Asset Paths

Every block that generates an asset carries the same two header attributes, and one resolver turns them into a destination.

Synopsis

Shader        (Name = "<name-path>" [, Root = "<root>"]) { … }
ShaderFunction(Name = "<name-path>" [, Root = "<root>"]) { … }

<name-path> := [<folder> /] … <leaf>
<root>      := "" | Game | Plugin.<PluginName> | Plugins.<PluginName>
             | Plugin / <PluginName> | Plugins / <PluginName>
             | / <MountRoot> [/ <folder>] …
             | <folder> [/ <folder>] …

Name is required. A missing one fails with Shader(Name="...") is required., or {Kind}(Name="...") is required. for the function blocks. Root is optional and defaults to the empty string. Attribute keys are matched case-insensitively, so name= and ROOT= both resolve.

Resolution order

1. Root becomes a root package path. Trim; \ becomes /; remember whether the string began with /; strip leading and trailing /; split on /. An empty result at any point yields /Game.
2. Name becomes folders plus a leaf. Trim; \ becomes /; strip all leading and trailing /; split on /. The last segment is the asset name; every preceding segment is a folder appended to the root.
3. Every segment passes through ObjectTools::SanitizeObjectName. Empty segments are skipped silently.
4. PackageName = <root>/<folders…>/<Leaf> and ObjectPath = <PackageName>.<Leaf>.
5. PackageName is validated with FPackageName::IsValidObjectPath.

The Root= dispatch

Dispatch is on the first segment of Root, compared case-insensitively.

Omitted or empty

Game

The comparison is case-insensitive, but the emitted root is always the literal /Game.

Plugin.<Name> and Plugins.<Name>

The dotted form names the plugin in a single segment; everything after it is folders.

Plugin/<Name> and Plugins/<Name>

The slash form spends two segments on the plugin reference.

An explicit mount root

A Root that begins with / and is not one of the forms above is taken verbatim as a mount point.

The first segment must survive SanitizeObjectName unchanged, otherwise DreamShader Root '{Root}' has an invalid package root. The mount point itself is not checked for existence here — an unmounted root fails later, at the IsValidObjectPath gate.

A bare relative path

Any other Root without a leading / becomes folders under /Game.

The difference between this branch and the previous one is exactly the leading slash: Root="Foo/Bar" is /Game/Foo/Bar, Root="/Foo/Bar" is /Foo/Bar.

Plugin-root requirements

Both plugin forms resolve through the same validator. Every gate below must pass, in this order, and each has its own message.

Gate 7 does not exist on UE 5.3 – 5.5; on those engines an unmounted plugin is caught later, by the object-path validation.

The root package path is the plugin's own mounted asset path — normalized to forward slashes, no trailing slash, a forced leading slash. If that degenerates to empty or /, /<PluginName> is used.

Per asset kind

Path resolution is identical for all four block kinds. What differs is the class created and, for the function kinds, the material-function usage stamped on it.

When an asset already exists at the resolved path, its class must match:

A class match is not the same as an ownership check. For everything except the ThinCustom path, DreamShader additionally refuses to overwrite an asset it did not generate — see Regeneration.

On-disk mapping

The file is <directory>/<Leaf>.uasset, and it is written only in persist mode. During ordinary editor work nothing reaches disk at all — see In-memory Materials.

Notes

• Name may contain folders; Root is only a prefix. Name="A/B/C" under Root="Game" yields /Game/A/B/C, and the asset is named C.
• A duplicate attribute key silently overwrites the earlier one. Shader(Name="A", Name="B") resolves to B, with no diagnostic.
• Every segment is sanitized independently, so Name="My Mat" resolves to a leaf named My_Mat without a diagnostic.
• Empty segments are dropped: Name="A//B" is A/B, and Root="Game//Sub" is /Game/Sub.
• This is the resolver the Content Browser status column and the Materialize action use, so a path that fails here also shows as unresolvable in the editor tools.
• Do not confuse this with Path(Root, "…"), the other path grammar — that one references an existing asset rather than naming a destination. See Asset References.

Diagnostics

Worked example

Shader(Name="Mat/Test", Root="Plugin.MoonToon")
{
    Properties { vec3 Tint = vec3(1.0, 0.2, 0.2); }
    Settings   { Domain = "UI"; ShadingModel = "Unlit"; }
    Outputs    { vec3 Color; Base.EmissiveColor = Color; }
    Graph      { Color = Tint; }
}

Resolved destination:

Root      "Plugin.MoonToon"  ->  /MoonToon                       (plugin mount point)
Name      "Mat/Test"         ->  folders "Mat", leaf "Test"
package                          /MoonToon/Mat/Test
object path                      /MoonToon/Mat/Test.Test
on disk                          <Project>/Plugins/MoonToon/Content/Mat/Test.uasset

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