DreamShader Plugin

Release notes for the Unreal plugin, newest first. Entries record what changes for you — the language surface, the generator, the editor tooling and engine compatibility.

1.5.0 - 2026-08-02

The release that unifies compilation. The two old backends collapse into one ThinCustom path, generated materials become memory-only in the editor, and a new Material Content Browser tab is where you look at them. The language picks up optional section =, Group() scopes and Slider().

Language (DreamShaderLang 1.5)

• Section = is now optional: write Properties { … }, Settings { … } and Graph { … } without the assignment. Both spellings stay valid — see Sections.
• Properties Group("Name") { … } scopes a group onto every parameter it contains. Groups nest and compose, so Group("Outer") { Group("Inner") { … } } yields Outer|Inner — see Metadata and Groups.
• Slider(min, max) shorthand sets a scalar parameter's UI range. It expands to the reflected SliderMin / SliderMax properties and is the one metadata entry written without an =.
• Asset paths can follow = directly, and bare quoted paths are accepted — see Asset References.
• Single-output functions can be used as return values (x = Fn(…)), and Graph builtins now match the Function path: fract, mod and fmod — see Math Builtins.
• Live preview streaming keeps the editor and language-server previews in sync while you type.
• true / false are graph literals and materialize as StaticBool nodes, so an opt StaticBool X = false input default generates the Preview-pin node Unreal requires — it ignores PreviewValue for static-bool inputs.
• StaticBool resolves as a one-component type at call sites.
• Texture parameter types whose token carries no dimension — TextureObjectParameter — take their dimension from the assigned default asset, so a Texture2DArray, TextureCube or VolumeTexture default is accepted. Explicit tokens such as Texture2D and Texture2DArray still validate strictly.

Backend — one unified compilation path

• The Graph and the experimental Instance backends are collapsed into a single ThinCustom path: DreamShaderLang compiles to a real node graph on a hidden base UMaterial, wrapped by a thin UDreamShaderMaterialInstance. The engine compiles and enumerates the material natively, so Substrate, static switches, virtual textures, MaterialAttributes and cook correctness all come from the real graph. See Backend.
• Bit-identical SM6 render parity with the previous Graph backend, verified across Unlit, textured, and DefaultLit MaterialAttributes cases.
• The hidden base is a subobject of the instance — one asset, one package, invisible in the Content Browser, with no separate MB_DreamThinBase_* sibling and no cross-package parent import to lose at cook. See In-memory Materials.
• A single Default Compiler Backend project setting replaces the old In-Memory toggle. See Project Settings.

Editor — Material Content Browser

• New DreamShader Material Content Browser tab under Tools ▸ DreamShader, with two pages: Project browses, filters and inspects every material and material instance under /Game, including the full inheritance chain; Dream Shader Gen lists the sources with live preview, search, filters, compile-all, and load-time error surfacing. See Editor Tools.
• Create material instances from any material through a folder picker, and materialize in-memory (preview-only) materials to disk on demand.
• Content Browser context-menu actions, and a toggle to show or hide DreamShader's memory-only materials.

Decompiler

• Faithful round-trip for Substrate materials and renamed graph channels. The exporter derives channel swizzles from the write mask rather than the channel name, so recompiled materials match the source bit-for-bit. See Decompiler.

Decompiling a hand-authored material and generating it back could fail on graph shapes Unreal itself accepts. Found on LGUI's LexUI_ImageAndFont, LexUI_RectBlock and MF_LexUI_SDF_Font.

• Switch-style nodes — StaticSwitch, FeatureLevelSwitch, QualitySwitch, ShadingPathSwitch, VertexInterpolator and friends — report no output value type, so the "assume float4" fallback oversized them and everything downstream. An AppendVector fed by a float3 material-function output was emitted as float5(...); appends are now clamped to a float4, with a warning when a count still disagrees.
• VertexColor is emitted as float4 so the alpha pin's swizzle is valid. It used to be typed from the RGB pin and produce .a on a three-component value.
• An input's own channel mask now replaces the connected pin's mask instead of stacking on it, so .rgb.a no longer appears when a graph wires the RGB pin but masks alpha.
• A StaticBool function input keeps the StaticBool type token. bool declares a scalar pin, so the input used to come back as a float and reject every static-bool value passed to it.
• Comment, #Region and description text carrying newlines or tabs is escaped, so a multi-line comment no longer splits the directive across lines.
• A Custom node's additional outputs are declared on every emission of that node, and reading one no longer rewrites the node's own return type. Previously the emission that did not select the extra output produced a node without it, and the code body assigning to it failed at shader-compile time with use of undeclared identifier — long after generation reported success.

