4.17 has caused widgets as actor components to turn invisible after the widget blueprint is compiled.
To test this:
Make a blank actor blueprint or turn a static mesh into a blueprint.
Add a widget component to the root component.
Set the widget class in the component to a widget that has some visible text or image.
Place the actor in the world.
Compile the widget that the blueprint was set to.
Before compiling, the widget is visible with the actor blueprint. However, after compiling, it turns invisible. The widget component is visible within the actor view-port but not inside the game view-port. To fix this, the actor must delete its widget component and re-add it. However, this breaks again if the widget blueprint is compiled.
Thank you for the report. I was able to reproduce the bug in 4.17 and noticed that it was not a bug in 4.16. I went ahead and logged the bug. If you would like to track it, you can follow this link: Unreal Engine Issues and Bug Tracker (UE-49832)
Let me know if there is anything else that I can help you with.
If you are having an issue that is similar to this please feel free to open up a new ticket report. This ticket has been closed out and is on the to do list to be fixed.
It seems like the description of the issue track report is quite specific, Text related only. Here, there’s more components involved, and the Widget won’t come back after compiling more times. It remains invisible no matter what.