During November, the first prototype of the new Unreal Engine 5-based Virtual Testbed was completed. This now uses the advanced lighting and rendering methods from the current Unreal Engine version (especially Nanite and Lumen) and thus offers a significantly higher graphics quality.
To allow multiple users to explore the testbed together, the first elements of a session-based multi-user system have been integrated: Users can choose a name at program start and then either start their own session or join an existing one by entering IP and port.
Furthermore, first landscapes from the existing virtual testbed were ported to the new one and adapted for the use of Unreal’s level streaming system. This allows to dynamically load (only) the areas of the level that are currently visible. Ultimately, larger worlds can be rendered in a performant way.