Category: Epic Games

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Unreal Engine 4.15 Now Available, VR Improvements Include Menu, Number Pad and PSVR Aim Controller support

This Epic Games has released the latest iteration of its popular videogame development software Unreal Engine 4.15.

The last version was only released in November 2016, and since then the studio has been pumping out the preview builds, adding experimental new features whilst ironing out the bugs and glitches. Unreal Engine 4.15 continues Epic’s support of virtual reality (VR), finalising additions like support for PlayStation VR’s Aim controller along with general VR Editor improvements.

PlayStation Aim Controller

Epic’s updated the Quick Menu and Radial Menu in the VR Editor, improving usability and functionality whilst giving them a new look. A new Number Pad UI has been added allowing developers to quickly enter numbers from zero to nine as well as negative and decimal values in text fields

An experimental addition to 4.15 comes in the form of Monoscopic Far Field Rendering which provides a performance boost by only rendering distant objects once. As it is experimental for the moment Monoscopic Far Field Rendering is only supported on mobile platforms for now.

For the full list of features head to the Unreal Engine blog for a concise rundown including support for Nintendo Switch. VRFocus will continue its coverage of Unreal Engine, reporting back with the latest updates.

VR

  • New: Updated the GoogleVR SDK to version 1.01.

  • New: Exposed “Is HMD Connected” to blueprint. This means that HMD hardware is ready to use. UE4 may or may not be using the HMD now.

  • Bugfix: Fixed rendering of Canvas tiles in stereo mode to be rendered for both eyes. This fixes the rendering of the background behind various stats shown by the STAT console command.

  • Bugfix: Fixed threading issue on Oculus Touch controllers, which could cause jittering in some circumstances.

  • Bugfix: Fixed an assertion when using Oculus stereo layers with MSAA, due to binding an unresolved depth surface.

  • New: Added analytics event to Vive HMD initialization.

  • New: Updating Oculus SDKs

    • Oculus PC SDK 1.10.0

    • Mobile SDK 1.0.3

    • Audio SDK 1.0.2

    • Platform SDK 1.10.0

  • Added a missing render target clear when using a VR hidden area mask and a post processing material.

  • Added in a new CVar vr.SteamVR.UsePostPresentHandoff, which defaults to 0. When set to 0, we do NOT use the SteamVR Post Present Handoff, which costs some performance GPU time. When 1, we use the call, and get some extra GPU performance. However, this call is NOT safe for scenes that have frame-behind GPU work, like Scene Capture components and Widget Components.

    • For users that were using 4.14.1, and seeing a GPU timing improvement, that behavior is now off by default.  You can re-enable it by setting vr.SteamVR.UsePostPresentHandoff on your project to get it back.  Be aware that SceneCaptureComponents or WidgetComponents may cause async reprojection in SteamVR to fail in that case.

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Oculus Head of Content Teases ‘Months of High Profile VR content’ On the Way

Jason Rubin, Head of Content at Oculus, has recently teased ‘months of high-profile VR content’ for the hardware. In a recent tweet, he points towards the upcoming release of Rock Band VR, an exclusive title for Rift and Touch, as the starting point.

Launching March 23rd, Rock Band VR is a big deal for Harmonix and Oculus, having announced the title as exclusive to the Rift back in 2015. Some may feel that the plastic instrument craze peaked before 2010, but Oculus believe that VR has the potential to reinvigorate the rhythm game genre, giving players a genuine sensation of being a rock star, playing to a crowd. Oculus’ confidence in their investment is probably best illustrated by the Rock Band VR connector that is included with every Touch controller package.

In a recent tweet, Jason Rubin points to the Oculus blog announcement of the Rock Band VR preorders going live, teasing that it represents the start of “months of high profile rollouts” for the Rift. Rubin’s optimism is likely to be fuelled by the progress of some of the big-hitters we already know to feature on the 2017 roadmap…

Arktica.1

This sci-fi first-person shooter is developed by 4A Games, the Ukrainian team behind the acclaimed Metro FPS series, renowned for its stunning, atmospheric presentation. Arktica.1 continues the studio’s production quality with extreme attention to detail and customisation options on its wide array of futuristic weapons, and is expected to feature a lengthy campaign. Further details are available in our full preview.

