Hi everyone,
I’m currently working on a small open-world scene in Unreal Engine 5.4, and I’m starting to run into performance issues. I figured this would be a great place to ask for help and maybe share my experience so far.
My Project Setup:
- World Partition enabled
- Using Megascans for rocks/foliage
- Nanite enabled where possible
- Lumen for global illumination
- Around 2km x 2km playable area
The Problem:
Performance drops significantly when I add dense foliage or enable shadows on trees. My framerate dips from ~80 FPS to 30-40, especially in more detailed areas.
I’ve tried:
- Reducing LOD distance
- Using HLODs and clustering
- Turning off dynamic shadows on distant meshes
But I feel like I’m missing some key optimization steps.
What I’d love help with:
- How do you manage foliage density without killing performance?
- Is there a better way to handle lighting for open landscapes with lots of trees?
- Any general performance tips for open-world environments using Lumen?
Side Note:
I’m also considering switching to baked lighting, but that might ruin the dynamic look I’m going for. Not sure what the best trade-off is.
Really appreciate any tips or advice! And if you’ve worked on similar environments and are open to sharing your workflow, I’d be super grateful 
Thanks in advance!
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Cheers,