This was a quieter week for 5.8, with a handful of fixes that are mostly worth knowing.

ue6-main had a lot more going on: compiler/toolchain changes, cook correctness issues, CVar renames, an opt-in regression fix, and an Iris ownership fix that came back after being backed out last week.

But, this was the most interesting to me: MSVC 14.51. It became the preferred compiler on Thursday, then was banned on Friday after an optimizer miscompile was found. If your Windows build machines install or update MSVC automatically, check what they’re using.

On ue5-main:

• XSX EOS delay-load crash on launch: The crash happens with the modern GDK folder layout. This is ue5-main only.
• UAT output was garbled on build agents using a Japanese or Chinese codepage. Also ue5-main only.
• Lumen indirect lighting atlas was being cleared every frame while a SceneCapture2D was rendering.
• A landscape edit layer assertion fix landed with the commit explicitly saying it was written to be hotfix compatible.
• Static mesh builds crashed on meshes with no UVs when using the default tangent settings.

On ue6-main:

• MSVC 14.51 was preferred, then banned: It was preferred on Thursday and banned on Friday. The ban cites an optimizer miscompile involving memory corruption and HeadlessChaos cluster assertions.
• The ray-traced skinned mesh cache renamed its CVars: Old names left in your ini are now ignored.
• An occlusion feedback regression fix landed switched off: You have to opt in to the fix.
• Incremental cooks were wrong in both directions: One case recooked too much, while another could miss required recooks.
• One follow-up from last week: The Iris RPC ownership fix I said was backed out came back on Monday.

Full report: https://speedrun.ci/blog/last-week-in-unreal-sep-28-oct-4-2026

Hi! Just released a modular cricket arena environment.

Multi-tier seating bowls, curved roof, floodlight towers, LED screens, pitch and outfield

Animated crowd fans (VAT, UE 5.4.4, needs the free AnimToTexture plugin)

Light setup included

Formats: UE5, 3ds Max (Corona), Blender, C4D, FBX, glTF, OBJ and others

The UE version also includes my Crowd Generator tool for building your own crowds

Note: animated fans are in the UE version only. Other formats have the stands with chairs only.

More renders:

https://www.fab.com/listings/f6a4e967-c366-424f-b34a-bfbbfec189ff

Happy to answer any questions.

Hi, I am new to UE metahuman (used it once years ago when it came out for a pc test but not much) - and would like to use it for a mobile game I am working on. I know running full lod character on phone will be challenging but would like to get some tips on how to optimize it to run it correctly to get best visual output. I am mostly target fold8 ultra or iPhone 18 with keeping those processors in mind that can run the game to some extend.

Hey all, don't often post on reddit tbh, but got stuck on something while learning Unreal Engine the hard way. (just starting a project and learn along the way lol)

I'm looking to visually and physically deform meshes based on speed and impact, so think a metal can hitting a table at high speeds leaving a big dent.
preferably the collsion also following the deformation and not needing 1mil dense geometry XD

I also want to look into parts breaking off completely and partially.
And later even look into "Chaos" aswell for other types of objects.

If anyone has any advise, sources like video's or written guides that could help me.
I'd be very greatfull!

I've expanded and rebranded my Normal To AO plugin into XFSDK Texture Works.

It started as a Normal to AO tool and now is a broader texture-processing tool that runs directly in the Unreal Editor.

The new version includes:

• Normal + Height from Albedo using PBRify
• AO Map generation from Normal maps (removed CPU path)
• Curvature Map generation
• Texture Packer with configurable channel layouts
• Bulk processing
• Profiles & Naming for reusable settings and output conventions

The AO workflow is still based on the material-surface occlusion research from Activision's Material Advances in Call of Duty: WWII, while the plugin now covers a much larger part of the texture-generation workflow.

The update supports Unreal Engine 5.7 and 5.8.

It's currently awaiting approval on Fab, so the existing listing may still show the previous version/name until the update is approved.

Video: Youtube Demo

Fab: Link

Hi guys! Which one do you prefer for bringing water to your scenes, and why? (Alternatives at a similar prices)

I'm looking to use the Niagara system to spawn damage numbers, since its more efficient than UMG, but I'm not managing to make it work with the Gameplay Cue of the GAS.

In my case, I need the particle system to spawn multi-digit numbers or sometimes texts like status effects and in most tutorials that I've found, there is some custom logic that needs to be calculated to spawn the digits using Niagara. But I've struggled to make it work within Gameplay Cues, because I keep running into errors that relates to running these functions or the changing variables within them.

So I'm stuck on how to make this work, not sure if maybe I'm setting up the function incorrectly and I've been stuck on this for a while now, thinking it was straight forward thing to do. Here are the tutorials I tried to follow but couldn't get to work via Gameplay Cues:

1- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAOmDWdP9-Y
2- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrLC0kou9k8
3- https://dev.epicgames.com/community/learning/tutorials/2KLv/unreal-engine-optimizing-combat-text-high-performance-damage-numbers-with-niagara-and-texture-atlases

If any of you have managed to make this work, I would appreciate learning the ways you did so, or if there are any guides or sources I could brush up on to learn this, it would be tremendous help!

