Unreal Engine 5's World Partition system enables developers to work with vast, sprawling game worlds that are divided into smaller, manageable segments. This powerful feature brings advantages such as improved performance, easier level streaming, and streamlined collaboration. In this tutorial, we will guide you through the process of creating an informative minimap that leverages the World Partition system in UE5. Benefits of a Minimap

Creating a Minimap from UE5's World Partition

Introduction

A minimap is a valuable tool for players, providing them with a concise representation of the game world. It allows them to:

Visualize their current location
Navigate effectively
Discover points of interest
Plan their next moves

Prerequisites

To follow this tutorial, you will need the following:

A basic understanding of Unreal Engine 5
A project with World Partition enabled

Creating a New Minimap Widget

Open your project in UE5 and navigate to the "Content Browser."
Right-click and select "Create New" > "Widget Blueprint." Name it "MinimapWidget."
Double-click on the "MinimapWidget" blueprint to open it.
In the "Widget Blueprint" editor, drag a "Canvas Panel" onto the canvas. This will serve as the backdrop for your minimap.

Adding a Background Image

Create a new material and assign it to the "Material" property of the "Canvas Panel."
Within the material, set the "Expression" node to "Texture Sample" and connect it to the "Emissive Color" input.
Import an image that represents the overall layout of your game world.
Drag the imported image into the "Texture Sample" node to use it as the background texture.

Generating the Minimap Texture

Navigate to the "Actor Browser" in UE5.
Search for the "Level Streaming Volume" class and drag it into your level.
Adjust the volume's "Streaming Distance" to cover the desired area of your minimap.
Add a "Blueprint" component to the "Level Streaming Volume" actor.
Open the Blueprint for the component and add the following code:

#include "Components/HierarchicalInstancedStaticMeshComponent.h"  #include "Engine/TextureRenderTarget2D.h"  #include "Kismet/GameplayStatics.h"    public class UMinimapGenerator : public UActorComponent {      UPROPERTY()      UTextureRenderTarget2D* MinimapTexture;        UPROPERTY()      UHierarchicalInstancedStaticMeshComponent* MinimapMesh;        public:          void GenerateMinimap() {              // Get the current level              FWorldContext& WorldContext = GEngine->GetWorldContextFromWorld(GetWorld());              ULevel* CurrentLevel = WorldContext.World()->GetCurrentLevel();                // Create a Render Target              FVector2D RenderTargetSize(512, 512);              MinimapTexture = UTextureRenderTarget2D::CreateTargetSize(this, RenderTargetSize.X, RenderTargetSize.Y);              FIntRect ViewRect(0, 0, RenderTargetSize.X - 1, RenderTargetSize.Y - 1);                // Capture the Scene              UGameplayStatics::CaptureScene2DTexture(this, CurrentLevel, MinimapTexture, ViewRect);                // Assign the texture to the mesh              MinimapMesh->SetMaterial(0, MinimapMaterial);              MinimapMesh->SetRenderLayer(ELayer::ForegroundLayer);          }  };

Displaying the Minimap

Add a "Quad" component to your minimap widget.
Set the "Material" property of the "Quad" to the material you created for the background image.
Add a "Texture Sample" node to the material and connect it to the "Emissive Color" input.
Assign the minimap texture generated in the previous step to the "Texture Sample" node.

Adding Location Tracking

Add a "Player Pawn" component to your widget blueprint.
Add the following code to the "Event Graph" of the widget blueprint:

public:      void Tick(float DeltaTime) {          Super::Tick(DeltaTime);            // Get the player's location          FVector PlayerLocation = GetPlayerCharacter()->GetActorLocation();            // Convert the player's location to a percentage of the minimap's size          FVector2D MinimapPosition = FVector2D(PlayerLocation.X / MinimapTexture->GetSurfaceWidth(), PlayerLocation.Y / MinimapTexture->GetSurfaceHeight());            // Set the position of the minimap quad          SetRenderTranslation(MinimapPosition);      }  };

Adding Fog of War

Create a new material that will be used for the fog of war effect.
Set the "Expression" node of the material to "SceneTexture" and connect it to the "Base Color" input.
Add a "Multiply" node to the material and connect the "SceneTexture" output to the "Multiplier" input.
Set the "Constant" value of the "Multiply" node to a color that will represent the fog of war (e.g., black or gray).
Add a "Ler