Fixed

• Cook: assets are materialized on the cook director only, and a generation error now fails the cook instead of shipping a stale asset.
• Generation refuses to overwrite assets DreamShader did not generate, and pre-validates graph syntax before clearing the target material.
• Generated-include identity hashes the project-relative source path; stored source paths are project-relative and no longer carry a generated-at timestamp.
• Runtime builds: guarded the editor-only UEnum::HasMetaData call so non-editor and Shipping (store) builds compile (#12).
• Bridge: adopted FCoreDelegates::GetOnPostEngineInit for UE 5.8, and constrained Clean Generated Shaders to Intermediate with per-file deletes.

Compatibility

• Unreal Engine 5.3 through 5.8 (Win64).

Source snapshot - 2026-06-10

Landed in the source tree between 1.4.0 and 1.5.0.

Automation baseline

• Added a DreamShader automation-test baseline covering minimal material parsing, minimal material generation, .dsf plus import generation, Substrate material generation, source-hash skip, and a commandlet single-source compile smoke test.
• The tests write temporary .dsm / .dsf / .dsh files under DShader/Tests/Automation, generate temporary assets under /Game/DreamShaderTests/Automation/…, and clean up after the run.
• source hash is unchanged is the stable assertion text for an unchanged source file skipping a duplicate generation.
• Added the explicit bridge kill switch -NoDreamShaderEditorBridge for automation runs, so bridge startup scans stay out of the test log.

1.4.0 - 2026-06-06

Compatibility

• Added Unreal Engine 5.3 through 5.7 compatibility coverage.
• Verified single-plugin RunUAT BuildPlugin builds for UE 5.3, 5.4, 5.5, 5.6 and 5.7 on Win64.
• UE 5.7 remains the active development target; UE 5.3 and 5.4 may need the MSVC 14.38 toolchain on Windows.

Substrate

• Completed the Substrate generation path: Substrate graph values, the Base.FrontMaterial output binding, and the Substrate.* wrappers. Substrate itself requires UE 5.4 or newer with Substrate enabled in the project — see Substrate Nodes.
• The generator, the decompiler, type propagation and the editor manifest all recognize the Substrate type and its wrappers.

Material Preview

• The editor bridge can resolve a .dsm source, generate a preview material, and write Saved/DreamShader/Bridge/preview.json plus Preview/*.png.
• Added a local WebSocket preview service, listening on 127.0.0.1:17864 by default, which feeds results and continuous frames to the VSCode preview panel.

1.3.9 - 2026-05-29

Maintenance

• Plugin version metadata updated to 1.3.9.
• README, release notes and documentation references synchronized with the current language capabilities.

1.3.8 - 2026-05-25

Texture Support

• Added VolumeTexture property parsing, code generation and default-texture handling.
• Texture object subtypes are preserved during code generation, so Texture2D, Texture2DArray and VolumeTexture inputs reach the generated HLSL with the correct Unreal texture type.

Plugin Cleanup

• Removed built-in shader library path support from the project settings and the documentation.

1.3.7 - 2026-05-18

Decompiler

• Generic UE.Expression(...) decompilation exports reflected literal properties, so unsupported MaterialExpression nodes retain more editable state.
• TextureSampleParameter2D nodes with connected graph inputs — UV coordinates, for instance — are exported as graph expressions instead of plain Properties declarations.
• Fixed decompilation of MaterialExpressionCustom nodes with dynamic named inputs and custom output-type metadata.

Performance

• Improved import performance for very large decompiled materials: less per-node package dirtying, throttled progress-text updates, and automatic layout skipped on large generated graphs.

1.3.6 - 2026-05-12

Build Fixes

• DreamShaderSettings.h includes MaterialDomain.h explicitly, so projects that include the settings header directly resolve EMaterialDomain reliably.

1.3.5 - 2026-05-11

ShaderFunction Calls

• Graph accepts statement-style multi-output ShaderFunction and VirtualFunction calls: positional inputs first, output target variables after.

