It seems that when using PIE, the Esc key is hardcoded to stop the game. How do I disable this? I need to set the Esc key to do specific game functions like opening a menu, or going back up 1 level in a menu, or just canceling a player dialog… things like that. I need access to that button without the game quitting.
The answer in https://answers.unrealengine.com/questions/104774/during-play-in-editor-pie-is-there-a-shortcut-to-s.html does not work in 4.9.1.
I still need an answer to this.
Usually I just bind “Esc” key and combination “Ctrl+Q” to the same action, which open main menu and etc. During development I’m used to use “Ctrl+Q” but users always use “Esc” in test builds and they don’t even know about other binding.
So I guess without changing the engine source, there’s no way to disable Esc key in PIE? The lack of any knowledge or any useful information in search results seems to imply so.
Still seeking knowledge on this.
Is there seriously not an answer to this? Mods? Devs? maybe type a yes or no answer at least? I guess I’ll dig through the menus and source and see what I find.
Use the “Standalone Game” on the button “play” for testing with escape key.
At the top left of the screen, select the ‘Edit’ menu >> ‘Editor Preferences’ >> ‘Keyboard shortcuts’ tab on the left >> Under General Keyboard Shortcuts, search for the 'Play World (PIE/SIE) drop down (or type ‘stop’ in the search), in there you will find a ‘Stop stop simulation’ key input. You can change or delete this key input.
Edit (2024): This method works for both Unreal Engine 4 & 5.
If this worked for you, please mark the post as resolved 
and don’t forget to like the post (with resolution). Thank you
ok guys, to me the problem was i wanted to make a pause menu, when i press esc the menu will appear, but when i press esc the program closes. so the solution is simple, go to the PLAY button and changed it to “Standalone Game” and it will work
dont need to use standalone mode. just change the shortcut key like mentioned above.
yeah it worked too
During development you can also use shift+esc to trigger esc input without closing the editor. No need to change shortcuts or play mode.
Select the ‘Edit’ menu >> ‘Editor Preferences’ >> ‘Keyboard shortcuts’ tab on the left >> search “STOP” and bind with"shift+Esc".
Very helpful. Thank you.
On Unreal Engine 5.4 the entire engine crashes with EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION when pressing escape after binding Stop to another key
EDIT: Nvm, it was just my garbage code xD