Diagnostics

How to read a DFXnnnn diagnostic, which pipeline stage each family belongs to, and where to find the generated code catalog.

Every DreamFX diagnostic is a DFXnnnn carrying a file, line and column:

DFX/Effects/NS_Hello.dfs(31,17): error DFX3003: Module 'GravityForce' has no input named 'Gravty'.
Did you mean 'Gravity'? Available inputs: Gravity, CoordinateSpace


Log category	`LogDreamFX`
Severities	`error` / `warning` / `info` — all three are really used
Position	every code carries file, line and column
In the editor	a failed build toasts with an Open in VSCode link straight to the line and column

The leading digit is the stage that raised it. That is both a reading cue and a pointer at where to look:

Range	Stage	Means
`DFX1xxx`	Driver and file I/O	the file could not be read, or the lexer stopped
`DFX2xxx`	Lexer and syntax	the grammar: braces, semicolons, keywords
`DFX3xxx`	Declarations and structure	the syntax is fine, but a declaration disagrees with the real asset
`DFX4xxx`	Values, types and expressions	something on the right of an `=`
`DFX5xxx`	Generation and asset writing	writing the asset failed, or a deliberate degradation is being announced
`DFX6xxx`	Niagara compilation	the asset was written and Niagara itself objects
`DFX7xxx`	Provenance, drift and lint	the asset and the source are out of step, or lint sees a hazard
`DFX8xxx`	Decompiler	export, Adopt, round-trip gaps

Note:

Half of these pages are machine-written: severity, message template and raise sites are scanned out of the plugin sources, and gen-diagnostics.ps1 -Check is the gate that stops them drifting. The human half — cause and fix — is written once. See ci.ps1 and gates.

The order to debug in

Look the code up

Use the generated code index or a family page below. Codes are stable: DFX3003 is always the same failure mode.

Check against the real signature

dfx.ps1 schema <Module> -Stack <Stack> prints the input signature as the build sees it — static switches included. The authority on names is the asset, not memory.

Still wrong? Read the limits

Limits lists what is not covered and the 1.0.0 known issues.

Lookup by code

The complete code index is generated from the current plugin sources. It owns the severity and message table; this guide links to that catalog instead of maintaining a second copy.