Unreal Editor in VR - Official megathread

Development Platform & Builds XR Development
315

If anyone has the same question as me, how to save changes made to objects during simulation IN VR EDITOR, the link they send you to here is useless and incorrect.
Instead: in VR Editor, Click play simulation, affect objects or move/drop rocks in place (OR AFFECT DYNAMIC SKELETONS!) … THEN right in the VR editor Palette, near the simulation button, there is a ‘SAVE ACTORS’ button, this saves the Simulation changes in the SELECTED objects, ONLY WORKS before the stop button is pushed.

EPIC HAD ME CHASING MY TAIL FOR THE BETTER PART OF A YEAR TRYING FIGURE THIS OUT (Which I finally did on my own as usual…)

316

Apologies if this has been asked already, but I’m finding that object selection in VR Mode appears very inconsistent. As a test case, I’ve opened up Infinity Blade’s GrassLands, Elven Ruins map, and I find that while the selection beam correctly finds some of the floor pieces, it doesn’t allow selection of the statue, railings, or many other architectural pieces. Is this a known issue, or is there some detail I’m missing?

317

I spent few hours trying to help you. I found that one can link the offending objects (90% are offending …) to another object and move the OTHER object… Even trying that, I was just testing and researching… I was also able to Export and even Migrate the objects, but never did find what was ‘different;’ about them than the objects, or how to change them in a standard way! (WTF!!! ) Absolutely Maddening,. .
Unfortunately, you won’t get any help here, this team is 100% completely checked out,.*** No new advances for YEARS (but I bet they get paychecks every week LOL)*** As you can see it is mostly ME posting and correcting them when they give bad advice!

MY ADVICE? I always though UNITY had a MUCH BETTER VR Editor (‘EditorVR’). Epic as much as stated that they think we are idiots who can;t control our limbs and ‘make mistakes’ so they switched to where you have to select each object in VR* then select it again to move it,. *In UNITY last I saw, you can reach out grab and move, grab and move, grab and move it is HEAVEN… I LEFT Unity for Unreal ONLY because of the BLUEPRINTS. BUT being unable to help you and updating you here, prompted me to do a quick search about the state of Unity before updating you and VOILA’ looky what I found!!! :slight_smile:
**Unity3D getting Visual Scripting in 2019.2 https://forum.unity.com/threads/unit…2019-2.577084/

Epic is King of the ‘Amateur Hill’ NO MORE!**

318

VR Editor selection works on collision, so if there are meshes that aren’t working, they just need collision set up in the static mesh editor. Hopefully that helps!

319

Hey when I zoom in on the Blueprint window with the motion controller, it will zoom out but I can’t zoom back in. Anyone notice this?

320

Hello! Yes I have the same problem, We seem to be a rare breed working in VR, but with my Valve Index coming I hope to be working in VR more than not in the coming years! I will update you if I find (or make) a fix. I have ‘modded’ the VR Editor program before… (it’s just an Unreal program,. Not Encrypted) I had changed some basic features, I wonder if we could change the INPUT.ini of VR Editor, to assign a button or thumbstick to ‘zoom’ in the BP window?

I have another idea for VR Editor Blueprint access… Perhaps, because it was made for the Vive Wands TRACK PAD then not updated ??(See here even when they talk about VR Mode CONtrols: https://docs.unrealengine.com/en-US/Engine/Editor/VR/Controls/index.htmlit, they show those awful Vive Wands,…
. There is a free program called … Open VR Input Emulator,. They recently added a Fallout VR ‘fix’ for Oculus Rift, that makes the thumbstick work properly as if it were the (awful) HTC Vive Wand TrackPad (some centering and Zero Position problem,…) I think that Fallout VR Fix, may be the same fix for VR Editor!!

, Doing BP’s in VR would be a Cool Thing Indeed!!! You can select nodes, then go to View menu (in VR) 'zoom all or zoom selection. A TINY bit of help… But not really workable,. There is the possibility of Adding a VR Menu with the Home button on the Pallatte?

.My problem, when I am aligning things like a Procedural River to my carved areas, I can’t access the ‘control points’ in the mesh like I can in the standard editor window. I sure hope these thing I MOST want to ‘align’ etc in VR DON’T need to be done in 2D!!! (Any ideas??)

321

Hi, I have found that even adding a Collision is not enough (as suggested aboe) you actually have to go into the details panel, and choose a ‘Collision Preset’ from the drop down, (Default works fine) Too bad it does not ‘default’ to the “default” :slight_smile: LOL… Then finally, even the Statue can be selected and manipulated in VR Mode!