Lone Echo

American studio Ready At Dawn make a huge departure from their last title, The Order 1886, with this zero-gravity action game where you assume the role of an advanced artificial intelligence robot transported to an advanced mining facility within the rings of Saturn. It uses the Touch controllers to great effect, allowing smooth movement through space as you pull and push on objects and interact with equipment in interesting ways. While not much is known about the single-player story, the multiplayer sports mode is very promising, as we detail here.

Wilson’s Heart

In Wilson’s Heart you assume the role of hospital patient Robert Wilson, voice acted by RoboCop’s (1987) Peter Weller, who wakes up to discover that his heart has been replaced with ‘a mysterious device’. With its unique black-and-white style, the character driven story looks to be ripped straight from an episode of The Twilight Zone (1959-1964) or Night of the Living Dead (1968).

Wilson’s Heart is an intriguing psychological VR thriller which has you exploring your haunted surroundings, utilising Oculus Touch motion controls to interact with your environment, and it’s the implementation of those ‘virtual hands on’ elements (some of which you may can to catch in the above trailer) which we think may set the game apart.

Robo Recall

As a result of the hugely positive reaction to early Oculus Touch slo-mo combat demo Bullet Train, Epic Games were able to expand the concept into a full game, at the request of Oculus, who will provide Robo Recall for free to all Touch owners. The game features a comedic style, promoting the action-packed virtual smashing of robots in countless ways, using virtually anything you can grab with your Touch controllers. The use of Epic’s new forward render means this is one of the most spectacular games we’ve seen in VR. See our preview for more info.

When asked by Road to VR whether the high-profile rollouts included unannounced games, Rubin further hinted “Answering that would be an announcement of sorts”.

Additional reporting in this piece provided by Scott Hayden

The post Oculus Head of Content Teases ‘Months of High Profile VR content’ On the Way appeared first on Road to VR.

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Unreal Engine Releases Third Preview for 4.15

Last week Epic Games launched the first preview for Unreal Engine 4.15, bring with it support for the PlayStation Aim controller. Today the company has released its third preview for the upcoming build, adding a significant amount of fixes.

For 4.15’s preview three Epic hasn’t added any major features like it did in the first, simply fine tuning the build further, fixing issues users are coming across as they demo it. On the VREditor side of things only one problem has need to be fixed, to do with a “Laser not hidden on MotionControllers with docked Menu/UI Panels”.  So either that’s reassuring few issues have been found or not enough people are using it to find anything.

Epic Games logo

Two engines currently dominate the virtual reality (VR) industry in terms of development, Unreal Engine and Unity. Over the past year both have been making significant strides to improve VR support, namely adding editors that can work whilst using VR head-mounted displays (HMDs). While Unity Technologies purely work on developing its game engine, Epic also creates its own titles helping showcase what can be achieved with Unreal Engine.

One of these is Robo Recall, set to be released in early 2017. An evolution of earlier tech demo Bullet Train, Robo Recall will be a free exclusive for Oculus Touch owners. The studio released another dev diary yesterday, discussing the team updated the former to the latter.

Checkout the full changelog below for 4.15 Preview 3, and for any further updates from Epic Games keep reading VRFocus.

Fixed for Preview 3:

