Advanced Game Logging (GLS)

The moment a project leaves the editor and lands on a device, the debugging vocabulary changes. Output Log disappears. The console is gone. Players or QA testers report that something broke, and the developer is left connecting ADB, pulling log files by hand, or littering the codebase with print strings just to narrow down the failure. Advanced Game Logging (GLS) is built for that exact gap: bugs that only surface in packaged builds, on real hardware, where standard Unreal Engine tooling no longer reaches.

From PIE Comfort to Shipping Build Reality

GLS installs a real-time log viewer directly inside the running game. The shortcut Alt + Shift + G opens the overlay during gameplay or during Play-In-Editor (PIE) sessions, without switching windows or attaching external tools. The viewer works in Development, Test, and Shipping configurations, which matters because the hardest-to-find bugs tend to appear only once the build is packaged and the usual editor safety net is gone. The plugin turns what used to be a manual, guesswork-heavy process into something visible on the device itself, whether that device is a phone strapped to a headset or a console across the room.

On-Device Logging Without Cables or Consoles

On-device logs are the core promise. A developer or tester can view logs directly inside the game on a phone, VR headset, or console with no PC connection. Shipping build support means the viewer operates in real time without ADB, console commands, or any external tooling. This is where the plugin replaces the typical mobile and VR debugging loop, which often involves a cable, a terminal, and a log file that tells you what happened after the fact rather than while it is happening. The in-game overlay also opens during PIE, so a developer can check behavior in the editor and in a packaged build using the same interface, without context-switching between separate tools.

Filtering and Per-Object Isolation in Gameplay

Smart filtering lets a developer isolate logs by category, verbosity, class, object, function, tags, network role, or PIE instance. Per-object isolation makes it possible to focus on logs from a specific Actor or object during gameplay, which is useful when tracking runtime state, flags, or edge cases that only trigger under certain conditions. Custom Named Tabs let the developer save separate views for distinct systems such as AI, UI, networking, and gameplay. Those tabs, along with filters and layout sizes, persist between sessions through the Persistent UI system, so a debugging setup does not have to be rebuilt every time the game is reopened.

Logging Implementation: GLS_LOG and PrintStringToGLS

On the code side, the plugin provides GLS_LOG macros for structured C++ logging with tags and context, and these macros remain available in Shipping builds. For Blueprint users, PrintStringToGLS offers a Blueprint-friendly logging node with custom colors, also fully Shipping-compatible. Both paths feed into the same viewer, so C++ and Blueprint logs appear in one place and can be filtered using the same set of criteria. Session log files are generated automatically with configurable formats, and these files are available even in Shipping builds, giving teams a record of each session beyond the live overlay.

Multiplayer-Ready and Cross-Platform

Multiplayer debugging gets specific attention. Logs can be isolated per client, role, PIE instance, or controller, which helps when a bug only appears on one client or when server and client behavior needs to be compared without logs bleeding together. The plugin runs across PC, mobile, consoles, and VR/AR. The developer notes that it is actively used in the development of a large-scale Unreal Engine project with heavy runtime logging, and that the toolset is optimized and production-ready for projects of that scale. There is no setup step required to get started; the plugin works across Development, Test, and Shipping configurations out of the box. A free demo plugin and example builds for Windows, Android, and Linux are available alongside full documentation, FAQ, changelog, forum, dev blog, and video resources.

Who Picks This Up and Why

The plugin is aimed at Unreal Engine developers, mobile, VR, and console teams, QA testers, and any team debugging Shipping builds. The core problem it addresses is that traditional logging tools stop working in the exact situations where debugging becomes most difficult. Packaged builds strip away editor conveniences. Real devices add distance between the developer and the log output. Multiplayer sessions multiply the number of log streams that need to be untangled. GLS restores runtime visibility in those scenarios, on the device, while the game is running.

For a project that has ever hit the wall where something works in the editor but breaks in the build, this plugin is a direct response to that gap. It replaces manual log pulling and guesswork with an in-game viewer that stays accessible from PIE through to Shipping, across the platforms Unreal Engine 5 targets.

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