Sorry if this is the wrong category; I couldn’t find a better one.
First of all, I would like the games I make to be able to run pretty well, even on very old hardware. In ue5, I know you can disable lumen and nanite and a bunch of other settings to get close to ue4 performance, but I’ve heard that ue4 will still usually run better anyways. However I’m not really sure about the truethfullness of that statement and also about a lot of the other factors to do with performance.
Other things to note:
There aren’t really any genres or styles of game I like to stick to
I will primarily be making singleplayer games
I will be doing most programming in C++
I am a solo dev and do everything myself, except sometimes I will use other people’s 3d assets since I’m not the best at 3d modelling.
In case it is important, here are my computer specs:
cpu: i5 13450hx
ram: 16gb
gpu: rtx 3050 mobile 6gb
OS: Linux (CachyOS)
For a new solo C++ single-player project, start on UE5, not UE4. 4.27 still wins on very old GPUs if you leave Lumen, Nanite, and Virtual Shadow Maps on, but those are optional. Compare against a Blank / non-Lumen project with Nanite off, Lumen off (r.DynamicGlobalIlluminationMethod 0 and r.ReflectionMethod 0), and Virtual Shadow Maps off (r.Shadow.Virtual.Enable 0). That is the setup that still runs on older hardware.
What does not go away is editor cost. On 16 GB of RAM the UE5 editor, shader compiles, and DDC will feel heavier than UE4. A 3050 6 GB laptop can run it, but keep extra viewports closed and expect the first shader compile to hitch. That is an editor problem, not proof the packaged game will be slow.
UE4 is the worse long-term bet. Marketplace content, plugins, and Linux editor fixes are on UE5 now. 4.27 on an Arch-based distro like CachyOS is more likely to fight the system toolchain than a current UE5 Linux build. If Epic’s Linux editor misbehaves on CachyOS, run it from their expected environment (the official Linux build, or a distrobox/Ubuntu) instead of going back to UE4.
Decide the shipping target with a profile, not a version debate. Package a blank third-person level with the expensive features off and run stat unit on the oldest GPU you care about. If Game and GPU stay in budget, stay on UE5. If that machine is an iGPU or a 2016-era card and the frame time is still gone, the next cut is a forward renderer and baked lighting inside UE5, not a new project on 4.27.
C++ is the same workflow either way. Use Enhanced Input, and skip World Partition until you actually have a big map.