Unreal Engine 5.7 is an update which brings new features, but more importantly defaults some of the newer features to be enabled. The Synavis framework is a WebRTC-based framework that directly couples the Unreal Engine to simulation and AI trainings frameworks.
Note: the Python coupling in Synavis is performed over WebRTC as a separate network bridge; this is distinct from embedding Python inside the Unreal Engine process — the plugin communicates with external Python code via WebRTC streams rather than running that Python code directly inside UE's Python runtime.
Basics
Unreal Engine upgrades seldomly introduce breaking changes, and actually, the amount of truly breaking changes in the history since 4.0 is fairly limited. Some very old concepts still work, and for the sake of backwards compatibility, there are even two PixelStreaming plugins. The latest update can be seen on the developer forum of Epic Games.
Substrate Materials
Substrate is the new material shading methodology of Unreal Engine, introduced a few engine versions back, but now enabled by default. Substrate is a more complex material system which allows for further tuning and tweaking of materials to gain more photorealism for games. In the context of Synavis, this is a breaking change for now until I have patched the data production materials.
Currently, as seen in the video on texture data mapping in Synavis, there is a material graph with dynamic material slots that Synavis can fill at runtime. These materials are not Substrate materials, and thus will not render correctly in 5.7 by default. I am working on updating the material graphs to use Substrate materials, which will restore correct rendering.
Nanite Foilage
In my recent papers (Baker et al. (2025), Baker et al. (2024)), I have not used Nanite in the pipelines. This is due to the fact that the procedural generation of the geometries is kept specifically independent of the Unreal Engine Editor libraries. Synavis inserts UProceduralGeometries, which is just a thin layer on top of the GPU data. Nanite use and compatibility out-of-the-box is not currently in the pipeline (i.e., I am not actively coding for this).
Procedural Content Generation (PCG)
Though this causes some confusion for people initially, the PCG is not inherently incompatible with Synavis. The Synavis Unreal Engine plugin does not interfer with the world building unless specifically instructed to do so.
However, the procedural vegetation framework is also not inherently used by Synavis nor does a binding with any FSPM exist at this stage. This would be an interesting avenue for future research, but it is not in the pipeline of changes at this time - there are more specific combinations of FSMP and geometrizations that I am implementing first.
Other notable changes
MSVC: The minimum supported MSVC version is now MSVC 14.44. I am evaluating this with the upcoming version of Synavis.
User Asset Tags: Could see potential inclusion with the World Spawner.
Live Link: New component to broadcast transform/animation data over the local network (game-thread framerate). While this is not directly applicable, it could be of use in certain digital twinning workflows as primary setup and evaluation component.
Notes
If you have questions, contact me!
Video version
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