We’re excited to share a few of the new features now available on the Master branch on GitHub. To be able to try out these new features, you will need to download the source code for the Master branch and build the Engine yourself. For more information about how to build the Engine from source code, please see this page. The Master branch on GitHub is constantly being updated and is not quality tested so it may be potentially unstable. We do not recommend using the Master branch for project development. If you wish to wait, these features will be made available to all in an upcoming official release.
Engine News
New Features
New: Redesigned Blueprint Editor UI
The Blueprint Editor now has been redesigned. All of the modes have been unified into a single screen to help streamline your workflow, and many usability improvements to the “My Blueprint” and “Components” panels have been made.
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You can now look at the viewport or the graph without having to change modes, and you can even dock the viewport alongside your graph. The “My Blueprint” view has been revamped to be cleaner and sparser.
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There are two new toolbar buttons: “Class Defaults” will show you the defaults for your class, you can also click on the new Actor (self) root element of the component tree. We have also renamed the “Blueprint Props” button to “Class Settings”
New: Feature Packs and Content Packs
You can now add new “features” and content to your game at any time using Content Browser! Packs can contain any combination of content, blueprint classes or C++ classes. These will be injected right into your project.
Nearly all of the existing project templates are now available as Feature Packs!
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So you could add a First Person Feature Pack to your game, and then later on add the Vehicle Feature Pack and be able to use both of these features in your project!
In Content Browser, just click Add New, then click “Add Feature or Content Pack…”
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Even the Starter Content can be added to your project at any time. In fact, there is a new “Mobile Optimized” Starter Content pack you can choose, too.
How do you create your own feature or content packs? We’re still working on this. Stay tuned!
New: Improved Asset and Class Thumbnails
Content Browser and other editor panels now display thumbnails using a new colorful style. Also, both C++ classes and Blueprint classes will now display a live 3D thumbnail when possible, as well as a small icon in the corner that indicates what the parent class is.
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These new iconography and color changes are applied to all panels in the editor that display assets. For example, the “Add New” menu:
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Some assets like Tutorials now have a “Play” button. For tutorials, this will start the clicked tutorial right from the Content Browser.
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New: Full Engine C++ Source Code and Debug Symbols
Beginning in 4.7, Unreal Engine includes the full engine C++ source code when installed using the Launcher. We also distribute debugging symbols for the engine.
You can seamlessly step into engine code while debugging, and you will have complete call stacks after a crash. You no longer need to compile the engine yourself to get full engine debugging powers.
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New: Brighter Tool-tips
Editor tool-tips now have a bright theme, and are a bit bigger with more padding so they stand out from the editor UI and are easier to read.
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Fixed Blueprint Cyclic Dependency Issues
For a while now, cyclic Blueprint dependency load crashes have plagued us all. When loading interdependent Blueprints, it’s hard to decipher what to load and compile first. Well in 4.7 we’ve aimed to put all these woes to rest. Yay!
We have re-factored our Blueprint loading code so that it should be able to handle any cyclic scenario you throw at it. Your Blueprints can inter-mingle and cross-communicate all they want, and most importantly: they will load up properly next time around.