Fixed! UE-40753 [CrashReport] UE4Editor_LevelEditor!FLevelEditorActionCallbacks::Paste_CanExecute() [leveleditoractions.cpp:1602]
Fixed! UE-41130 User Defined Enums may lose their display names on upgrade to 4.15
Fixed! UE-41073 Crash when opening blueprint with collapsed nodes with structure output, split pin
Fixed! UE-41072 Implemented Interfaces are not added to nativization list
Fixed! UE-41070 Data only blueprints are not not nativized when flagged to do so
Fixed! UE-41071 Parent blueprint not added to nativization array if only child saved
Fixed! UE-41190 Ensure failure !bStaticCall nativizing blueprint calling blueprint function library function
Fixed! UE-37815 BulkData Async loading remains in memory
Fixed! UE-38767 [CrashReport] UE4Editor_Core!FArchive::SerializeCompressed() [archive.cpp:447]
Fixed! UE-41125 Static mesh LODs other than LOD0 cannot be set to screen sizes greater than 1
Fixed! UE-41220 Crash when adding multiple collision types to a mesh
Fixed! UE-40791 The Play button on the ForceFeedback effect icons is missing
Fixed! UE-41294 Reimporting skeletal mesh clears material references from material slots
Fixed! UE-41126 HISMC UpdateInstanceTransform blueprint function does not update bounds correctly
Fixed! UE-40525 CommitMapChange doesn’t fully deal with sub-levels
Fixed! UE-40939 Inconsistent line ending prompts occur in Visual Studio after adding Vehicle C++ feature pack
Fixed! UE-41163 Material curves keeps resetting to 0.f
Fixed! UE-41216 Additive Pose Asset arms become over exteneded when blended with reference pose
Fixed! UE-41082 Fix crash on cache bone with sub instance
Fixed! UE-40945 Crash trying to import facial animations
Fixed! UE-41143 Crash when launching engine without a windows audio device enabled.
Fixed! UE-41112 Crash when Dragging Skeletal Mesh with Apex Clothing into Level
Fixed! UE-37270 Changing transform of simulated component during physics freezes motion
Fixed! UE-39884 Foliage LODs are do not appear to use the base LODs lightmap any longer
Fixed! UE-40480 Ensure encountered when using the Copy/Paste sub-tool in sculpt mode
Fixed! UE-41271 Localization broken in cooked builds due to missing meta-data during cook
Fixed! UE-41253 Mobile / Use Full Precision not working on Metal
Fixed! UE-41023 Scene capture produces black texture on encoding devices with mobileHDR == false
Fixed! UE-39451 Web browser widget causes app to crash when packaging for Distribution on Android
Fixed! UE-40927 Projects crash on Android when trying to load mips
Fixed! UE-39911 Failed checkSlow(IsInGameThread()); in UWorld::GetWorldSettings
Fixed! UE-40524 Issues with PrepareMapChange/CommitMapChange and Level Collections
Fixed! UE-40810 Crash opening Infiltrator packaged on Windows for Linux
Fixed! UE-41198 Spinbox value decimal point is moved one place to the right when edited on Android
Fixed! UE-36984 TestPAL fails to compile
Fixed! UE-41146 Crash in editor when audio is playing
Fixed! UE-40451 Blueprint – User configured tvOS Bundle ID is not set properly during packaging
Fixed! UE-40392 GitHub 3111 : Fix environment variable name to the correct legacy LINUX_ROOT.
Fixed! UE-40023 UFE Deploying and launching a packaged build on Linux fails due to invalid directory
Fixed! UE-40761 Various audio clips are not playing in Elemental Demo on PS4
Fixed! UE-41209 PS4SharePlay errors are produced when launching onto PS4 with UnrealFrontEnd
Fixed! UE-41183 Crash Occurs when changing the ‘Max Metal Shader Standard To Target’ option within iOS Project Settings
Fixed! UE-38691 Launch On from Windows to Linux fails with missing GLSL_430 shaders
Fixed! UE-37016 GitHub 2842 : [Linux] Fix bootstrap script so it is independent on working dir
Fixed! UE-40956 Rare crash occurs in CoreAudio in Vehicle Game on Mac when quitting.
Fixed! UE-41042 GitHub 3160 : Fixed `ADB` being incorrectly set to `ANDROID_HOME`.
Fixed! UE-41079 NpToolkit2 fails to initialize in 6CPU mode on PS4
Fixed! UE-41167 Shader complexity is broken in the forward renderer
Fixed! UE-39754 Crash: Changing Material Property Overrides of Material Instance
Fixed! UE-40736 “Too many texture coordinate sets” warnings in KiteDemo
Fixed! UE-40873 Shadows of small movable components popping out
Fixed! UE-41193 Update material node tooltips based on 4.15 preview feedback.
Fixed! UE-40482 Ensure occurs when turning on Constraints in Advanced Show Flags
Fixed! UE-40980 Fix mem corruption on particles on PS4
Fixed! UE-40724 Large round stone in ZenGarden is no longer reflective
Fixed! UE-41138 Flickering in Elemental Demo when TemporalAA and bloom is enabled
Fixed! UE-41099 SpeedTree Material No Longer Compiles With Texture Coordinate Node In BaseColor
Fixed! UE-41008 LogApexClothingUtils Warning when opening QAGame
Fixed! UE-41311 Time snapping interval is not updating the timeline in UMG Sequencer
Fixed! UE-40682 Animations that overlap and blend together break when undoing
Fixed! UE-40758 Events on frame 0 fire twice
Fixed! UE-41019 Sequencer does not refresh on creating a new camera if Default Property Tracks is empty
Fixed! UE-41010 Fix up actors remove actor from sequencer folder.
Fixed! UE-41148 Logstreaming warning when opening the editor: “LogStreaming:Warning: Failed to read file ‘Common/RoundedSelection_16x.png’ error.”
Fixed! UE-40070 VREditor: Laser not hidden on MotionControllers with docked Menu/UI Panels