322

Ahhh - good discovery. That was making me nuts - thanks for finding it!

323

No problem! I am tryiong to make the VR Editor TRULY USEFUL with fixes updates (and even Mods if necessary) so it is as usable as possible when my VALVE: Index gets here early July. I am starting an UE4 / VR related ‘show’ on my youtube channel ( youtube.com/NextWorldVR ) called: ’ WORKING (while) IN VR! ’ and four days a week I will either live stream or a prepared video of about 4 hours of me building the actual worlds for my 3 upcoming VR games and answering questions, tutoring along the way, etc. I hope to see you there since you too have experience in VR Editor, maybe we can do a joint session or something,. ‘VR Chat for MAKERS’… LOL :slight_smile:
by the way,
I just found another really (REALLY) big fix if you have Oculus (and/or have problems with VR Editor and controlling the Zoom in the BP windows etc. (See my answer to Ivan below!)

324

I look forward to your new show! It sounds like the perfect premise.

325

I found a fix for the ‘VR Editor Blueprint Window Zooming problem with Oculus Rift’ Here is what I did:
I have a pair of Razer Hydra’s (which I bought cheap on eBay, to use with my soon-to-ship VALVE: Index, I couldn’t afford the controllers,…)
I think the fix might work WITHOUT the Razer Hydras, but I wanted to mention it,…

First I downloaded ‘Motion Creator 2’ from Sixense, (note: I downloaded from there just 2 weeks ago, BUT: the links to their downloads page no longer work! I think they saw me postig about using their device with INDEX and decided to pull the drivers and work on their wireless controllers again (there is a lower price option gap to be filled clearly) anyways here are all their drivers, the SDK, the old ‘driver’ and the new ‘Motion Creator 2’ that connects with the Steam VR Plugin…

IThen I remember going into Steam and installing the Razer Hydra driver (rebooting occasionally etc)

and I think the most important part is this: in Unreal I checked the Hydra OSVR Plugin, and the Steam VR Plugin but NOT THE OCULUS!
This way, in VR Editor touch shows up as VIVE WANDS and the ‘trackpad’ (actually the Touch Thumbstick) works beautifully zooming in and out! SO i figure like this: If I am doing most normal things in VR Editor, I can do it with just the Oculus (and no Steam VR) program running, if I want to work on a Blueprint etc in VR Editor, I simply (LOL) load Steam VR and Motion Creator 2 before going in to VR mode,. It is not very well behaved now, but I hope, when I have my Valve Index, if I do VR Mode at 80hz (and without ANY OCULUS STUFF ON MY SYSTEM!) that then STEAM VR will be much better behaved and editing in VR, WORKING (while) IN VR will become a daily thing for me.

OR I can switch back to UNITY now that they are adding a BLUEPRINT Visual Scripting System, I remember the Editor VR being a LOT MORE FUN in Unity, no Clicking on an object TWICE to ‘pick it up to move it, move it;’ you just reach out like normal and pick up anything and put it anywhere naturally,.

PEACE!!!

326

When i was trying the editor in vr, all the windows that appeared, appeared empty as they couyld not render the content. I was able to resize them and move them or close them though.
HTC-Vive with 4.22.

327

Hello,
You might want to try a few things and report your results (otherwise all we can do is guess…)
Try using the VR Mode Editor in a New Blank Project and a New Blank Map (maybe place a few primitives for VRrientation…)
If it still shows no text, you may need to UNINSTALL then reinstall to get back to a solid version…
If it works like normal, then in the offending project, perhaps you are INSDIE a volume or the Atmosphere is too dense, or a LIGHT Setting is masking the text with brightness,. or?
You can try (with both your project open and a second copy of UE4 open with the blank MAP open) then, after
selecting all things of a ‘type’ (I’d start w/ all the Static objects), Hitting the TYPE text at the top of the ‘World Outliner’ will list things by type) select then ctrl-c, alt-tab to your opther project and hit Ctrl-V, save and try the VR Editor, Can you see text?
If yes, then try copy-pasting all the Skeletal items or etc…) one at a time (or grouped however) until you CAN’t See Text in the new map. when that happens you can easily route down the exact offending item/light/setting/atmosphere/etc, and fix it…
When done, SAVE your (new) map, right-click it in Content Browser and choose ‘Asset Actions’/Migrate and tell it where your main project is and what folder to put it in and give it an updated name.
If this works, be sure to come back and say WHAT THE PROBLEM WAS and WHAT FIXED iT!

If none of this works, You might try going into EDIT/Editor Preferences/VR Mode and turn off some of the annoying things like: show movement grid, show world movement progress etc,.

