• DcEngineExtraModule.cpp

// DataConfigEngineExtra/Private/DcEngineExtraModule.cpp
void FDcEngineExtraModule::StartupModule()
{
    // ...
	DcRegisterDiagnosticGroup(&DcDExtra::Details);
	DcRegisterDiagnosticGroup(&DcDEngineExtra::Details);

	DcStartUp(EDcInitializeAction::Minimal);
	DcEnv().DiagConsumer = MakeShareable(new FDcMessageLogDiagnosticConsumer());
	// ...
}

void FDcEngineExtraModule::ShutdownModule()
{
	DcShutDown();
    // ...
}

Here's a checklist for integration:

• Register additional diagnostics early.
• Call DcStartUp()/DcShutDonw() pair.
• Register custom diagnostic consumer.

FDcMessageLogDiagnosticConsumer is an example of redirecting diagnostics to the UE Message Log window with its own category.