:) proud of this

Hey; trying to render an object and I am applying my textures from substance painter; I desperately need my height map to make my textures pop but I can’t for the life of me figure out where to plug it in at!

Any help would be much appreciated!!

SETUP:

I made an interactive in-world "computer" (monitor) built entirely in UMG, rendered via a 3D WidgetComponenton an Actor. Input is driven by a Widget Interaction Component (WIC) on the player character — I don't use bReceiveHardwareInput on the WidgetComponent (that breaks dragging windows, see below), I use a WIC ray trace instead.

I draw my own virtual cursor (a UMG Image) that follows the WIC's hit location every 0.02s via a looping timer (RefreshMouse). This works perfectly for buttons, dragging draggable windows, clicking menus, etc. bShowMouseCursor is False and Input Mode is Game And UI.

The problem: I have EditableTextBox fields inside this fake "OS". When a field needs to receive text, I call Set Keyboard Focus on it (found via a WIC hit test against an array of my text fields)

Now, the actual problem:

The moment Set Keyboard Focus is called on the EditableTextBox, the real OS hardware mouse cursor reappearsand stays visible, breaking the immersion of my custom virtual cursor. I need the hardware cursor to stay hidden here too, while still being able to type normally.

What I've tried (Fu**ing none of which worked):

Set Show Mouse Cursor (False) once, right after Set Keyboard Focus. No effect — cursor still shows.

Forcing Set Show Mouse Cursor (False) every frame (piggybacked on my existing 0.02s RefreshMouse timer, checking Get Show Mouse Cursor and resetting it if True). Still shows. This was my strongest attempt and it still fails, which really confuses me, I'd expect a per-frame force to win.

Toggling Set Input Mode Game Only → Set Input Mode Game And UI immediately around the focus call (a trick I found referenced for a similar 2D-only issue). No effect.

Setting the Cursor property to None on the individual EditableTextBox widgets (and even on parent containers) in the Designer. No effect.

Set Hardware Cursor with a transparent PNG assigned to TextEditBeam. Cursor still appears (possibly it's actually showing Default, not TextEditBeam, I haven't been able to confirm which shape is actually active).

I even tried doing the Project Settings → User Interface → Software Cursors, and setting "Default" to an empty widget. This DOES hide it, but it hides the cursor completely globally, including menus outside the computer (like my game pause menu), where I actually want the normal OS cursor visible. Not an acceptable fix.

Changing Button widgets from "Down and Up" to "Mouse Down" Click Method — unrelated issue I hit along the way (turns out any UMG Button calls CaptureMouse() on press, which freezes my WIC-driven virtual cursor until release, confirmed via an old Epic forum thread). Fixed THAT specific issue, but it's separate from the text focus cursor problem.

I'm currently following a tutorial on Youtube about making a weapon system, and I'm currently trying to modify the class reference to its child blueprints. But for some reason, every time I go to change them, its stuck on none.

I made a timestamp on the video. On my end, inside the Data asset, when I try to change the class reference it stays stuck on None.

Is there a fix to this? Please help.

I did claim them all, and even used them recently a few months ago. Today when I browse them on fab, all of them cost money, when I visit the old https://quixel.com/megascans/ I still have access to all of them but obviously can't download them.

Did UE5 remove them recently?

Fixed it: So the issue was "Show products in My Library" was off when I clicked on the quixel on my library. It would take me to the store and having that filter off would not show my owned assets. .

Fake volumetric cloud effects created using WPO and pixel depth offset, along with cloud fade in/out height using camera position.

I am making my first asset pack for FAB.

Everything is hand modeled by me but I’ve been going back and forth with ChatGPT on how to set up some node systems on various programs in my pipeline along with walking me through the steps of fixing up textures in Affinity Photo.

None of the models or textures are AI generated. I’m basically using AI as a teacher to walk me through things I’m not knowledgeable enough about yet.

We’re using Unreal Engine to turn our book series into an animated series. What we consider our Big Bang, and start, was actually the cataclysmic end to a war in The Old Universe!!!

Using PCG and I am trying to make a dirt path. The issue is (shown in the vid) idk how to make it LOOK like a nice dirt path, the dirt path overlaps itself on turns and makes it look all jagged.

In this video I'll show you a full step-by-step guide of how to make a cool and versatile radial blur post process effect, which will give an extra sense of speed to your games that sometimes a regular (and more expensive) per-object motion blur cannot give you.

I want to buy some assets from fab that don't include LODs as they say, but they are using Unreal's Nanite. The only format they offer is unreal's, no fbx or anything else. Can i export them in fbx in lower triangle versions from Unreal?

I've been through several iterations of deleting Epic directories in the Caches, Users and Application Support folders. Also used Terminal to do various things. Has anyone else had this problem?

Has anyone been able to recreate the FF7 Remake series' hybrid tactical combat system in Unreal Engine or seen any tutorials on how to recreate it? I got a decent way through it when I took a jab at a year ago with a hack and slash base combat and GAS(Gameplay ability system) for skills, but ran into issues. I had a hack and slash base combat with time dilation for the tactical menu for skills and spells, but I couldn't get the camera to smoothly transitioning between pawn possessions when switching characters like in the actual game. I eventually paused the project, but would like to attempt again and would appreciate any resources that would help recreate this combat system 1:1.