Dream Shader Function Files

• Added .dsf Dream Shader Function files for reusable generated ShaderFunction assets.
• .dsm and .dsf files can import .dsf files, so generated functions are reusable across DreamShader sources.
• Added .dsf source discovery, dependency tracking, and the VSCode workspace file association.

Decompiler

• Added Content Browser export actions: UMaterial to .dsm, UMaterialFunction to .dsf.
• Decompiled files are written under DShader/Decompiled/Materials or DShader/Decompiled/Functions with unique file names.
• Common constants, parameters, arithmetic nodes, swizzles, texture samples, Custom nodes and MaterialFunction calls are exported as DreamShader graph text; less common reflected nodes fall back to UE.Expression(...).

1.3.4 - 2026-05-11

Output Initializers

• Outputs accepts initialized declarations such as vec3 Color = Tint;.
• A Shader block can use initialized output declarations with an empty Graph = {} block.

1.3.3 - 2026-05-11

Graph Swizzles

• Fixed vector property component counts, so vec2 / vec3 properties bind through RG / RGB instead of always using RGBA.
• Fixed non-sequential swizzles such as .gbr by generating explicit ComponentMask and AppendVector nodes.

1.3.2 - 2026-05-11

Material Function Generation

• Plugin version metadata updated to 1.3.2.
• Generated ShaderFunction input and output IDs are preserved across regeneration, so existing MaterialFunctionCall nodes in ordinary Unreal materials keep their connections.
• The Graph and Custom/HLSL generation paths skip unused generated property nodes.
• Improved generated node placement, and avoided Unreal's full automatic layout pass on DreamShader-generated material graphs.
• Fixed a crash when regenerating an opened material function asset whose expressions were still rooted by the editor.

1.3.1 - 2026-05-09

Function Calls

• Single-output Function and GraphFunction calls can be used as value expressions, for example Color = Texture::Sample2DRGB(BaseTex, UV0); — see Calls.
• Multi-output Function and GraphFunction calls still require explicit out variables, for example Texture::Sample2D(BaseTex, UV0, Color, Alpha);.

Graph Functions

• Added top-level and namespaced GraphFunction blocks for reusable HLSL Custom-node logic.
• GraphFunction remains HLSL, but UE.* calls inside its body are converted into material nodes and passed into the Custom node as generated inputs.
• Added GraphFunction argument validation, recursive-call detection, and explicit out-variable writeback.

1.3.0 - 2026-05-08

Shader Layer Functions

• Added top-level ShaderLayer(Name="...", Root="...") and ShaderLayerBlend(Name="...", Root="...") blocks.
• Generated layer assets use Unreal's native UMaterialFunctionMaterialLayer / UMaterialFunctionMaterialLayerBlend classes.
• ShaderLayer / ShaderLayerBlend reuse the existing Properties, Inputs, Outputs, Settings and Graph sections.
• Added validation that a Shader Layer block outputs exactly one MaterialAttributes value, and that a Shader Layer Blend block declares at least two MaterialAttributes inputs.
• Vector parameter properties keep their RGBA output available in Graph, so .a / .w reads alpha and assignments to lower component counts use the leading channels automatically.

1.2.10 - 2026-05-08

VSCode MaterialExpression Manifest

• Added editor-side export of reflected UMaterialExpression metadata to Saved/DreamShader/Bridge/material-expressions.json.
• The manifest is refreshed on editor bridge startup and when the DreamShader VSCode workspace is opened.
• Exported metadata covers expression class names, editable reflected properties, expression inputs, output pins, and inferred DreamShader OutputType hints.
• The release workflow downloads the latest dreamshader-language-support GitHub Release assets and attaches them to DreamShader releases.

1.2.8 - 2026-05-05

Project Settings and Editor Entry Points

• Plugin version metadata updated to 1.2.8.
• The DreamShader.uplugin documentation link now points at https://lang.64hz.cn/, and the support link at the GitHub home page.
• The Unreal Project Settings category moved from Plugins to DreamPlugin, with the section displayed as Dream Shader and described as Dream Shader Settings — see Project Settings.
• Added the OpenInNewWindow setting under the Editor category. On by default, opening the DreamShader VSCode workspace from Unreal opens a new window; off, --reuse-window is appended and an existing VSCode window is reused.

