When the "Virtual Production Utilities" plugin is enabled, the Editor makes available a list of "Virtual Production Roles", which can be created and individually selected in a "VP Roles" dropdown on the main toolbar within the level editor UI. The roles are implemented as gameplay tags and saved to/loaded from source "<PROJECT>/Config/Tags/VPRoles.ini", and the currently selected roles are persisted in a config file inside "<PROJECT>/Saved/Config/WindowsEditor":
UE 4 - File "Game.ini", section [/Script/VPUtilities.VPSettings], field "Roles" (editable in the Project Settings page "Plugins – Virtual Production")
UE 5 - File "UserVPRoles.ini", section [/Script/VPRoles.VPRolesUserSettings], field "Roles" (not editable in the Project Settings, only through the dropdown on the toolbar)
Starting in UE 5.5, file "<PROJECT>/Saved/Config/WindowsEditor/UserVPRoles.ini" is correctly updated whenever a role is checked or unchecked in the UI, but the selected roles are not loaded at all when restarting the Editor. For the load to happen correctly, a file "<PROJECT>/Config/DefaultUserVPRoles.ini" or "<PROJECT>/Config/UserUserVPRoles.ini" must be created, even if just to remain empty. Note that, in recent UE versions, the Project Settings page "Plugins – Virtual Production" does not display the current selection of roles, and clicking the "Set as Default" button there updates "DefaultGame.ini" with a no-longer-used "Roles" field. So, the only way to create "DefaultUserVPRoles.ini" is manually.
And I now believe that this new issue is unrelated to CL 29098706 or [Link Removed]
1. Create a new project (e.g. from the blank "Film/Video & Live Events" template)
2. Open the project and make sure the "Virtual Production Utilities" plugin is enabled
3. On the main toolbar within the level editor UI, click the dropdown "VP Roles"
4. Make sure there are some created roles such as "Compositor", "Editor" and "Render"
5. Mark the checkbox of one or more roles
6. Restart the editor
7. Bug: Go back to the "VP Roles" dropdown and note that the previously marked boxes are not marked.
8. Verify that file "<PROJECT>/Saved/Config/WindowsEditor/UserVPRoles.ini" was created and that it contains section [/Script/VPRoles.VPRolesUserSettings] with a field "Roles=(GameplayTags=((...)))" which correctly lists the roles previously marked in the UI
9. Create a file "<PROJECT>/Config/DefaultUserVPRoles.ini" and leave it empty
10. Restart the editor
11. Go back to the "VP Roles" dropdown and note that the previously marked boxes are correctly marked.
There's no existing public thread on this issue, so head over to Questions & Answers just mention UE-254389 in the post.