What's your biggest problems/missing features with UE?

1. Actor/Object Templates in Blueprint - Like Archetypes in UE3, I have noticed there is the ability to spawn based on an Actor in C++ but not BP. Id like to see ChildActorComponent Templates extended so we can create an object that is like the DefaultObject that stores only changed variables and pass those in from a reference at Spawn.

2. Better Blueprint Context Menu - The right mouse button search menu is in dire need of a usability overhaul and minor changes to the graph (like Enter to open search and Enter twice for previous command) would improve the overall UX.

3. Mesh Creation Tools (Geo 2.0) - Features like 3dsmax modifier stack and spline lathe (better splinemesh tools overall), bend, slice modifiers. These could also function on imported StaticMeshes where applicable to make mesh reuse ability better, modifiers such as FFD are a prime eg. All Gizmos (Move/Scale) should rotate (mirrored in quadrants) with viewport camera like the Rotate Gizmo does. Perhaps even give access to the new VR gizmos on non-VR platforms to improve productivity of KB/M.

4. Insistence on Realtime Options - By default the Editor feels the need to make everything Real-time editable which is great when working on assets or in the viewports but slows down BP and other parts of the editor that dont rely so heavy on instant feedback at all times.
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5. FBX Pipeline is not very efficient for large sets** - Importing lots of meshes via the editor and modifying them such as selecting different collision settings is still extremely cumbersome and I do question the need for a staticmesh editor at all and find myself wanting to edit a table of meshes instead since it would be extremely faster than a report style view.

Overall Id just like to see systems that work in tandem better and streamlining of processes so that needless editor elements get ironed out. Im really keen on features that benefit as many people as possible and not just a more vocal subset of the community. Id like to see efforts taken to make it easier to recover from BP errors/corruption by making sure null references and similar issues are dealt with by the editor more gracefully than the default crash.

Blueprint as a visual language still has a long way to go and while renderer improvements are very much appreciated I feel like there are still alot of core usability issues with the editor itself that should be addressed.

Thank you
:cool:

3D gravity vector instead of the hardcoded GravityZ.

I can kinda see why this isnt available by default since it could cause problem with replication, rotators are typically compressed and if my line of thinking is right that is problematic where you want quaternions. I was thinking this is possibly why the pull request hasnt been accepted because it opens a whole can of worms thats difficult to deal with in an optimized as well as generalized fashion :cool:

Vectors are not quaternions. Gravity is a vector.

There was the scene import options added in 4.12

It’s not everything you are wishing for, but it seems to be a step in that direction.

I know the difference, to have a player collision rotate on all axis is a quaternion and thats what the implication of gravity of a vector is not to mention the camera attached to a 6dof body if youre doing something other than a fixed camera. There are instances where you wont need to rotate collision bodies like spherical collision but its very specific and means the best solution to this problem would be a gravity vector implementation that sat along side the current one.

As a fixed gravity vector obviously you can move planar and it doesnt cause these types of problems but as gravityZ is adjustable having a similar implementation means a player could walk around a sphere which does indeed mean quaternion rotation! But feel free to share your math if Im wrong :slight_smile:

(Oh a technical note Gravity is not actually a Vector!)

Ive tried this and it still requires heaps of setup time, it doesnt stop the bugs in the process either like trying to reimport a StaticMesh with no material but youve assigned one in the editor. I do think they have added a commandline importer for batch importing Ive yet to try as well but the main issue here is that editing a StaticMesh/SkeletalMesh etc after import requires going into each asset with no ability to batch edit. The import options could be improved somewhat too so its not a report view but more of a table of inline entries :cool:

Gravity and collision and object orientation and totally different concepts. Gravity, as simulated in game physical simulations, is a 3D vector.

There are a lot of requests here. Most of them I sympathize with. Especially in the rendering department.

However, isn’t UE4 just a framework for a game? I mean UE4 isn’t likely to meet everybody’s needs right out of the box. Customization is key. I think the more flexible the engine is the better.

However, isn’t UE4 just a framework for a game? I mean UE4 isn’t likely to meet everybody’s needs right out of the box. Customization is key. I think the more flexible the engine is the better.
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How much time you need to customize the engine, when you’re alone or a small team? Will you develop your game or spend time to implement missing features? If those features are small there might be no problem. But what if otherwise?
Most of the requests are not specific to one’s needs. And it’s these requests that shape the future of the engine. Of course, it’s up to the Epic to accede to these requests.
After all, there are several competing engines now. Some of them have those features, some of them don’t. People choose depending on their requirements. But if you like one engine, you don’t easily go for another one.
You will request and you will wait. :slight_smile:
Until you run out of your patience. :frowning:

1 merge/copy-paste Blueprints differents include auto create variables.

1 Independent FOV & No Clipping.

1 ultra Faster lighmaps generation for previews

Official UWP support.

Much less time than it takes to build your own engine.
(Unless your game is something very simple that can make do without all the bells and whistles of UE4.)

Easier / more support for shaders built from code better. Full HLSL or such support would be great.

I will have to say Documentation has a lot of room for improvement. I am ok working with less features but trying to find info should be easy. Many times it is not.

For now my biggest problem is broken UV’s on imported FBX meshes.

  • Full backward engine versions compatibility thru compatibility translation layers that only the Epic Games team could write to ensure that any asset and any code could be quickly migrated without any issues from older versions to the newest one.
  • APEX Destruction for meshes on mobile devices
  • An official text scripting language for the visual BluePrints (so that can be coded faster having both a visual and a textual version without using C++)
  • Complete and updated documents on every single API and both BP and C++

Paper2D expanded upon

Unless it’s part of some procedural tool or takes advantage of being part of a real time game engine, I don’t know why you’d want full modeling tools within a game engine. Nothing Epic could make as a 3D modeling feature withing UE4 is going to even compare or compete with an actual 3D modeling package. Designer Tools, to an artist, just looks slow and clunky. I get that using a separate modeling program is an extra step, but there’s so many free and cheap tools it feel’s too redundant and a waste of resources. There’s also blueprint construction scripts if you want to make assets that integrate into a level or scene without jumping back and forth between a 3d modeling application.

UE4 could always use more terrain tools. Epic has pumped some resources and tools into it, that was kinda the point of the Kite tech demo.

Proper Hairworks intergration & actual Mirror Material.

Speed. When blocking in a level, I don’t want to deal with the whole export/import pipeline whenever I want to run around and check scale. Blueprint construction scripts are a pain to work with compared to the ease of a BSP boolean workflow for level design, there’s no comparison. It’s not only slower using construction scripts, but I then need to get a programmer involved and can’t just let an artist handle it alone.

I mean, it’s certainly possible, but if it’s really going to be an insurmountable hurdle, could just make a Maya plugin that links Maya to Unreal and replicates marked meshes as they’re edited in realtime. Since the CryENGINE has already been brought up with the Designer Tools, an obvious comparison would be LiveCreate (https://youtu.be/ZqNHJ-ekMR4?t=28). I could see it being useful for both level designers and animators in this regard, being able to preview models and animations with the full set of Maya’s tools, basically using Unreal as a viewport.