5 Best Tips For Programming In Unreal Engine C++

C++ Unreal Engine 4, or UE4, is one of the most popular tools used to create games. It is used by editors and designers all around the world. The Unreal Engine 4 comes with two main methods, C++ and Blueprint Visual Scripting. The Blueprint Visual Scripting is set up using a node-based interface.

Are you a person who has been programming for an extended period of time and likes to continue with C++ code? This blog post will discuss the 5 best tips to speed up your development process. Make sure to read the blog post until the end, so you don’t miss anything worthwhile.

Let’s start by having an idea about Unreal Engine C++.

unreal engine c++

So what exactly is Unreal Engine C++?

It’s better to have an idea of Unreal Engine C++ before getting into the tips.

The Unreal engine C++ is a software with many different templates and sample projects that provide you with a complete set of tools to develop games. It is used for various purposes like Architectural and automotive visualization, broadcasting live events, television content and linear film creation, and simulation of other real-time applications.

In general, developers use the Unreal engine to develop pieces of code, while designers use these blocks to build awesome games.

5 Unreal Engine Productivity Tips

Moving on, here are the five productivity tips to increase your performance in unreal engine C++.

  1. Viewport Navigation
  2. Monitor your FPS
  3. Keyboard Shortcuts
  4. Locating content in your content browser
  5. Using Macros.

Let’s now have a complete idea of each of the productivity tips.

1. Viewport Navigation

Have you ever heard of the WASD game controls in the unreal engine?

If you know that’s good. However, you won’t know this if you are someone who is coming from a DCC (Digital Content Creation tool).

Using WASD game controls you have complete control of your alt navigation, where you’ll find your pan moving backwards, without moving the way you expect. However, you will find the camera moving in the same direction you expect.

But don’t worry you can use the settings options to adjust these WASD game controls according to your preferences. This is where Viewport Navigation comes in.

Click the edit button in the top left corner. Go to edited and click on preferences. Now scroll down until you find the Viewport Navigation option. Now just tick the box with the ‘inverted middle mouse pan.’ Moreover, check the ‘orbit around selection’ too.

And if you want to speed up the game, you can also tick the ‘Use Distance Scale’ option. This function will allow you to look through a lot of scenes with a number of large options. This feature can be really helpful if you are someone who is looking to increase development speed.

2. Monitor your FPS

Monitoring your FPS is the second productivity tip for Unreal Engine C++. Now, there are a lot of ways commands that you can use to monitor your FPS in C++.

  1. Here’s how to monitor your FPS using the Settings option,
  2. Go to settings
  3. Click on Edit and select editor preferences.
  4. Now go to a performance.
  5. You will find an option called ‘show frame rate’.

Once you click on that option you will be able to see your memory usage and FPS on the right side of your computer screen.

If you need to lower your memory usage,

  1. Go to edit
  2. Click on edit preferences
  3. Tick off the button name ‘use less CPU while in the background.’

This option allows users to maintain a good speed and use less CPU power during a performance. It’s also better if you can use this option when you are swapping between multiple applications.

Tip: You will be able to maximize your performance immediately.

3. Keyboard Shortcuts

The keyboard shortcuts come in handy when you need to create an asset like a blueprint and duplicate it.

The default shortcut for this is Ctrl + W. However, this isn’t a familiar shortcut for most of you.

If you don’t want to use this shortcut, you have the complete freedom to change it to another shortcut.

To change your shortcut from Ctrl + W to your preference,

  1. Go to edit and select edit preferences.
  2. Find the button named ‘keyboard shortcuts.
  3. Just search for the shortcut you are looking for.
  4. In this scenario, we are looking for a shortcut with ‘duplicate content. Once you find the shortcut, just change it from Ctrl + W to the shortcut of your choice.

Cool, now you also have an idea of how to customize your keyboard shortcuts. This will really help if you are a shortcut lover like myself.

4. Looking for content in your content browser

If you open a blank project, the only thing you can see is a content browser without anything in it. However, the content browser is not really blank. It contains a number of floor and default materials in it.

Do you also have the question, where do these assets live?

Well, finding the location of these assets is pretty simple.

Steps to find the location of assets,

  • Just open the Treeview in your content browser.
  • Now scroll down until you find the view options.
  • And then, enable the option by clicking ‘show engine content’ and ‘show plug-in content.’

Now you have complete access to the content of the inbuilt unreal engine.

5. Using Macros

The function of macros is to convert lengthy code into shortcodes. While developing, if you feel like you’re using a lot of branch checks or the same logic repeatedly, you can use macros to convert your code into a single macro.

In order to convert logically repeated code into a macro, just select all the logically repeated code and right-click on ‘Turn into Macro.’

Macros will be really helpful for you if you are someone who is continuously working on larger projects. This can help you to avoid duplicated content. Moreover, it’s best practice for having clean code and to avoid stress when completing runtime overheads.

Factors you should consider when using Unreal Engine C++

It is important for you to learn more about object-oriented programming concepts and C++ frameworks like Actor, Gmestae, Pwan, PlayeState, and game modes to get into game development. Once you have a good foundation with all these skills, you will be able to become a good game developer.

Moreover, when practicing game development, do not follow game tutorials on youtube without knowing what you are doing. Just start from one game element, master it and move on to another element. This is how you should learn game development.

The Unreal Engine comes with large documentation to help developers. However, most developers are still having problems with the process that affects their performance.

Are you also one of the above-mentioned developers who still gets stuck when writing code? If so, try using the Visual Assistant extension, which is built to increase the performance of your C++ code. It’s perfect for your projects, and it also comes with tailors support and unique features.

Moreover, the Visual Assistant Extension can help you in all processes like tailored navigation, code generation, refactoring, and more.

The most interesting part about it is It also comes with a 30-day trial which you can use all its features, to see fit suits you.

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