That will give you some more control when you get it working at any rate.,.

Also, I seem to remember, like years ago, the VR Editor didn’t work (because TEXT WAS INDEED INVISIBLE!!) and I had to download some sort of Text Plugin that made the text as 3D Models so they are SHARP TO READ,… Text Plus or something,… like 2-3 years ago,.
UPDATE:** i was right about the ‘Text Plugin’ being REQUIRED for seeing text in VR Editor —>BUT: it was an answer I gave about Unity ‘EditorVR’ years ago LOL :slight_smile: oh well,… **https://forum.unity.com/threads/edit…-menus.510615/

That’s really kind of funny… I LOVED the Editor VR in Unity, One can reach out, grab and object and move it to where one wants in a smooth natural motion, making it a useful, USABLE and powerful tool,… !! :slight_smile: EPIC USED to have it that way, Now you have o select every object THEN Select it again…

EPIC’S ‘EDITOR VR’ IS THE GREATEST PROMISE AND DISAPPOINTMENT IN MY LIFE, (SHORT OF OCULUS NOT MAKING A CV2).

EPICIF YOU HELP ME PERSONALLY WITH ONE THING: HOW TO MOVE THE VERTEX/CONTROL NODES OF A SPLINE (SAY, A PROCEDURAL RIVER/ROAD) in VR Editor? I can go into the Details windows and SCALE EVERY POINT, but not in any way, rotate or move them!)

328

VR Editor is a massive paradigm shift in level design efficiency,. I am VERY PLEASED to see a couple changes in the 'Editor Preferences/General/VR Mode menu!!!
PLEASE LET US KNOW THE WHAT/WHY/HOW/ETC. :wink: The changes look to me much like the INPUT Panel, with the ability to add a … a ‘Blueprint’!! Ok, there are 2 options, in one one can add,. OH!! a 'VR Editor Interactor, so…like a BP that lets you customize how you… work INTERACT in VR Editor! There is one there (the default) called: ‘VREditorInteractor’ and you can add a new one, and when you do, it takes you into BP Editor,. . So that is the one that lets you work the way it is now,. so to change that,. I’d need to like, reverse engineer the existing one,… AHA!!! so I search for ‘VREditorInteractor’ in the Epic 4.22 folder and find:
VREditorInteractor.cpp
VREditorInteractor.h and
VREditorInteractor.generated.h (interesting!!) I double click" ‘VREditorInteractor.cpp’ and it opens Visual Studio (curiouser and curioser I have no idea what I’m doing,…) BUT:
It really looks like THIS IS A WAY TO CUSTOMIZE VR EDTOR,… make it the way one wants it (I was among the first to mod VR Editor, in 4.19, I made all the ‘grid lines’ (that come up when you select an object in VR Mode) INVISIBLE by finding the ‘material’ that was the ‘glowing grid’, then altering the ‘png’ it used, so it was just an empty invisible png,… :wink: Protect Transparency indeed!!) BUT This is way beyond a simple substitution mod,. Hopefully not beyond me,… All I can do is try I guess,. I see stuff like:

AddKeyAction( EKeys::MotionController_Left_FaceButton3, FViewportActionKeyInput( VRActionTypes::TrackpadDown )

and:

bIsTouchingTrackpad( false ),
bIsPressingTrackpad( false ),

OH! Like that Hover thing the VIVE Wands do on the trackpad when you are not pushing!

and this one has some Human words!!!:

// If we’re hovering over something really close to the camera, go ahead and shrink the effect
// @Todo vreditor: Can we make this actually just sized based on distance automatically? The beam and impact point are basically a cone.
if (IsHoveringOverUI())
{
LaserPointerRadius *= VREd::LaserRadiusScaleWhenOverUI->GetFloat();
HoverMeshRadius *= VREd::HoverBallRadiusScaleWhenOverUI->GetFloat();

OOOOH! They are letting us into their programmer minds with //comments :slight_smile: MMuuuaaahh!

This part (below) looks like it relates to the problem (above) I had when trying to edit Blueprints in VR Mode using Touch Controllers,… (The BP windows would zoom all the way out and be uncontrollable, I solved it by buying a pair of VIVE Wands). (thinking they had perhaps created that section in the early days before TOUCH came along, Sure enough, it VR BP Editor is happy with a HTC track Pad!! Different things work better wit the different controller, which makes it all the more powerful actually,…):

// Stop transforming object to laser impact point when trying to slide with touchpad or analog stick.
if (InteractorData.DraggingMode == EViewportInteractionDraggingMode::TransformablesAtLaserImpact && !FMath::IsNearlyZero( SlideDelta, VREd::TrackpadStopImpactAtLaserBuffer->GetFloat() ))
{
InteractorData.DraggingMode = EViewportInteractionDraggingMode::TransformablesFreely;
}

WELL NO WONDER IT TOOK THEM SO LONG TO DO AN UPDATE, THAT IS SOME HARDCORE DEEP LEVEL CONTROL ADDED, and Very Complex programming, just the logistics of WHAT to do much less how must take forever to realize…
It is appreciated!