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Watch: Epic’s Robo Recall is Coming, New Developer Diary Charts its Evolution

This latest video developer diary from Epic gives a very brief, but insightful overview of how Oculus Touch and Rift tech demo Bullet Train became fully fledged release Robo Recall, and what the developers learned along the way.

Epic‘s Robo Recall is heading to Oculus Rift in Q1 of this year for free, but how did the title evolve from tech demo, Bullet Train, designed to show off Oculus’ long awaited Touch motion controllers to the wonderfully frantic arcade shooter we’ll play soon (Q1 2017 in fact)?

This new developer diary walks you through key lessons learned by the team. The evolution of the teleportation mechanic for example, which began life as a restrictive form of locomotion in Bullet Train but in Robo Recall allows a free choice of destination and orientation all with the minimum of input effort on behalf of the player. They also share an interesting tidbit about the rendering choices made for Robo Recall, specifically aiming for the sharpest, cleanest visuals possible by using a “simplified forward renderer” to apply MSAA (Multisample Anti-Aliasing).

Here’s a snippet from what Ben Lang had to say about his time with Robo Recall after he went hands on with it at last year’s Oculus Connect conference:

With Touch, guns are a natural gameplay mechanic, and Robo Recall is full of them. With Epic’s characteristically impressive design, the weapons you’ll wield in the game are satisfying from their look to their sound, right down to the way they blow enemies to pieces. Waves of killer robots will be on the receiving end of your firepower, but this isn’t the gritty serious action of Call of Duty, it’s an arcade slugfest where a high score underlines the action.

SEE ALSO
Watch: 12 Minutes of 'Robo Recall' Gameplay with Oculus Touch

We shouldn’t have long to wait until Robo Recall is finally with us, but to keep you sated until then, you can check out 12 minutes of gameplay from the title recorded Oculus Connect last year.

The post Watch: Epic’s Robo Recall is Coming, New Developer Diary Charts its Evolution appeared first on Road to VR.

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Epic Games Discusses Robo Recall’s Bullet Train Evolution in New Dev Diary

Due to arrive in early 2017, Epic Games’ first fully fledged virtual reality (VR) title Robo Recall debuted only a few months ago at Oculus Connect 3 (OC3). Exclusive to Oculus Touch, the first-person shooter builds on the lessons learnt from Bullet Train, a tech demo unveiled at OC2, and today the team discuss this evolution in a new dev diary.

In this latest video the studio looks at the development from the perspective of Unreal Engine 4, the in-house middleware that Epic Games has built. The company has made very specific improvements to the engine to assist VR developers using the engine, and this shows in the difference between Bullet Train and Robo Recall.

One change between the two is the visual fidelity. For Bullet Train the studio used temporal anti-aliasing to create a softer image, while in Robo Recall the team used a simplified forward render to ensure as greater clarity as possible.

This is the third video in the series with previous releases talking about the ‘arcade action feel‘ and the ‘narrative & backstory’. VRFocus has been following the progress of Robo Recall closely, previewing the experience and talking to the team about its development.

For any further Robo Recall updates, keep reading VRFocus.

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Epic’s New Robo Recall Dev Diary Details The Game’s Evolution From Bullet Train

Epic’s New Robo Recall Dev Diary Details The Game’s Evolution From Bullet Train

Robo Recall is easily one of the most exciting VR experience coming in 2017, but its roots actually trace back to a relatively simple tech demo from 2015.