1.2.7 - 2026-05-05

Unreal 5.7 Compatibility

• Plugin version metadata updated to 1.2.7.
• The generator picks up the header dependencies for UMaterialExpressionFunctionInput / UMaterialExpressionFunctionOutput, matching the newer Unreal material-function node build environment.
• The Moon Engine specific MooaEncodedAttribute0 through MooaEncodedAttribute4 outputs are now wrapped in MOON_ENGINE conditional compilation, so ordinary engine builds no longer depend on those custom material attributes.
• This release does not change .dsm / .dsh syntax; it is output targets and engine compatibility.

1.2.6 - 2026-04-30

ShaderFunction Properties

• Added a Properties section to ShaderFunction, declaring property and helper nodes local to the generated material function.
• Added const property declarations for scalar, vector and texture helper nodes that are not externally adjustable parameters.
• ShaderFunction Inputs preview defaults can reference the same function's Properties, for example opt Texture2D BaseColorTex = PreviewTex;.

1.2.5 - 2026-04-30

Material Attributes

• Added MaterialAttributes as a graph value type for Shader, ShaderFunction and VirtualFunction signatures.
• Added struct-like member writes such as Attrs.BaseColor = Color; and Attrs.Roughness = Roughness;.
• Added Base.MaterialAttributes = Attrs; output binding, which enables Use Material Attributes on the generated material automatically.
• MaterialAttributes values can be returned from generated or virtual material functions and passed through Graph assignments.

1.2.4 - 2026-04-30

Parameter Reflection

• The documented comma-style metadata suffix was replaced with a semicolon-separated trailing reflection block on declarations.
• Parameter reflection blocks can set any reflected UMaterialExpression property exposed by the generated parameter node.
• The basic float, vector and texture shorthand declarations use the same reflection path as explicit parameter node declarations.
• Texture sample parameters can configure reflected properties such as SamplerType, SamplerSource, MipValueMode, AutomaticViewMipBias, ConstCoordinate and ConstMipValue.

1.2.3 - 2026-04-29

Parameters

• Added declaration metadata [Group="...", SortPriority=32, Description="..."] for material Properties and for function input/output declarations.
• Added explicit parameter node declarations: ScalarParameter, VectorParameter, TextureObjectParameter, the texture sample parameter family, StaticBoolParameter and StaticSwitchParameter — see Property Types.
• Added StaticSwitchParameter graph calls, for example UseDetail(True=detailColor, False=baseColor).
• Added UE.CollectionParam(Collection=Path(...), Parameter="...") for Material Parameter Collection reads.

Function Defaults

• Added opt inputs for ShaderFunction and VirtualFunction.
• Added the default call argument for optional material function inputs, preserving Unreal FunctionInput preview defaults.
• Generated ShaderFunction assets write input and output descriptions and sort priorities to the FunctionInput / FunctionOutput nodes.
• VirtualFunction copy, create and sync emit optional inputs, preview defaults and pin metadata when available.

1.2.2 - 2026-04-29

VirtualFunction Workflow

• CreateVirtualFunction reuses the existing declaration for the selected material function instead of creating duplicate .dsh files.
• When a matching declaration already exists, the material function DreamShader menu shows OpenVirtualFunction and Copy Virtual Function Reference instead of the create and copy-definition actions.
• OpenVirtualFunction opens the existing declaration in VSCode and jumps to the declaration location where possible.
• Added startup validation and refresh for VirtualFunction declarations under DShader, reporting missing source UMaterialFunction assets and updating changed signatures.

Import Compatibility

• import "File.dsh" works with or without a trailing semicolon in the Unreal generator import pass.

1.2.1 - 2026-04-29

Editor Workflow

• Replaced the single material function toolbar action with a DreamShader dropdown menu.
• Added CopyVirtualFunction, CreateVirtualFunction and CopyVirtualFunctionCall to the material function editor toolbar and the material function asset context menu.
• CreateVirtualFunction writes a .dsh declaration under the configured DShader/VirtualFunctions directory and opens it in the default external editor.
• CopyVirtualFunctionCall copies a ready-to-paste Graph call using the generated input names and the first output.
• Added Open Dream Shader Workspace (VSCode) to the editor Tools menu and the DreamShader toolbar section. It writes DShader/DreamShader.code-workspace, opens it in VSCode when available, and falls back to the default editor or Notepad.

Release

• Added a GitHub Actions release workflow that packages the plugin source and publishes a GitHub Release from version tags or manual workflow dispatch.

