UEFN/UE UI/UX needs an overhaul

General Feedback & Requests
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Sorry for being this blunt, but there are so many issues with the UEFN/UE UI that I simply cannot list them. The entire interface needs an overhaul so that its more intuitive, there are easier ways to do things, the editor actually helps you speed up your workflow instead of fighting you, and you can focus on creating a game rather than technical issues.

Here are 5-6 issues that I encounter while working with my project within 2 minutes, and I wasn’t even tracking them (shown in the order of the video):

-Making a new asset moves its name out of view
-Underscores not allowed, but unlike discord it doesn’t autocorrect on pressing Enter
-No + button in Niagara, you have to press E, without being said anywhere on the interface
-Blowing particles template comes out of the box with error
-Error cannot be fixed and it doesn’t explain in a descriptive way that we can understand why
-Moving the editor window scales it down to the point you cant see inside it, you have to move it where you want then scale it back up manually (instead of showing an outline with the same scale and allowing you to place it where you want for example)
-Docking tabs in other windows doesn’t work (Open a tab in a separate window, then try to dock another tab docked outside that window to it with one gesture)
-The zones to dock things are small when its to add tabs together, and you usually miss the placement.
-Default niagara material is locked from editing

A new user will be overwhelmed (I knew what I was doing and still got confused).

Now, here is an example of exceptional UI/UX, for comparison (FL Studio 20):

(Onedrive link cause file is large: https://1drv.ms/v/s!AkG5n8_vobVPq45t48J4jv2jIss1Xg )

FL is super light-weight, extremely fast and has cool animations and UI to give feedback on your actions. It is straight forward and without quirks that you need to know about. If UE/UEFN were to have this sort of UI, I could speed up gamedev by more than 30% and that is a win-win for everyone

(and I did not mention level design even, which I have the most issues with. Still better than Unity, but it can be improved so much more by thinking out of the box and breaking 30+ year-old conventions)

Oh, and its not about changing it completely, just improving it in a way that helps new users and allows old users to speed up their workflow. If you want a list on how to do it, let me know (that one will take time to do though, I d rather keep developing my game, so I d only be willing if it’s going to be taken seriously).

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FL Studio, the gold standard of intuitive workflows. And its so pretty you WANT to use it.

1 Like
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Bump, nothing has been addressed from the above, and I was about to make the same post but I realized I said it all before.

Some more:

  • You cant drag a folder in outliner to the root folder, just doesnt work
  • You cant scroll drag in outliner
  • Renaming something in the outliner moves it out of view and you cant see it anymore (needs a vid to explain, lmk if you need one)
  • Adding a new file in tiles mode in content browser moves it out of view when the list is full, and you cant see what you are naming it into (default view)
  • Dragging a tab out of a new separate editor window fully minimizes the view at times and you lose where that window is (not sure how to repro)
  • Dragging a tab out of a new separate editor window into a different screen space will never move it there, it will detach it from the window and place it next to it after the action.
  • You cant move a file in content browser in the filepath on top of the window to move it there, would be nice
  • Can’t choose what files are named when making a new one
  • Can’t choose default folders for file types you make, you always have to navigate to the right folder.
  • Can’t set import options (especially for textures), you have to always edit after import all your files.
  • If you external revision control, corruption is imminent on projects due to one file per actor making the same folder for different files in different users, and nothing tells you that or allows you to set up different users so conflicts dont occur.
  • Live edit push changes still doesnt respect to spawn in last edit spawn location
  • Quick Menu Cost preview is still broken in UEFN, which is the most useful memory optimization UI
  • Memory Heatmaps which is another useful tool WE USED TO HAVE, has been now removed from Creative, for no reason! Not only I didn’t expect that to happen, I expected this to be added to UEFN too…
  • If you don’t bind player inventory into a key in edit mode, you can no longer access it through the creative menu.
  • Ctrl key no longer selects the text you are searching in content browser (live edit). This was broken when new content browser was introduced.
  • Viewport keyboard shortcuts don’t work in any other editor window (like viewing a static mesh, or simple collision editor).
  • Transform gizmos are too hard to grab and move things around
  • Editor window resizing controls require pixel perfect precision to select, annoying when your workflow shifts constantly
  • Spatial Profiler still feels like a useless addition that nobody asked for, all while all the great tools we had to optimize memory in Creative are still not added in UEFN.
  • (Extra) Landscape transforms to show in live edit, instead of requiring a 5 min wait on edit (which happens a ton on every map that has landscape).
  • Live edit push has loading screens that make no sense why they are there (if in theory you have a top-tier PC with a top-tier connection and small ping, you shouldn’t wait). But even before that, why do we have to wait to see live edit? Why do we always have to be online to test? This is a major flaw that has sucked our dev time and creativity for years now. An offline online-services stripped version needs to fill that gap.
4 Likes
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Moving the tabs up on a window merges them together and you can’t separate them.

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Few more:

  • Ouliner: Dragging an actor which is inside a folder, which folder is inside another folder (two hierarchies down) to its parent (two hierarchies up), while the folder is snapped to the top, wouldn’t work and instead move the actor to root instead (even though you are dragging something on top of a folder icon)
  • Transform controls of BPs have been moved to the static mesh of that BP, so anytime you are level designing and want to do basic transform functions like resetting angle or scale, you have to dig deep and find those transforms, whereas before they were always there once you clicked an actor.
  • Same with Texture Data, it was always on top of BPs, now it can be in two different positions within the settings or the tab is not expanded and its hard to find. Very time consuming when these controls are used very frequently