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Fab's faulty foray

Fab is finally here, but the debut is fraught with issues. Plus: Unreal Engine 5.5 is ready for prime time.

Nick Pfisterer •
Fab's faulty foray

Greetings, and welcome back to our humble newsletter. It's hard to believe the winter solstice is only one month away here in the northern hemisphere. Where did the time go? In this issue, we're covering the rocky debut of Fab, the first stable release for Unreal Engine 5.5, and more tidbits for you to chew on as the holiday season approaches. Without further ado...

Fab debut marred by criticism

Fab was originally announced at GDC 2023 and later delayed until 2024. Epic's pitch was ambitious: combine Unreal Engine Marketplace, Quixel Megascans, Sketchfab, and ArtStation Marketplace – all Epic properties – into one unified digital asset marketplace that can service all game engines, DCC apps, Fortnite, Roblox, Minecraft, and more to come. One marketplace to rule them all.

Last month, Fab finally made it's debut. It had an extensive library of assets to choose from. It let you preview 3D assets in the browser before buying. It allowed you to hide AI-generated content. It even launched with Unity support! Unfortunately, many people will associate Fab's debut with what it didn't have. Questions and reviews were removed from Unreal Marketplace products before a replacement was ready. Buyer wishlists, too, were removed, with no recourse offered but to contact support and request a PDF. Libraries appeared to be empty. Obvious copyright violations abound. You still can't drag-and-drop assets from your own library in the UEFN and UE5 plugins. And yes – those of us who use the launcher are still stuck with the same crusty old vault that requires us to go on a treasure hunt when assets are updated.

Thankfully, Epic created a thread where you can track known issues, and when/if they are going to be resolved. I am sure the Fab team is working hard to keep up and prioritize the most pertinent issues, but this debut did shake my confidence. it's hard for me to wrap my head around how a product launch that was delayed for over a year still debuted with so many problems and missing features. Fab is clearly not ready for prime time. It should probably have a beta label. Regardless, when faced with the choice to delay further and polish or release an unfinished product in October, Epic chose the latter. Presumably, the people in charge of this project had their reasons for doing so, and no one person is to blame.

Aside: Please don't harass anyone at Epic Games because of this. Yes, the Fab launch has been disappointing in a number of ways, but if you want it to improve, you need to step up and give constructive feedback. Don't be afraid to tell Epic how you feel; just be civil.

On that note, I will leave you with the early impressions of Carlos Coronado, Unreal Dev Grant recipient and developer of Koral and HORROR TALES: The Beggar. He had a lot of negative things to say about Fab, but he did so in a conscientious manner. Carlos:

If you are an Epic Dev and worked in Fab, this is not aimed at you and I understand it is not your personal fault. This post is not personal blaming for anything. Idk what has to be better: management, vertical integration, or whatever. I am 100% sure talent is there and that is not the issue.

Anyways, let's all hope for a bright future.

Unreal Engine 5.5 is more than MegaLights

When the latest version of Unreal Engine made its debut

at Unreal Fest last month, there was one feature on everyone's mind: MegaLights. You can learn more about it on the new documentation page. Exciting as it is, there is a lot more going on in Unreal Engine 5.5, now available to download on the Epic Games Launcher and GitHub.

This version is pretty packed with features, including a revamped Sequencer interface with better filtering and non-destructive animation layers, Control Rig deformers, 60 Hz Lumen on platforms with hardware raytracing

This release also sees a number of tools reaching Beta (Modular Control Rig, Substrate, Movie Render Graph) and Production Ready (Skeletal Editor, Choosers, Path Tracer, DMX) status.

Tim Hobson, a senior tech writer at Epic Games, recently highlighted all the new and updated rendering docs released with 5.5 in a post on X.

If you are upgrading, brew a cup of coffee or tea and read the extensive release notes while you wait. There is also an official forum thread and a list of known issues.

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Until next time

What are you impressions of Fab in its current state? Are you upgrading to Unreal Engine 5.5 yet, or waiting for a hotfix? Let us know by replying to this email. You can also find us on X, Bluesky, and Discord. As always, thanks for reading. Until next time.