F.A.Q. : Frequently Asked Questions

What is a "cooked package" and why should I care?

A "cooked package" is in reference to a content package for an Unreal Engine 3 title that has been finalized, compressed, and ready for distribution. When cooking, a new package is created containing only the data that is being used (reduces filesize by omitting any never used assets), compressed using file compression (further reducing filesize), and then locked so that it cannot be modified. The resulting package is far smaller in size than the original making not only distribution easier but decreasing the memory footprint when loading that package in the game. Once a package has been "cooked" it is no longer editable.

How do I change the size of a shadow penumbra (shadow softness)?

Increasing LightSourceRadius (for point and spot lights) or LightSourceAngle (for directional lights) will make shadows softer. Occluder distance is also a factor in how soft the shadows are

How do I control the amount of indirect light?

The amount of indirect light can be controlled globally, per light, per primitive, or on a per material basis. Each light's IndirectLightingScale will change how much bounced light gets emitted, and the various DiffuseBoost settings scale the material's diffuse, which controls how much light gets bounced at each surface interaction.