NewProjectTemplate

A template for new projects in Unreal Engine 5.

Installation

Project Installation

1. Download the project
   • Downloads in the releases page are polished, final releases
   • Download the repository as a .7z or clone it for the most up to date version, but it may have bugs
2. Extract the .7z/.zip file
3. Copy the files to wherever you keep your Unreal Engine projects
4. Open Unreal Engine 5.0.2 and open the project
5. Done

Pre-compiled Shaders Installation

1. Download the pre-compiled shaders from the latest release (pre-compiled shaders will only be updated with new releases)
2. Copy/Move the Common folder and place it in C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\UnrealEngine

Plugins

If any of these plugins are not present, you will be prompted to disable them at launch. You may need to recompile shaders if you choose to do this.

You may be prompted to recompile some plugins, this is required for the editor to start. This only needs to be done once.

• NVIDIA DLSS/IS
  • Real time, AI powered image upscaling
  • Can be downloaded from https://developer.nvidia.com/rtx/ray-tracing/dlss/get-started#ue-version
  • Install to Engine\Plugins\Marketplace
• GraphPrinter
  • Makes it much easier to share graphs with other users
  • Credit to https://github.com/Naotsun19B/GraphPrinter
  • Comes pre-installed
• HLSL Material
  • Allows you to write materials in HLSL directly in the editor
  • Credit to https://github.com/Phyronnaz/HLSLMaterial
  • Comes pre-installed

Updating existing projects

If you have a project that already uses this template, but you'd like to update it with new master materials and such,

1. Download the new version
2. Go into the Content folder and copy whatever you'd like to update.
3. Replace the old files with the new ones.

The shaders will need to recompile (~250 shaders), but once that's done, everything should just work.

Materials

Material Layer Assets

All base Material Layer assets can be located in Game/Materials/_Layers.

• MasterBlends/Normal/blend-mask

  • Uses a mask to blend between layers

• MasterBlends/Normal/blend-procedural

  • Uses perlin noise, lerps and height maps to blend between layers

• MasterLayers/Normal/surface

  • This layer asset should be used for regular surfaces
  • It supports Albedo, Metallic, Specular, Roughness, Emissive, Normal, AO, POM, and various tiling methods

• MasterLayers/Normal/surface_additive

  • This layer asset should be used for things that are added to the scene (such as fire, steam, holograms, etc.)
  • It supports Albedo, Metallic, Specular, Roughness, Emissive, Normal, AO, POM, and various tiling methods
  • Uses additive blend mode

• MasterLayers/Normal/surface_masked

  • This layer asset should be used for things that are either transparent or opaque (such as fences, chains, grates, etc.)
  • It supports Albedo, Metallic, Specular, Roughness, Emissive, Normal, AO, POM, Opacity and various tiling methods
  • Uses masked blend mode

• MasterLayers/Normal/surface_subsurface

  • This material should be used for opaque materials where light bounces inside of them (such as wax, jade, skin, etc.)
  • It supports Albedo, Metallic, Specular, Roughness, Emissive, Normal, AO, POM, Subsurface Amount, Subsurface Color and various tiling methods

• MasterLayers/Normal/surface_translucent

  • This layer asset should be used for things that are partially transparent (such as glass panes, bottles, water, etc.)
  • It supports Albedo, Metallic, Specular, Roughness, Emissive, Normal, AO, POM, Opacity and various tiling methods
  • Uses translucent blend mode

• MasterBlends/VT/VT_blend-mask

  • Uses a mask to blend between layers
  • Uses virtual textures

• MasterBlends/VT/VT_blend-procedural

  • Uses perlin noise, lerps and height maps to blend between layers
  • Uses virtual textures

• MasterLayers/VT/VT_surface

  • This layer asset should be used for regular surfaces
  • It supports Albedo, Metallic, Specular, Roughness, Emissive, Normal, AO, POM, and various tiling methods
  • Uses virtual textures

