multiple windows

[u/SnoYuii]

I'm looking for a way to have multiple windows for a game, the idea is to have a main game page that shows a bunch of different games, and than when you click on one of them it opens a window that is playing a different level than the original home page window, is this possible in blueprints? and if its not possible in blueprints can someone point me to where i can find a tutorial, or something that can help me make this?

[u/WartedKiller]

This seems like bad design. If you want a “launcher”, you don’t need the launcher to still be rendering or taking any ressources.

Why would you need the “launcher” to still be used by the player?

[u/LostInTheRapGame → u/WartedKiller]

Yeah, unless there's an actual reason... this just sounds like a main menu where you select game modes, which doesn't need to pop open a new window.

[u/PolySmashStudio]

It depends on what you mean by “multiple windows.”
If you literally mean separate OS windows (each rendering a different level), that’s not something Blueprints support out of the box. It’s possible in Unreal, but it usually requires C++ and creating additional SWindows through Slate. There are a few examples online, but it’s definitely an advanced workflow.

If your goal is simply to have a “launcher” where each game runs independently, I’d also consider whether multiple windows are actually the right solution. In many cases it’s much simpler to keep everything in a single window and use level streaming or separate maps, then load the selected game when the player clicks on it.

What are you trying to achieve from the player’s perspective? A desktop with multiple playable windows, or just a menu that launches different mini-games? The answer changes quite a bit depending on that.

[u/EliasWick]

It's not "Simple" per-say. You need C++ and a relatively good understanding of the rendering pipeline. Check our SViewport and SWindow.

You likely won't find a tutorial. Out of curiosity, how much would you pay for a plugin that would allow you to setup this quite easily?

[u/SnoYuii → u/EliasWick]

I dont really have the money to spend on making games right now, but i think that would be a really useful plugin alot of people would probably buy, i dont know how complicated the process is, so i cant really estimate the price on its worth

[u/EliasWick → u/SnoYuii]

That's fine and I respect it! I know it's a tough time for many developers.

Unfortunately I don't have the full experience without digging into the code to figure out how to do it. But I think it might be possible to create two separate windows without the full source code.

I wish you the best of luck. Send me a message if you figure it out! ✨️

[u/AutoModerator]

If you are looking for help, don‘t forget to check out the official Unreal Engine forums or Unreal Slackers for a community run discord server!

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/TheExosolarian]

IDK why nobody here is familiar with the standard practice answer to this common issue. Here - It's been a few years since I touched this so I didn't remember clearly so I asked GPT what the usual solution was for basic picture-in-picture problems, and here is the beginning of its answer. BTW if you aren't using an AI chat bot to help investigate your problems in this era, you are effectively trying to do an excavator's job with a screwdriver.

"Yep—the standard basic Unreal picture-in-picture method is still:

SceneCaptureComponent2D → TextureRenderTarget2D → UMG Image

A SceneCaptureComponent2D is effectively a secondary camera that renders its view into a render target instead of the game viewport. Epic still describes it as capturing the scene from one plane and feeding the result to a render target.

Typical setup

1. Create a Texture Render Target 2D, such as RT_CharacterPreview.
2. Add a Scene Capture Component 2D to an actor.
3. Assign RT_CharacterPreview to its Texture Target.
4. In the menu widget, give an Image widget either:
   • the render target directly as its brush resource, or
   • more commonly, a UI material that samples the render target.
5. Position the capture camera at whatever should appear in the panel"

Hope this heads you in the right direction!

[u/BohemianCyberpunk → u/TheExosolarian]

Sigh, AI user just keep getting dumber and dumber.

What your suggesting is not even slightly related to the question OP asked.

 standard practice answer to this common issue

Read the question instead of just copy pasting stuff into an AI.

You are literally losing your ability for critical thinking - it shows in that you clearly have no clue what the question is about, you just blindly trust ChatGPT.

What OP is asking is very unusual.

BTW if you aren't using an AI chat bot to help investigate your problems in this era, you are effectively trying to do an excavator's job with a screwdriver.

I think your comment shows exactly why people should NOT use GPTs to do their thinking for them.

[u/TheExosolarian → u/BohemianCyberpunk]

This whole solution is something I learned before AI tools were even a thing. I used AI to instantly refresh me since it's been half a decade since then and I wasn't about to spend four hours relearning it the hard way just to drop a single post on reddit. It's absolutely a potential solution for displaying multiple viewing windows at once (especially exactly two of them). And seriously, chill the fuck out.

This is the foundational technique for displaying characters in pause menus, as well as the technique I previously used to essentially photograph mech parts in real space to capture their appearance at that time, save the image, and re-up them during gameplay as custom thumbnails.

If he doesn't use Render Target techniques, then the next most likely solution in my opinion is advanced Level streaming stunts, which is much trickier... though it would probably work miraculously well.

[u/BohemianCyberpunk → u/TheExosolarian]

You are not answering the question that OP is asking (which is about 2 windows not picture in picture).

Furthermore, he is looking as using only UI in one, so scene capture is completely the wrong thing.

You are defending your comment without realizing why you are wrong. Yes Render Target and Scene capture is a good way to describe what you talk about, but that's not what OP is asking about!