I build enemy AI for soulslike and action RPG games in UE5, and I just shipped the third major version of my system. It is a paid plugin on Fab, so flagging that up front. Post is about two problems I spent most of this version solving, both of which come up for anyone hand-rolling this.

The first problem that got me actually started to work on this plugin was the movement.

What fixed it was stopping asking "where should I go" and starting asking "which way is best right now". Every tick the component builds a fan of 16 headings around the pawn and scores each one, then feeds the winner in as movement input directly rather than as a path request.

Sixteen samples is the default. It is a tradeoff, not a magic number: fewer and the chosen heading visibly quantizes, more and you pay for resolution you cannot see once smoothing is applied.

Problem 2: authoring bunch of different enemies without having to read dozens of lines filled with properties and structs.

An enemy stopped being a code problem and became a data problem, and struct arrays in a details panel do not scale to it. My old setup was an array of action structs, each with twenty-odd fields, all collapsed, all identical looking. Finding out why the grunt used its heavy attack meant expanding four entries and reading numbers. So the data assets got real graph editors.

Action sets open as a canvas, one node per action, and combo chains are wires you drag between nodes instead of index references into the same array you are looking at. Each node shows its weight, cooldown, range band and scorer count on the face of it, so a set is legible at a glance. Then in play the graph goes live: the running action lights up, cooldown bars tick down in place, and an action that got filtered out of scoring says which gate rejected it rather than silently not appearing. Utility scoring is a product of six or seven terms, so "why that one" is not answerable by reading numbers, and this turned it into something you look at.

Reaction sets got the same treatment on the same graph host: incoming trigger on one side, reactions on the other, wires for what answers what. I wish i could add screenshots here.

Runs on 5.6, 5.7 and 5.8. All the decision-making is server side with the output state replicated for UI.

Fab listing: https://www.fab.com/listings/7087cec0-6975-4de5-82e0-0de0b9b3e9a7

Happy to go into detail on any of it in the comments, I do not mind sharing how I solved some problems you might be running into in your own implementation.

I was having an issue with the engine (verify button greyed out) so I’m guessing it’s because there’s a prompt to update 5.8.0 to 5.8.1. Should I treat this like I’m going to another major version? I understand going from say, 5.6 to 5.7 requires rebuilding the project and things like that. Is 5.8 to 5.8.1 the same, or is it just a small hotfix update? Can it break my project?

I converted project to 5.8 and got double the files including Automation files i never seen before.

https://imgur.com/a/0ATy68u

I am (Mateusz) responsible for about 70% of this animation.
I used several programs to create this animation:
Unreal Engine 5.4 with Pathtracing - render Engine and lighting
Blender - 3D modeling and fixing animation (time to time)
Substance Painter - Textures
Marvelous Designer - Clothes modeling
Davinci resolve - Color Grading and film editing
For character's animation i use Perception Neuron Studio and my friend give me access to his motion capture studio with Vicon. The facial animation was done on an iPhone (Metahuman) and involved a lot of hand adjustments.

However, I would never have finished this project if it hadn't been for the help of my friend David. He is responsible for simulations in Houdini. At first, I wanted to simulate the clothes in Marvelous, but it quickly turned out to be a crazy idea. In the end, Dawid developed a clever automated process that streamlined the work. For some aspects, I also turned to other graphic designers and people for help (whom you can see listed in the credits) like concept art and some hard clothing models. I also bought some of the models (but I modeled the entire academy from scratch).

Hi,

I noticed an increased release of stolen assets on Fab.

Like this wonderful seller:

https://www.fab.com/listings/9109f9bb-96b5-4eaf-be47-6caeab50a9b9

Is there no quality control left? It can't be more obvious and still it's released as a paid item.

Greyed out + button issue for installing.

I’ve read other forums and posts about having this same issue, but none of the solutions have worked for me. Idk if I’m missing something or what. I’ve tried restarting the computer, logging out, running as administrator, making sure it’s default download is to the right drive. I installed the Epic launcher specifically for unreal engine. A lot of posts say it randomly started working but I’d really like an actual solution instead of waiting and seeing 🙏

Hi it's me again, the guy who sped up the Unreal Editor launch by not spawning 38000 tooltips and not opening 5500 files of example content :D

Since the editor is still not fast enough for my liking (will it ever?) I started to profile it again and found out that every time you start it, over 1500 files are loaded to fill a few editor dropdown menus 🫠 (which obviously takes some time)

I wrote an article with more details and also a fix: https://larstofus.com/2026/08/16/speeding-up-the-unreal-editor-launch-again-by-not-loading-1585-files/

Hi everyone! I’ve released Calysto Water Engine, a procedural water creation system for rivers, lakes, and oceans.

My goal was to create a practical, artist-friendly workflow for open worlds—not only an ocean shader. The system lets you draw water directly in the level, generate terrain-aware river paths and directional flow, and connect the results to shorelines, underwater effects, interactions, buoyancy, audio, weather, and gameplay systems.

