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Unreal Editor 101

Minimum editor vocabulary before content or recipe pages. Read this first if you have never opened Unreal.

Panels you will use daily

Panel Purpose
Content Browser Find and open assets under Content/ (Blueprints, levels, data assets, input actions).
Outliner List of everything placed in the open level. Select actors here.
Details Properties of the selected actor or asset. Designers tune most fields here.
Viewport 3D view of the level. Place Actors mode adds objects from the palette.

The Unreal Editor with LV_2ndPlayable open: the Viewport, the Outliner and Details panel on the right, and the Content Browser along the bottom

Save and play

  • Save current level: Ctrl+S (or File → Save Current Level).
  • Play In Editor (PIE): toolbar Play button or Alt+P. Runs the game inside the editor without packaging.
  • Stop PIE: Esc or the Stop button.

After your first compile

  1. Editor opens without compile errors in the Output Log.
  2. In Content Browser → Content/2ndPlayable/, open LV_2ndPlayable (the current playable map).
  3. Press Play. You should spawn as the player character and move with WASD.
  4. If something fails, check Saved/Logs/ in the repo for the latest log file.

See Debug toggles for in-game test keys once PIE works.

Change history

  • 2026-10-02 — Gabriel Li — Panel table uses the Outliner name and LV_2ndPlayable is described as the current playable map; added a screenshot of the editor panels (CORE-011).

  • 2026-09-05 — Gabriel Li — Updated to the shipped hybrid Content structure (PR #19): PreProShowcase sandbox under Content/Rephrased/Levels/Prepro/, Art/Gameplay/Levels layout, Imports isolation, Content/Developers/<Discipline>/<Name>/ scratch space.

  • 2026-08-27 - Gabriel Li - Updated first-day sandbox wording to PreProRuneShowcase and added the personal playground expectation where relevant.

  • 2026-05-23 — Gabriel Li — Rune Showcase plain text (no Glossary link); added as first Unreal basics page per onboarding audit.