Currently, creating “Tycoon” or “Simulator” style experiences in UEFN is significantly hindered by the limitations of the Billboard Device. Unlike competing platforms (e.g., Roblox BillboardGui), UEFN developers lack basic control over world-space UI, leading to poor performance and inefficient workflows.
Requested Features
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Native .Enable() and .Disable() Functions: The Billboard device cannot be fully disabled via Verse. This forces developers to use “hacks” like clearing text strings or teleporting devices 5000 units underground. Adding native enable/disable would save significant server memory and CPU overhead by stopping the device from rendering when not in use.
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Face Player Camera (Billboard Mode): A native toggle to make the text automatically rotate to face the active player’s camera.
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Material Instance Support: Allow developers to apply Material Instances directly to the text.
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The Problem: Currently, to get high-quality or animated text, developers must create hundreds of unique
.pngtextures for every price/string. -
The Impact: Supporting Material Instances for text would save tons of memory and hours of manual work, allowing for dynamic coloring and effects without texture bloating.
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Screen-Space Scaling: An option to keep text size consistent on the screen regardless of player distance.
Conclusion
Modernizing the Billboard Device is not just a “convenience” request—it is a performance and scalability necessity. Providing these tools would bring UEFN world-space UI up to industry standards and allow creators to build more complex, optimized games much faster.