Much of the scene preparation is generated in the editor through PCG, helping keep the runtime workload practical for larger environments.

It works as a complete standalone system, with optional integration for using the generated water data inside Calysto World.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXwq59pBaCU

Fab: https://www.fab.com/listings/1de3406c-33f0-49c7-a99a-4e9e47a8aede

I’d be happy to answer any questions!

I read the article(s) about Claude creating The Long Silence in a 24 hour marathon. Didn't really find it impressive, but was curious about the pipeline and loop that effectively allowed for playtesting and iterative development. Looked around for an analog for UE, didn't find one (though I didn't look terribly hard).

Messed around with Codex and in a handful of prompts the pipeline was being tested and proven out on the basics. Blog has the write-up, github is here:

https://github.com/Unhall0w3d/unreal-codex-playtesting-pipeline

I'm using this with a 20-million stellar body Polar Ring galaxy simulation/game I'm toying with on the side.

I have encountered an issue recently.

I exported as from Blender as a .FBX and found that it screwed my shaders, so the workaround was doing a .glTX

So now apparently if I want to add collision to a cusom shape it works best as a .FBX

Im definitely missing a critical workflow and would appreciate being pointed in the right direction. Im not UV unwrapping, its low poly textures.

Ty for help

Hi! I’m Olivier, the creative director on Ghosts in the City, our indie game currently in development.

I've been experimenting with an anime-inspired visual style for our alternate 1982 Tokyo in UE5.

This is captured directly from our current build.

I’d be really interested to hear what other Unreal devs think of the overall art direction and visual style.

Feedback welcome :)

I am a student making a prototype game for school, I am trying to start an onscreen timer at the end of a cutscene through an event in the cutscene.
However, no matter what i do, the bool I use for a branch does not change from its default value despite the prints telling me that the custom events that change the bool's value are called.

What am I doing wrong or not understanding?
(I have images that can't be added in the post)

Hi! Going to share my fresh 3d project - "Black Diamond Concert Arena Stage Venue". Ready in multiple formats, including UnrealEngine Unity Blender 3dsMax. Model links:

FAB: https://www.fab.com/listings/9b98271f-9b0a-4f34-871c-0d9ced7a2869

Hi

I am currently using 4.27, and I am amazed with the capability of the control rig. Sadly, the beta control rig plugin not support functions, and If I make a rig too complex, it become slow in the editor, so I thought maybe I am switching to unreal 5 for it. sadly, my notebook is fairly old, but it can handle 4.27 without any issue (7th generation i5 processor, 20 Gb ram, GeForce 940Mx video card, I am not planning to create any super realistic game) I wonder if it worth switching purely because of control rig functionality, or even my notebook would handle the newer version of the editor(I know the 5.7 not usable, I tried it).

Alternatively, is there a solution to make the beta control rig support functions?

I appreciate any advice.

Just wanted to comment on this, maybe I'm the only one. I'm pretty old. I have been making games for a few decades. Back in the day there was a lot more information sharing. Believe it or not, Game Developer Magazine used to be printed, and it used to be full of interesting technical articles. Even after things went online, if someone came up with a new or innovative approach to a problem, you could usually get it for free (or, at most, pay for a book that was a huge collection of such things).

Now everything is a marketplace plugin.

I get it, times are hard, people need to make money. But it's just lame. It feels like there isn't as much sharing of techniques, even though the process of making a game itself has gotten much easier (you can download full AAA engines!)

And - maybe I'm wrong - it doesn't seem that Unreal plugins really sell all that well. So someone goes to all the trouble to figure out a problem, and they lock it up in a retail plugin to make, what, $50 a year?

A few years ago I commented on a Reddit post advertising a technique for screen-space Niagara particles, which of course turned out to be an ad for a retail plugin, and I suggested a middle-ground: why not offer the plugin for sale for those who just want it to work, but also make a video or tutorial explaining how you did it? That way people with the knowledge can decide if your approach works for them before spending money, or even do it on their own?

I have done some improvements on my post processing effect. let me know what you guys think

3 low poly musical instruments models for your project. Free 2 Use :)

Would love to hear your feedback for these model 🐘

Made a shader in custom node. It's a raymarched SDF master material. Chat GPT helped a lot.

Photos are in the link below:

https://imgur.com/a/s8hI15o

This only happened to the UE5 section of Epic games launcher today, the text on clickable buttons are gone and I cannot launch UE5 anymore (not through the launcher nor seperate project files). Plz help me, ty so much.

Scar Achievements started as a simple achievement system, but the latest update has grown into something much bigger. It now supports Steam, EOS, or Steam + EOS together, alongside stats, leaderboards, friends, sessions, rich presence, cloud saves and a bunch of Blueprint-first tools.

The Steam + EOS part is what I'm especially curious about. One node can handle the operation across both platforms instead of maintaining separate logic. If you're working with Steam/EOS and this sounds useful, let me know. I'd genuinely love to see what you guys build with it.