RuntimeEditorPanelSettings

This page explains the RuntimeEditorPanelSettings asset used by Runtime Studio's UI Toolkit editor shell.

What it is

RuntimeEditorPanelSettings is the runtime PanelSettings asset that Runtime Studio uses for its UIDocument.

In this package, the asset lives at:

• Runtime/Resources/RuntimeEditorPanelSettings.asset

At runtime, Runtime Studio loads it from the Resources key:

• RuntimeEditorPanelSettings

Why it exists

Runtime Studio builds its editor UI with Unity UI Toolkit.

UI Toolkit needs a PanelSettings asset to define how the UI panel is rendered, scaled, themed, and layered.

Without a valid PanelSettings asset, the runtime editor cannot build its UI correctly.

Where Runtime Studio uses it

When EditorView starts:

1. It finds or creates a UIDocument on the Runtime Studio host GameObject

2. It resolves which PanelSettings to use

3. It assigns that PanelSettings to the UIDocument

4. It then loads the Runtime Studio style sheet and builds the editor UI

Resolution order

Runtime Studio resolves panel settings in this order:

1. If the UIDocument already has panelSettings assigned, Runtime Studio uses that

2. Otherwise it loads Resources.Load<PanelSettings>("RuntimeEditorPanelSettings")

3. If found, Runtime Studio instantiates a runtime copy of that asset

4. If not found, Runtime Studio logs an error

That means a manually assigned UIDocument.panelSettings always wins over the built-in resource asset.

Relationship to Runtime Studio style sheets

RuntimeEditorPanelSettings is only one part of the UI setup.

Runtime Studio also loads:

• RuntimeEditor.uss from Resources

• the theme USS referenced by the PanelSettings asset

So the full UI stack is:

1. UIDocument

2. PanelSettings

3. theme USS from PanelSettings

4. Runtime Studio runtime USS loaded by EditorView

In this package, the bundled asset references:

• themeUss

and Runtime Studio separately adds:

• RuntimeEditor.uss

This means the final look is a combination of the panel theme and the Runtime Studio stylesheet.

What the bundled asset is configured for

The packaged RuntimeEditorPanelSettings.asset is configured for normal screen-space runtime UI.

Notable values in the asset include:

• m_RenderMode: 0

• m_ScaleMode: 1

• m_ReferenceResolution: 1200 x 800

• m_SortingOrder: 32760

• themeUss assigned

• m_DisableNoThemeWarning: 1

Why those settings matter

Reference Resolution

• Helps define how the UI scales across resolutions

Sorting Order

• Keeps Runtime Studio's editor UI layered above normal gameplay UI in typical setups

themeUss

• Provides the base UI Toolkit theme used by the panel

Disable No Theme Warning

• Suppresses Unity's missing-theme warning because the asset already supplies a theme

When you should customize it

Most projects should keep the bundled asset unless there is a specific reason to change it.

Good reasons to customize it:

• you need different UI scaling behavior

• your project needs a different target render mode

• you want a different base UI Toolkit theme

• your project has unusual multi-display or layering requirements

• you want Runtime Studio to share a custom PanelSettings setup with the rest of your UI Toolkit runtime UI

Safest customization approach

The safest approach is usually:

1. duplicate the bundled PanelSettings asset

2. adjust the duplicate

3. assign it directly to the UIDocument used by your Runtime Studio host

That gives you explicit control and avoids depending on the built-in resource fallback.

If you replace the resource asset itself, be aware that every Runtime Studio host using the fallback path will pick up that new behavior.

Using your own UIDocument panel settings

If your host GameObject already has a UIDocument with panelSettings assigned:

• Runtime Studio reuses it

• Runtime Studio does not clone the resource asset

• Runtime Studio does not destroy your assigned asset on cleanup

This is the correct path when your project wants Runtime Studio to integrate into an existing UI Toolkit setup.