• MasterLayers/VT/VT_surface_additive

  • This layer asset should be used for things that are added to the scene (such as fire, steam, holograms, etc.)
  • It supports Albedo, Metallic, Specular, Roughness, Emissive, Normal, AO, POM, and various tiling methods
  • Uses additive blend mode
  • Uses virtual textures

• MasterLayers/VT/VT_surface_masked

  • This layer asset should be used for things that are either transparent or opaque (such as fences, chains, grates, etc.)
  • It supports Albedo, Metallic, Specular, Roughness, Emissive, Normal, AO, POM, Opacity and various tiling methods
  • Uses masked blend mode
  • Uses virtual textures

• MasterLayers/VT/VT_surface_subsurface

  • This material should be used for opaque materials where light bounces inside of them (such as wax, jade, skin, etc.)
  • It supports Albedo, Metallic, Specular, Roughness, Emissive, Normal, AO, POM, Subsurface Amount, Subsurface Color and various tiling methods
  • Uses virtual textures

• MasterLayers/VT/VT_surface_translucent

  • This layer asset should be used for things that are partially transparent (such as glass panes, bottles, water, etc.)
  • It supports Albedo, Metallic, Specular, Roughness, Emissive, Normal, AO, POM, Opacity and various tiling methods
  • Uses translucent blend mode
  • Uses virtual textures

Master Materials

Master Materials can be located in Game/Materials/_MasterMaterials.

• Normal/surface_material

  • This material be used for regular surfaces
  • It supports Albedo, Metallic, Specular, Roughness, Emissive, Normal, AO, POM, and various tiling methods

• Normal/surface_material_additive

  • This material asset should be used for things that are added to the scene (such as fire, steam, holograms, etc.)
  • It supports Albedo, Metallic, Specular, Roughness, Emissive, Normal, AO, POM, and various tiling methods
  • Uses additive blend mode

• Normal/surface_material_masked

  • This material should be used for things that are either transparent or opaque (such as fences, chains, grates, etc.)
  • It supports Albedo, Metallic, Specular, Roughness, Emissive, Normal, AO, POM, Opacity and various tiling methods
  • Uses masked blend mode

• Normal/surface_material_subsurface

  • This material should be used for opaque materials where light bounces inside of them (such as wax, jade, skin, etc.)
  • It supports Albedo, Metallic, Specular, Roughness, Emissive, Normal, AO, POM, Subsurface Amount, Subsurface Color and various tiling methods

• Normal/surface_material_translucent

  • This material should be used for things that are partially transparent (such as glass panes, bottles, water, etc.)
  • It supports Albedo, Metallic, Specular, Roughness, Emissive, Normal, AO, POM, Opacity and various tiling methods
  • Uses translucent blend mode

• Normal/decal_material

  • This material should be used for regular decals
  • It supports Albedo, Metallic, Specular, Roughness, Emissive, Normal, Opacity, POM and various tiling methods

• Normal/decal_material_modulating

  • This material should be used for decals that are added to the scene, but need shadowing (such as screws, cable ports, braille, etc.)
  • It supports Albedo, Metallic, Specular, Roughness, Emissive, Normal, Opacity, POM and various tiling methods
  • Uses modulate blend mode

• Normal/decal_material_stain

  • This material should be used for decals that are stains (such as puddles, dirt, blood, etc.)
  • It supports Albedo, Metallic, Specular, Roughness, Emissive, Normal, Opacity, POM and various tiling methods

• VT/VT_surface_material

  • This material should be used for regular surfaces
  • It supports Albedo, Metallic, Specular, Roughness, Emissive, Normal, AO, POM, and various tiling methods
  • Uses virtual textures

• VT/VT_surface_material_additive

  • This material should be used for things that are added to the scene (such as fire, steam, holograms, etc.)
  • It supports Albedo, Metallic, Specular, Roughness, Emissive, Normal, AO, POM, and various tiling methods
  • Uses additive blend mode
  • Uses virtual textures

