I wanted to share some architectural R&D I’ve been doing for a massive-scale simulation framework in UE5 and see if others are running into the same engine bottlenecks.
We all know the standard Blueprint/UObject setup struggles with massive entity counts. While ECS plugins like Mass are fantastic, I found that the traditional Entity/Component model still leaves hardware performance on the table when you need absolute maximum throughput.
To bypass this, I’ve been developing a custom C++ Headless DataStream Architecture (HDA). It runs entirely outside the Game Thread using:
- Pure Structure of Arrays (SOA) memory alignment
- Lock-free multithreading across all CPU cores
- Intel’s ISPC for AVX-512 hardware vectorization
I believe an architecture like this could open Unreal Engine up to unprecedented scales (massive RTS, city builders, CFD sims). However, I also know that a framework of this magnitude is a massive undertaking for a single developer.
I am considering making the HDA project entirely open-source and public, but before I do, I want to gauge community interest.
Are there other C++ engineers out there who are passionate about ISPC, lock-free multithreading, and bare-metal optimization in UE5? Would there be interest in collaborating on a public framework that bypasses traditional ECS to push Unreal to its absolute hardware limits? I’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences.
