MetaHuman Crowd: Step-by-step spawn setup guide (5.8)

Development Character & Animation
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MetaHuman Crowd Setup Guide

Sharing my working setup checklist for MetaHuman Crowds in UE 5.8, after a lot of trial and error

Requirements

  • Enable the MetaHuman Crowd plugin: Edit → Plugins, search for “MetaHuman Crowd”, enable it, and restart the editor.
  • (Recommended) Download the MetaHuman Crowd Sample from Fab — it provides the assets used in this guide (BP_CrowdSpawner, BP_SO_NavTarget, DA_MHMassCrowdConfig_Plaza, GM_MHCrowd, Crowd_NavAreaSpawn).
  • Unreal Engine 5.8 or later.

1. Create the walkable area

  • Enclose the entire floor with a NavMeshBoundsVolume.
  • Press P to verify the floor turns green.
  • Do not proceed to the next step until you see green.

2. Create the spawn-allowed area

  • Place a Nav Modifier Volume over the floor where crowds should spawn.
  • Set its Area Class to Crowd_NavAreaSpawn — this is required.
  • Run Build → Build Paths.

A green NavMesh alone is NOT enough — no one will spawn without this volume.

3. Place spawn reference points

  • Place BP_SO_NavTarget actors at the desired locations.
  • Add this exact tag to each actor’s Actor Tags: PlazaSpawnpoints
  • Do not add this tag to BP_CrowdSpawner.

4. Configure the spawner

Place a BP_CrowdSpawner and check these two settings:

  • Count: greater than 0 — e.g. 150
  • Entity Config: DA_MHMassCrowdConfig_Plaza

Use Count to control how many people spawn, and the EQS GridSize to control the spawn area.

5. Set the Game Mode

World Settings → Game Mode Override → GM_MHCrowd

6. Final check

  • Save the level
  • Start PIE
  • Wait a few seconds
  • If people spawn and start walking around, you’re done

If no one spawns, check these in order:

  1. Is Count set to 0?
  2. Is Entity Config empty?
  3. Is the NavMesh green?
  4. Is the Nav Modifier Volume’s Area Class set to Crowd_NavAreaSpawn?
  5. Does BP_SO_NavTarget have the PlazaSpawnpoints tag?
  6. Does the Output Log show EQS query failed?

Key concepts

  • NavMeshBoundsVolume = the map of where people can walk
  • Nav Modifier Volume = the zone where people are allowed to spawn
  • BP_SO_NavTarget = spawn reference point
  • BP_CrowdSpawner = decides how many people and what kind
  • Plaza = wander freely around an open area
  • Corridor = move toward a destination

For video rendering, use Movie Render Queue (MRQ), and set Engine Warm Up Count to 300–600 so the crowd is fully spawned before rendering starts.