• VT/VT_surface_material_masked

  • This material should be used for things that are either transparent or opaque (such as fences, chains, grates, etc.)
  • It supports Albedo, Metallic, Specular, Roughness, Emissive, Normal, AO, POM, Opacity and various tiling methods
  • Uses masked blend mode
  • Uses virtual textures

• VT/VT_surface_material_subsurface

  • This material should be used for opaque materials where light bounces inside of them (such as wax, jade, skin, etc.)
  • It supports Albedo, Metallic, Specular, Roughness, Emissive, Normal, AO, POM, Subsurface Amount, Subsurface Color and various tiling methods
  • Uses virtual textures

• VT/VT_surface_material_translucent

  • This material should be used for things that are partially transparent (such as glass panes, bottles, water, etc.)
  • It supports Albedo, Metallic, Specular, Roughness, Emissive, Normal, AO, POM, Opacity and various tiling methods
  • Uses translucent blend mode
  • Uses virtual textures

• VT/VT_decal_material

  • This material should be used for regular decals
  • It supports Albedo, Metallic, Specular, Roughness, Emissive, Normal, Opacity, POM and various tiling methods
  • Uses virtual textures

• VT/VT_decal_material_modulating

  • This material should be used for decals that are added to the scene, but need shadowing (such as screws, cable ports, braille, etc.)
  • It supports Albedo, Metallic, Specular, Roughness, Emissive, Normal, Opacity, POM and various tiling methods
  • Uses modulate blend mode
  • Uses virtual textures

• VT/VT_decal_material_stain

  • This material should be used for decals that are stains (such as puddles, dirt, blood, etc.)
  • It supports Albedo, Metallic, Specular, Roughness, Emissive, Normal, Opacity, POM and various tiling methods
  • Uses virtual textures

Example Material Instances

Example Material Instances can be located in Game/Materials/ExampleMaterials.

• DayOff-NightOn_LightFunction
  • Shows an example of a light function taking advantage of the project's Day/Night time cycle
• layer_example
  • Shows an example of material layers being used

Material Functions

Material Functions can be located in Game/Materials/Functions.

• ApplyUVsLayers

  • Applies UVs to layered materials

• BreakNormalFromHeight

  • This reverses the effect of the StoreHeightInNormal function

• MapAdjustments

  • Adds configuration options
  • Used in all materials

• Opacity

  • Fix for surface_material_masked and VT_surface_material_masked

• POM

  • Adds Parallax Occlusion Mapping
  • Used in all master materials

• StoreHeightInNormal

  • Appends the height map to the normal map.

• T2DtoFloat

  • Converts a texture object to a float

• UVs

  • UV solution

• Wind

  • Adds options for Wind
  • Used in blend_material_2 and blend_material_3

• WorldAlignedTexture

  • Function used for perfect scaling
  • Slightly modified version of Engine\Content\Functions\Engine_MaterialFunctions01\Texturing\WorldAlignedTexture

• OldUVs folder

  • Filled with an old UV solution
  • Deprecated, use UVs function instead

• Rain\oldRain

  • Rain solution
  • Deprecated, use Rain\Rain function instead

• Rain\oldRain folder

  • Filled with functions and textures used in the oldRain function
  • Deprecated, use Rain\Rain function instead

• Rain\Rain

  • Rain solution

• Rain\SubFunctions folder

  • Functions used in the Rain\Rain function

• Rain\Textures folder

  • Textures used in the Rain\Rain function

Parameter Collections

Material Parameter Collections can be located in Game/Materials/ParameterCollections.

• SunMoon_Rotations
  • Contains rotation values for the Sun and Moon
  • Used in DayOff-NightOn_LightFunction
• GlobalRainValues
  • Contains values used in rain functions

Textures

Textures can be located in Game/Materials/Textures.

