Hello UE4 Team,
i am using Unreal Engine 4 for about one and a half year now, working on Descent: Underground.
Most of our team members are working side by side inside a single UE4 project, driven and managed using git. So far so good, it kinda works.
Aside of this, there are several challenges i have to deal with every day. One of them, is Unreal Engines “basic” workflow.
UE4’s development is on a very good way (God, i love VXGI) and i hope to contribute some ideas, born out of biting into my keyboard several times a day, dealing with the most basic things.
Today, i hope to get some open ear about some things that are probably minor - but may get huge when you have to deal with bigger game projects.
Guess Paragon or Unreal Tournament comes to mind.
1. Renaming of files and proper file management:
On the picture above you can see a bunch of files i need to rename.
This is a common thingy and sometimes we have to change some file structures due to new workflow approaches.
It took me some time just to click on every single file, renaming it. It’s a daily pain.
a) Is it possible to create some XML file system we can use to edit all of these file names and keep track of them outside the project?
Idea: An pop-up window opening when i select a bunch of files with right-click > rename, showing all items in a list with an easy white input field next to each item.
Since the files are using the “reference system” it takes about 5-20 seconds for me to rename “each” file.
b) On the same picture above you can see that the numbering seems off… In most apps i start my numbering with 01, 02…11, 12 - not 11, 12, 01, 02…
Is it possible to add a small menu on top of the panel, sorting files correctly and having an option to sort by creation date or last modified?
c) Question: Can files being viewed as a list? Sometimes our file names are longer due to project management. Then, we just see half of the file names all beginning with (example) MI_Ship_Shaman_basic…
The rest of it, …colorA is not visible anymore. Now imagine having a bunch of files with similar same name structures. We need to hover over each file to see its name, using a list view would be cool.
d) Coloring of folders: It might be neat to have the ability to color folders, grouping them into subsections for better management.
I am just adding another Picture to visualize certain ideas around that topic.
2. Fixing redirection problems and overall folder workflow
Over time, the project grows and within the junkyard. I thought it isn’t a big deal at all when i started to clean up some of our folder structures, getting rid of old content or moving it to other sub folders.
This…is barely possible since every approach into this direction of moving/sorting files is the opposite of what i was able to do in Unity (yes, the other guys…)
There, i just went into my Windows Explorer - moved files, renamed them, etc. flawless and fast.
Cleaning up re-directions in Unreal either crashed my Editor (atm, 90% of all tries) or takes “hours”, even for smaller folders since the good old reference stuff wants to “finish loading” the whole beast.
Moving files gonna take forever. I am not telling that i am angry about…its how Unreal seems to take care of all files.
Is it possible to speed up this process? Maybe there is a way and i don’t know about.
I apologize for the amount of questions and some vent, hope some of it might be interesting.
Greetings and all best,
Tobias