, I don’t really get it yet, maybe a little,… BUT Perhaps, eventually people will create new VR Editor Interactor Blueprints and VR Editor Teleporter blueprints like you can just recently get with VR ‘Controller Binding’ with Steam Community.

Very cool to see some things changing!

NOW if I could just edit a Procedural Splines by translating it’s vertex/nodes in VR Editor!! (or figure out what they Greyed out ACTIONS sections i for on the VR Pallette!)

THANK YOU LAURA and VR Editor CREW!!!

329

Have there been any updates that let the VR editor compatible with the new valve index and knuckles controllers? I received mine just last week but when I loaded up the VR editor I see the HTC wands instead and none of the buttons work. Or is there some kind of setting change I can do to make it work with the valve index?

330

Hello!

first I want to thank you for bringing in-editor VR to UE4, its something I have dreamed of since using UE4 the first time with my DK1!

And of course I have a few questions:

  1. Would this in theory work with the Razer Hydras?

  2. Will this work in the viewport of the BP Editor too?

  3. What about performance when loading assets and stuff like this, does it just hang or will it switch to black during loading?

  4. Any chance we get the BP editor node graph in VR (like in the Pixar movie Wreck-it-Ralph)?

Thanks in advance.

331

Thanks for the great work. Looking forward to more of these updates making their way onto a release.

On customising the vr editor experience - is this possible and if so what is the best way of approaching this? Can for example the vr editor pawn be extended (eg as a child blueprint) or do you have to dive deeper into the code? Would particularly be interested in how event based functionality and some runtime logic could be integrated.

332

It’s been 5 years since this comment and I’ve been messing with the VR Editor the past week. As far as I can tell, still no BSP. Not being able to do subtractive while blocking out levels in VR is pretty frustrating. Like working with Lego blocks instead of a futuristic editing tool.

333

  1. Hello, Yes, in fact there is a specific Razer Hydra driver for UE4:
    https://forums.unrealengine.com/development-discussion/engine-source-github/3674-razer-hydra-plugin I would experiment with having the SteamVR plug loaded too!

  2. Yes, It does ‘mirror’ to the viewport in Oculus and SteamVR (and both come with free utilities to mirror with more control)

  3. takes about the same time as loading to normal editor, assuming shaders are calc’d…

  4. You mean can one edit BP’s in VR, Not like I think you want, (yet…) but yes, there are pretty much ALL the windows , World Outliner, Details EVEN ‘MODES’ LIKE LANDSCAPE SCULPTING!!!

THERE IS NOTHING LIKE STANDING IN THE RAIN AND LIGHTNING CARVING TALL MOUNTAINS OR ERODING WITH A POINTED FINGER, TREES AND GRASS GROWING BACK INSTANTLY AS SOON AS YOU UNCLICK!!! (IF USING EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURAL ECOSYSTEMS ETC…)

You can even run Simulation mode, throw a bunch of rocks so they land naturally,. then hit a key (‘K’ I think, or SAve Objects in the VR Mode Menu.) to SAVE their position back in NON Simulation (in the Level). I have the Valve Index but so far my Oculus Rift CV1 is the best HMD for working in VR Mode… One can open the built-in dashboard, pull a Youtube or Netflix window into your world, and then watch TV IN VR while you build your world with both hands!!! (There are multiple ‘Dashboard’ options for SteamVR too,.)

There is now an *Unreal VR Mode SubReddit! r/UE4VRMode

https://www.reddit.com/r/UE4VRMode/

334

Hello,.
I would make sure that your project has all VR Plugins turned off except the Steam VR Plugin. The Steam VR Plugin for 4.23 (and probably 4.22, Maybe 4.21 etc) should have been updated with the new Steam VR Skeletal Control System that includes the inter-operability of the INDEX Controllers… I have an Index but not the controllers, (and I prefer to work in VR Mode in my CV1… then Play in my Index :slight_smile:

There is now an Unreal VR Mode SubReddit!
r/UE4VRMode

https://www.reddit.com/r/UE4VRMode/