So, we should not use UE4.27 and up, we should stay with UE4.26.2, at least if we want to upgrade our projects to UE5 when released in 2022 and avoid compatibility issues, that’s basically it?
I do think UE4.28 is coming, and even UE4.29 if UE5 is delayed again, I don’t think anybody was expecting a UE4.27 version last year.
Actually I wish I could start with UE5EA right now… but not any marketplace product, asset or plugin has been updated to UE5, I have asked several developers and they all tell me that they are only updating their assets when UE5 is officially released, not EA, and at this point I can only guess April 2022, I still think this is not good news; what would happen if we start a UE4.26 project with Market Place products and since no developer is updating anything at this moment, when trying to upgrade to UE5 (2022) we can’t, because of a plugin issue, materials not working, the Grooming system is reworked, or you paint a landscape for months and the new UE5 system is completely different… people are already having issues when trying to convert UE4 projects to UE5EA, even more if they use market place assets, just search it in the forums.
Polycount has never been an issue with LOD´s, and even if UE5 can hold 1 TB assets, you are never going to release a game with more than 80GB… unless you are really nuts, so the nanite tech is great, not the next revolutionary thing, most computers don’t even have more than 1TB in free disk space, Oculus 2 is 50GB, and you are releasing a 3TB game filled with mega assemblies and non optimized assets; I don’t think LODs are ever going to be replaced, Nanite it is a great feature and I love it for detailed assets and cinematics… I think this feature has more future for the film industry, not games; anyway foliage is far more important than rocks.
I think a great destruction and dynamics system would be the next thing for games, honestly… and even more for the film industry, like real water simulations, destruction without FPS drops, but nothing is guaranteed right now, I just wish chaos had been better, FPS is terrible right now, but I still believe, and hope that the final version has no previously announced features and I know it will, for now, the one thing I feel is fantastic about UE5 is lumen, I think lumen is beautiful, dynamic and hyper realistic.