By juegoadmin | Unreal Game Development | October 28th, 2022

Unreal Engine 4 vs. Unreal Engine 5: Differences Based on Various Factors

The much-awaited Alpha release in April of Unreal Engine 5 brought fundamental changes to the game development community.

Almost every Unreal Engine game development company has switched from Unreal Engine 4 to the latest innovation. But if you’re curious to uncover the reasons behind that, you must continue reading this article.

Suppose you’re a novice or just a beginner in the game development arena. In that case, you’ll be impressed by the numerous choices you get to kick off your development journey: Unreal Engine 4, 5, CryEngine, Unity, and more.

Today, you’ll learn why Unreal Engine 5 is the best and what makes it different and unique from Unreal Engine 4. So, explore how it benefits people who enter the engaging media scenario.

Do You Want A Comprehensive Look Into How We Execute Our Game Development Projects?
Download Our Case Studies
×

API

There won’t be any issues if you shift the architecture or software you’ve created in Unreal Engine 4 to Unreal Engine 5. Version 5.0 can be upgraded to provide compatibility for Unreal Engine 4.25 and 4.26 APIs. In other words, it’d be incorrect to anticipate any significant API modifications.

Programs created in Unreal Engine 4 can be carried over to Unreal Engine 5. Since the Graphical Interface and Architecture systems are the same, there won’t be any issues in the foreseeable. And yet! A game created in Unreal Engine 5 cannot be transferred to Unreal Engine 4.

For instance, since UE4 does not enable Lumen and Nanite technologies, you can experience significant issues in your game. Epic Games has yet to offer a clear response on the subject.

Lighting

Have you seen the lighting effects and inclusion in Unreal Engine 4 and Unity? Isn’t it obvious that the lighting solutions like Nanite and Lumen are more powerful and simple than them? Gone are the days when baking lighting used to be an option.

With the advent of Unreal Engine 5, lighting has become more dynamic and real-time. You’ll find a somewhat similar feature in the Unreal Engine 4 referred to as Raytracing. But there’s one problem. You can only integrate it if you have a strong and robust processor and graphics card.

Dazzling places are now open to almost anyone thanks to Lumen, which dynamically adjusts all lighting on a real-time basis and is designed to function without expensive gear. For instance, ray tracing in UE4 necessitates a minimum of a 6GB 2060 GPU, and outcomes are typically far from satisfactory.

Additionally, establishing ray tracing necessitates a great deal of work; altering project settings, illumination knowledge, and manually placing illumination in a scene are just a few steps in putting up convincing illumination, rendering RayTracing in UE4 unusable for gaming due to the extensive CPU expense.

If you take the minimum of the 2018 GeForce 20 range, then that’s all it takes for the Lumen in Unreal Engine 5 to work and display at full high resolution. It implies that teenagers to adults, anyone having a new desktop for the previous four years could leverage the benefits of UE5’s RayTracing and realistic, real-time, and full-detailed lighting.

Unreal Engine 5 Vs. Unreal Engine 4: User Interface And User Experience

It’s quite known to all Unreal Engine users that there has been a recent update in the system. Yes, yes! The Unreal Engine 4’s last user interface was all working and effective.

However, there was one thing for sure! The UI started to give more of a “vintage” vibe. It’s safe to say that the fact it hadn’t got any updates since 2012 had something to do with it.

No matter if a decade passed without any updates, the introduction of Unreal Engine 5 turned out to be a true savior. This latest editor is undoubtedly more sleek, stylish, and smart along with simple-to-use Features and Functions.

What makes the UE5 user interface even more appealing is its newly launched ‘Create tab’ feature, an enhanced streamline launcher, and additional support for plugins.

Another icing on the cake is UE5’s enhanced content browser system. Given all that, it’s fortunate that Unreal Engine 5 is compatible with Unreal Engine 4.

It is highly beneficial as you can import all the projects or tasks you’ve done on the UE4 to the UE5 system and start working on them.

Unreal Engine 5 Vs. Unreal Engine 4: Performance

Unreal Engine 4 is currently in the lead and in fine condition regarding performance.

And while Unreal Engine 5 continues to be in progress, its excessive richness because of the lumen and nanite technologies can induce performance degradation. For this reason, it could be essential to have adequate system specifications.

Unreal Engine 5 Vs. Unreal Engine 4: Modeling Tools

The most recent update of the Unreal Engine has introduced some really interesting tools to the audience. Thanks to the iteration, you’re now entitled to tools like UV unwrap, sculpting, and modeling tools. Things get indeed troublesome when you’ve to use actual 3D software.

To avoid such hassle, try not to model a whole scenario from the very beginning in your engine. But there’s nothing to get upset about. Thanks to the Modeling Mode of UE5, you can enjoy swift customization and distortion over a wide range of tools and transducers.

Let’s take an example of the lattice tool. It lets you modify any elements rapidly, alleviating the necessity to perform numerous little adjustments within the Blender or Maya. This functions better when integrated with Quixel Megascans. The reason is simple.

It turns assets unique within a couple of seconds. Apart from modeling, some other wonderful modes available on UE5 include Animation, Mesh Paint, Foliage, and Landscape mode.

Take a Look at How We Find Solutions to Overcome Interesting Game Development Challenges.
Download Our Case Studies
×

Conclusion: What Are The Major Differences?

Unreal Engine 5’s installation file is more extensive than Unreal Engine 4’s. The resemblance percentage is roughly 90%, to put it simply.

The only two technologies that differ significantly are Lumen and Nanite. You ought to select UE5 if N/L technology gets significant for you in the future. Unreal Engine 4 can be utilized if you aren’t planning to create a game with high-quality and intricate graphics.

No matter if you need to create a game using Unreal Engine 4 or 5, the best game developers in the industry can easily guide you with the ideal choice and take care of the rest. One such excellent Unreal Engine game development company is Juego Studios.

This excellent, game development company assists several clients and individuals with the best-in-class development of Unreal games. So, decide which Unreal Engine is best for your game development needs and go for it accordingly.

Request A Quote
Request A Quote