Epic Games has released Unreal Engine 5.1. In particular, this new version brings efficiencies to the game engine, allowing components such as the Lumen lighting system and the Nanite geometry system to support 60 frames per second on consoles and PC.
developer shared in August What improvements will Unreal Engine 5.1 have? says now That the updated game engine is available to developers. Epic says it has made the game engine “more powerful, efficient, and versatile” and says the engine can also be used in more sectors than before.
The company says it has improved Lumen, Nanite, and Virtual Shadows mapping so that games using these systems can now run at 60 frames per second on current consoles and high-performance PCs. Epic has also expanded Nanite with Programmable blobs And the Opacity Masksallowing developers to use nanites to create plants with leaves that blow in the wind, for example.
Unreal Engine 5.1 also enables developers to more easily implement DirectX 12 in games, create larger, open game worlds more easily, and create larger bodies of water such as rivers and lakes while requiring less computer memory. AI tools such as MassEntity, Smart Objects, and State Tree have now been moved out of beta, though MassEntity remains in beta. The engine also provides optimizations for live events and broadcast recordings.