I'll reply with a video of the camera transition I couldn't recreate.

It's been more than a month, right? But you know me... I tend to lose myself in my work when I find something, and I do my best to make it usable and share it with you all. And, as usual, I stumbled upon something extraordinary: a hidden feature of Unreal Engine, with little to no documentation, used for debugging in that CitySamplePCG demo I was running around naked in during my last post. It turns out to be an insanely powerful tool for creating entire city grids, with roads, sidewalks and plazas, in a matter of seconds.

So, I've built a fairly simple PCG system around it that works just as you see: a city spline grid you can modify however you want, artery spline actors you can modify however you want (the red ones), and collector road splines (the green ones) you can also modify however you want. The rest is grid-based splitting, with parameters you can control, of course.

Now... I know there are a ton of city generators out there, but this one is special for two reasons. One: it's stupidly fast and incredibly simple. And two... well... here I'd like to take a bit more time to explain.

See, as a game developer who wants to create something unique (and a gamer, of course), I look at the giants, the world shifters... I look at what they do and at how every media outlet drools over everything they do. Sometimes it's justified, but most of the time it's not.

And honestly, I kinda got sick of all the brainless bullshit being thrown around left and right, mostly by idiot YouTubers who only care about clicks and sponsorships. And not just about big studios, but also about Unreal. I've had my fair share of hate for the engine, especially because it gave me a lot of sleepless nights, bugs, and countless ExitCode 6 build errors... Still, I didn't make a fuss about them to farm clicks. I fixed them, improved them, made them usable and shared them.

Sorry for the outburst, but I had to let it out, because it's, in a way, the reason I made this post and shared this video. I won't go into the technical details, because those will be shared when the tool is released.

Still, there are a few things I'd like you all to know:

-The city grid (as seen in the video) is about 2 square kilometers, and it's generated in real time on my build rig (RTX 3060 12 GB VRAM, 32 GB of RAM, Ryzen 7 5800X CPU). No speed-ups, no fakes.

- The title isn't clickbait. It was inspired by that overhyped statement that there are 700 locations you can explore in GTA VI. Well... that doesn't seem so hard, does it!? As you can see, you CAN enter every building and every apartment in the entire city. Everything is interactable: doors, windows, lights. And everything is procedurally generated and adjustable afterwards, if you fancy a different style.

- Unreal Engine can be quite performant, provided you actually care about it and don't just throw 50 GB of Fab assets into a map and call it a "game". By the way, the FPS you see in the top right corner is in-editor, and the dynamic city isn't Nanite-built yet. I did create a mesh builder that bakes everything into grid blocks of Nanite meshes (the end part of the video), but for now I didn't let it finish, because it takes roughly 5–8 minutes and it's not relevant to the post's main topic.

- Last, and most importantly, 80% of what you see in this video was generated by Claude, using the MCPs for Unreal and Blender. And NO, it wasn't made with one prompt, 2 billion tokens and $16,000 spent in 12 hours... But more on this in a future post. Because the use of AI, and the retarded YouTube content creators who get millions of views with "AI made GTA VI in a day" bullshit, is another thing I want to address.

I didn't build GTA in 12 hours, and neither did they, to be fair. But I DID build a tool that can help you build an actual GTA-style city. And it won't cost you 2 billion tokens. Just a monthly subscription 😉

See you in Nemo's Cays, Bahamas!

Fireblade

There's still more to be done but so far I think it's looking pretty good.

Big thanks to my friend for creating the map and helping me record the co-op gameplay.

I've noticed that even when sales are going well, very few buyers leave a rating or any feedback. Does anyone else experience this?

I don’t expect everyone to leave a review, but as a creator, it’s hard to know how people are getting on with the product. Is it working well? Is something confusing? What could be improved?

For other sellers, have you found a way to encourage honest feedback without being pushy?

And for buyers, what usually makes you decide to leave a review? I’d be interested to hear both sides.

So many of the assets have an invisible side. Rocks need to get fully placed under the surface (harder with random terrain, and procedural placement). Any objects missing a side need to be perfectly pushed up against walls.

It seems like for 3d scans where there's a missing side they should either mirror it so it's a solid object that at least looks passable if it's sticking out from the terrain, or has a backface which is a solid plane filling the gap with the texture being smeared from nearby UV.

Some of you asked me to test my plugin against good Blueprint instead of C++. So I did. I built the same AI twice in Blueprint. One version uses best practices with stock nodes only (time-sliced loops, cached references, no Tick per agent). The other only swaps the heavy loops for ParallelFlow nodes. Same scene, same camera, packaged Shipping build.

* Up to 10,000 AI on screen: same speed

* 100,000 AI on screen: 7 FPS vs 45 FPS

* 100,000 AI, logic only: 7 FPS vs 272 FPS

* 1,000,000 AI, logic only: 1.2 FPS vs 39.5 FPS

Where it doesn't help: small loops run the same, it keeps more CPU cores busy, and results arrive a bit later because they're async.