Epic Games has released the Unreal Engine 5.6 preview for developers, now available for download via the Epic Games Launcher and GitHub. This update brings several major improvements, with one of the standout features being the ability to “create vast, high-fidelity open worlds while maintaining consistent 60Hz frame rates.” To help achieve this, UE5.6 introduces new device profiles based on Fortnite's optimized settings.

Streaming performance has also been improved, with smoother content streaming in and out of the world. This should help significantly reduce the stuttering issues often seen in UE-powered games. Additionally, Lumen-based hardware ray tracing (HWRT), used in titles like The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered, has been optimized to be a little less heavy on CPU resources.

Biggest update yet to the animation authoring toolset

Unreal Engine 5.6 also brings the biggest update yet to its animation authoring tools, with a focus on improving the animation workflow for developers. While full details haven't been shared, creator Proj Prod highlights a revamped UI that makes key tools more accessible, a redesigned Viewport toolbar layout, the new Content Browser 2.0, and more.

The MetaHuman Creator is now fully integrated within the engine, with new features for blending and sculpting MetaHuman bodies, enhanced visual fidelity, and real-time workflows for the MetaHuman Animator. There's plenty more in this preview, like the parallelization of the Renderer Hardware Interface (RHI) API, optimizations for virtual shadow maps, GPU Profiler 2.0, and improved PCG GPU Compute performance.

5.6 brings:

• Vast, high-fidelity open worlds with maximum performance, and consistent 60hz frame rates.
• The biggest and most powerful update yet to the animation authoring toolset.
• MetaHuman Creator is now available in-engine including blending and sculpting of MetaHuman bodies plus improved visual fidelity and new realtime workflows for MetaHuman Animator.
• Faster creation with Content browser 2.0 and the new Viewport toolbar layout.
• The ability to build expansive, high-fidelity worlds faster than ever with powerful procedural workflows

Source: UE5.6 annoucement

As a preview release, UE5.6 is still in active development and may be unstable, so don’t forget to create a backup beforehand if you plan to test an existing project. If you want to learn more about the new features, Unreal Fest Orlando is coming up on June 3, where we can expect Epic to delve even deeper during the State of Unreal keynote.

That said, the fundamental issue of Unreal Engine, as pointed out by Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney, its reliance on single-threading, is something that will change with UE6, which is still two to three years out from a preview.

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Hassam Nasir

Hassam boasts over seven years of professional experience as a dedicated PC hardware reviewer and writer.