1.2.0 - 2026-04-28

VirtualFunction

• Added VirtualFunction(Name="...") declarations for existing Unreal UMaterialFunction assets.
• VirtualFunction calls work from Graph like ShaderFunction calls, without generating or overwriting the referenced asset.
• Options.Asset supports Path(Game, "..."), Path(Engine, "..."), Path(Plugin.PluginName, "...") / Path(Plugins.PluginName, "..."), and full Unreal object paths.
• Added material function context-menu and Material Editor toolbar actions that copy a complete VirtualFunction declaration with inputs, outputs and options.

Asset Roots

• Root="Plugin.PluginName" maps to the project plugin content root, physically saving generated assets under [Project]/Plugins/PluginName/Content.
• Plugins.PluginName and Plugins/PluginName remain compatibility spellings.

Tooling

• The VSCode extension picked up VirtualFunction highlighting, completion, hover, snippets, signature help and diagnostics.
• Project content plugin names are completed inside Path(Plugins.) as well.

1.1.4 - 2026-04-28

Asset Generation

• Root="Plugins.PluginName" / Root="Plugins/PluginName" are supported as compatibility spellings, resolving identically to Root="Plugin.PluginName".
• This avoids Plugins.MoonToon being treated as an ordinary /Game/Plugins_MoonToon subdirectory — see Asset Paths.

1.1.3 - 2026-04-28

Asset Generation

• Clarified that Root="Plugin.PluginName" targets an enabled project content plugin only.
• Plugin.MoonToon resolves to the UE package root /MoonToon, physically saved under [Project]/Plugins/MoonToon/Content.
• The generator validates that the target plugin sits in the project Plugins directory, is enabled, can contain content, and has a Content directory.

1.1.2 - 2026-04-28

Language and Generation

• Added the Root top-level attribute to Shader and ShaderFunction, selecting the generated asset's root path.
• Root defaults to Game and also accepts Plugin.PluginName, saving the generated UMaterial or UMaterialFunction into an enabled project content plugin root.
• When a ShaderFunction is called from Graph, the generated UMaterialFunction asset is resolved and loaded through that function's own Root.

Documentation

• Updated the asset generation notes in the plugin README, the language reference and the site.

1.1.1 - 2026-04-26

Fixed

• Fixed a Function call with several out parameters in Graph, where the Custom node's trailing output pins received no value.
• The first out of a multi-output Function still comes back through the Custom node's main return; the second and later out parameters now generate explicit assignments writing the __ds_*_outN temporaries back to the matching Additional Output, for example Output_ToonA = __ds_xxx_out1;.

Compatibility

• A patch release. No .dsm / .dsh changes are required.

1.1.0 - 2026-04-22

Language and Graph

• Renamed the Code = { ... } block in materials and material functions to Graph = { ... }, separating the graph DSL from the HLSL helper layer.
• Added basic if / else support to Graph — see Control Flow.
• Improved output expression handling: an output binding records source text rather than only a variable name, allowing more flexible parsing of graph outputs.
• Improved type conversion and generic UE.* MaterialExpression argument handling, reducing friction when patching nodes in by hand.

Function and Generation

• Added Function SelfContained and Function Inline, embedding helper dependencies in the Custom node so generated materials can be handed to projects without the DreamShader plugin installed.
• An ordinary Function still generates a .ush helper include, referenced from the Custom node.
• Added a cleanup workflow for generated shader files, reducing leftover historical includes.

Packages and Workflow

• Added the Package system, distributing and installing reusable .dsh shared libraries through GitHub — see Packages.
• Added the import dependency graph: saving a shared .dsh finds the affected .dsm files and refreshes them incrementally. Later versions extend this to .dsf dependencies.
• Cached the config directory, cutting the cost of repeatedly parsing project settings.

Diagnostics and Compatibility

• Diagnostics carry stage, platform and quality context, separating parse, generation and material compile problems — see Diagnostics.
• Removed the default mapping for the Toon shading model, so generated results do not unexpectedly depend on a project-custom shading model.
• Updated the README, language reference and example documentation to match.

1.0.0 - 2026-04-21

Initial Version

• The .dsm / .dsh file model: Unreal materials and shared helpers described as text sources.
• Shader(Name="...") generates a UMaterial; ShaderFunction(Name="...") generates a UMaterialFunction.
• Properties, Settings, Outputs and the early graph-building syntax.
• HLSL-style Function helpers, generating Custom node code.
• Baseline documentation and examples, as the first public DreamShaderLang release.