• DirtMask folder
  • Contains Lens Dirt textures
• LensFlares
  • Contains a bunch of lens flares that you might want to use
• Moon folder
  • Contains Moon texture
• Placeholders folder
  • Contains placeholder textures
  • Used in all materials

Post Process Materials

Post Process Materials can be located in Game/Materials/PostProcess

• Fisheye
  • Basic fisheye effect
  • Used in Game/Player/Blueprints/PlayerCharacter.uasset whilst in Third Person

UI Materials

UI Materials can be located in Game/Materials/UI

• FisheyeUI
  • Same basic fisheye effect as in Game/Player/Materials/Fisheye.uasset but converted to work with UIs
  • Used in Game/Player/UI/Physics_WidgetHUD.uasset

Blueprints

Blueprints can be located in Game/Blueprints.

DayNightCycle folder

• DayNightManager
  • Gives other assets vital information about the Day/Night cycle
• Moon
  • Fake Moon

Spline_Movement folder

• Spline_Movement_Template
  • Actor to be moved along the spline defined in Spline_Movement_Track
• Spline_Movement_Track
  • Defines the track that Spline_Movement_Template will move along

WeatherSystem folder

• WeatherManager
  • Controls weather across various assets

Example folder

• DayNightLight1
  • Light that turns on at night, and off during the day
  • Light contains various performance optimizations
• DayNightLight2
  • Same as DayNightLight1 except with 2 lights

Level

Levels can be located in the main Game directory.

• Empty
  • As the name suggests, this level is empty
• Level
  • This is the main level
• MainMenu
  • This is the level featured in the main menu. It's the one with the sky

World Partition Grids

• Landscape
  • Used for landscapes and buildings
• Actors
  • Used for large actors (such as streetlamps, shipping containers, etc)
• SmallActors
  • Used for small actors (such as trashbags, rubbish decals, etc)

Day/Night cycle system

The day/night cycle is controlled via the level blueprint and DayNightManger.

The level blueprint is what actually rotates the directional lights, DayNightManager tells other actors whether it is day or night. (This is useful for example with streetlamps. By accessing the Boolean in DayNightManager, the streetlamp can be turned on and off depending on whether it is day or night).

Examples of Day/Night cycle system

An example of such a streetlight is provided in Game/Blueprints/Examples/DayNightLight.uasset. (When placing this blueprint, make sure to select the DayNightManager from the details panel)

Another example of the Day/Night cycle system in use is the DayOff-NightOn_LightFunction file found in Game/Materials/ExampleMaterials.

Particles

Particles can be located in Game/Content/Particles.

Player

Player controls

• Mouse Movement - Look Around
• WASD - Movement
• V - Change Camera
• Left Click whilst looking at actor with Physics - Picks up actor
• Right Click whilst looking at actor with Physics - Pokes actor
• Left Click whilst holding an actor with Physics - Drops actor
• Right Click whilst holding an actor with Physics - Throws actor
• Esc - Pause
• P - Pause

UI

The HUD that the player sees can be configured by opening Game/Player/UI/PhysicsUI.uasset.

The HUD uses the Inverted Fisheye effect, so if you want to disable that, just click on the retainer box and set the effect material to nothing.

Additional things can be configured by opening Game/Player/UI/UI.uasset.

Menus

The menus can be found in Game/Player/UI/MainMenu, Game/Player/UI/PauseMenu, and Game/Player/UI/LoadingScreen respectively.

All of the code inside the menus is extremely simple, and should not require explaining.

There is also Game/Player/UI/SettingsMenu, the code inside this blueprint is somewhat complex. Luckily, you shouldn't need to edit it. You should only need to edit the design of the menu.

Cinematics

In order to get up and running with rendering cinematics, make sure to

1. Download ffmpeg
2. Go to Project Settings > Plugins > Movie Pipeline CLI Encoder and set "Executable Path" to bin\ffmpeg.exe in the .zip you download in the prior step
3. If you have a GPU that isn't capable of using NVENC, replace "Video Codec" with "libx264"

When ready to actually render the cinematics, load the preset "MovieRenderQueueSettings" located in Game/Cinematics.

If you're unsure how to use the Movie Render Queue feature, please read the official documentation.