Fans of the Rift will remember when developer Epic Games took to the stage of the Oculus Connect 2 keynote that year to announce a tech demo for the then-unreleased Oculus Touch controllers, called Bullet Train. The demo was a first glimpse into what Touch could do for VR shooters and served as the foundation for Epic’s first larger VR game, Robo Recall. In this new dev diary, the first in a new series, focuses on the upcoming game. We can see the developer talk in more detail about how the two are linked, something Nick Whiting, Technical Director at Epic Games, alluded to in our interview from October.

Members of the Epic team are on-hand here to discuss how Robo Recall builds upon what the studio learned in Bullet Train. Teleporting, for example, is no longer assigned to specific spots in a level, but instead allows you to move to any position, much like other modern VR shooters.

Most importantly, though, you’re getting lots of new footage of the game here. There’s no two ways about it; Robo Recall is looking gorgeous, no doubt thanks to the intimate knowledge the developer has with its popular development toolkit, Unreal Engine. In the game, you’re tasked with taking down hordes of malfunctioning robots and encouraged to get inventive with creative kills, not too dissimilar to Epic’s own Bulletstorm, only with a much more comic-book, cartoonish style. We cam away very impressed from our time with the game at OC3 last year.

Bullet Train, meanwhile, can now be downloaded on Rift for free. Epic will also release Robo Recall for free, exclusively on Oculus Rift with Touch, and it’s easy to see why: this is as good an advertisement you’ll see for the engine as you’ll see.

There isn’t much longer to go until Robo Recall hits; it’s due in Q1 2017 and we’re already a month through that window. Expect a few more entries in this diary series before it launches.

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Unreal Engine 4.15: Ab sofort mit PlayStation VR Aim Controller Support

Der neueste Schuss in Sachen VR-Technologie – Die seit November letzten Jahres verfügbare Version 4.14 der Unreal Engine aus dem Hause Epic Games bekommt ein Update. Nach einem verbesserten Landschafts-Editor für VR-Welten und erweitertem PlayStation VR-Support kommt mit dem Build 4.15 nun die lang ersehnte Unterstützung für den PSVR Aim Controller.

Unreal Engine Version 4.15 im Überblick

Bereits auf der E3 2016 konnten sich Shooter-Spieler und solche, die sich einen waffenähnlichen Controller für andere Spiele wünschten, über die Ankündigung des PlayStation VR Aim Controllers freuen. In Kombination mit dem exklusiven First-Person-Knaller Farpoint wollte sich Sony den Weg in die Herzen der Shooter-Fans entwickeln. Stellt sich nur die Frage: Wann kommt das schicke Ding auf den Markt? Gerüchte grenzen das Release-Datum des PSVR Aim Controllers zumindest schon einmal auf dieses Jahr ein.

Dank des neuen Aim Controller Plugins, das Epic Games nun offiziell ankündigte, soll nun auch das futuristisch anmutende Eingaberät mit der Clownsnase Support für die beliebte Engine erhalten. Um den Controller zu aktivieren, müssen Nutzer der Unreal Engine 4, momentan ausschließlich Entwickler, lediglich in den Einstellungen für ihren Motion-Controller von „Hand“ auf „Waffe“ bzw „Gun“ wechseln. Vor allem das neue Sony Interactive Headset (SIE) soll in Verbindung mit dem Drücker einen Aufschwung erleben.

Darüber hinaus beinhaltet das Update für die Engine das experimentelle Monoscopic Far Field Rendering, das die Performance vor allem in Spielen oder Anwendungen, die über viele weit entfernte Objekte verfügen, deutlich verbessern soll. Ab sofort steht die brandneue Technologie zum Testen bereit. Wer sie aktivieren möchte, kann dies über die Reiter Projekteinstellungen und Rendering tun. Die Mobil-Settings müssen zusätzlich dazu ausgeschaltet werden, genau wie die Multi-View Assets.

Schließlich bringt Build 4.15 der Unreal Engine einige Menü-Updates für den VR-Editor, die den Entwicklern das Leben etwas leichter machen sollen. Epic Games betonte des Weiteren, dass man die verbesserte Software lediglich zu Testzwecken und nicht in Projekten verwenden soll, die bereits in der Entwicklung sind.

(Quelle: VR Focus)

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