How to Update ASSET_PREFIX and SCRIPT_PREFIX Without Re-initializing the PlayCanvas App

gameatp · November 5, 2025, 12:57am

Hello everyone,

I have a PlayCanvas app initialized with the following configuration snippet:

createOptions.keyboard = INPUT_SETTINGS.useKeyboard ? new pc.Keyboard(window) : null;
createOptions.mouse = INPUT_SETTINGS.useMouse ? new pc.Mouse(canvas) : null;
createOptions.gamepads = INPUT_SETTINGS.useGamepads ? new pc.GamePads() : null;
createOptions.touch = INPUT_SETTINGS.useTouch && pc.platform.touch ? new pc.TouchDevice(canvas) : null;
createOptions.assetPrefix = window.ASSET_PREFIX || ‘’;
createOptions.scriptPrefix = window.SCRIPT_PREFIX || ‘’;
createOptions.scriptsOrder = window.SCRIPTS || ;
createOptions.soundManager = new pc.SoundManager();
createOptions.lightmapper = pc.Lightmapper;
createOptions.batchManager = pc.BatchManager;
createOptions.xr = pc.XrManager;

app.init(createOptions);

My question is: When window.ASSET_PREFIX or window.SCRIPT_PREFIX need to be updated dynamically (e.g., switching between different environments or asset servers), how can I apply these changes to the existing app instance without re-creating and re-initializing the entire app object?

Re-initializing the app would reset the game state, which I want to avoid. Are there any built-in methods or properties in the PlayCanvas App class to modify these prefixes at runtime? Or is there a recommended approach to handle dynamic updates of asset/script prefixes post-initialization?

Any insights or examples would be greatly appreciated! Thank you.

mvaligursky · November 5, 2025, 8:51am

I’m not sure there’s a public API to change it, but you can likely just look at the engine source code, specifically here, to see what is done with it … and perhaps you can just do the same.

github.com

playcanvas/engine/blob/da1e88215ea215fe805ab09e4b994aeff52872bb/src/framework/app-base.js#L481-L504


      
          init(appOptions) {
              const {
                  assetPrefix, batchManager, componentSystems, elementInput, gamepads, graphicsDevice, keyboard,
                  lightmapper, mouse, resourceHandlers, scriptsOrder, scriptPrefix, soundManager, touch, xr
              } = appOptions;
          
              Debug.assert(graphicsDevice, 'The application cannot be created without a valid GraphicsDevice');
              this.graphicsDevice = graphicsDevice;
          
              // register shader chunks
              ShaderChunks.get(graphicsDevice, SHADERLANGUAGE_GLSL).add(shaderChunksGLSL);
              ShaderChunks.get(graphicsDevice, SHADERLANGUAGE_WGSL).add(shaderChunksWGSL);
          
              this._initDefaultMaterial();
              this._initProgramLibrary();
              this.stats = new ApplicationStats(graphicsDevice);
          
              this._soundManager = soundManager;
              this.scene = new Scene(graphicsDevice);
              this._registerSceneImmediate(this.scene);

This file has been truncated. show original

gameatp · November 7, 2025, 12:45am

OK，thanks