Microsoft has expanded Visual Studio 2022 with a new Unreal Engine toolbar, available in version 17.11, aiming to streamline game development workflows by giving developers direct access to essential Unreal Engine features.
The toolbar, positioned at the top of the code window when working on Unreal Engine projects, brings several core functionalities directly into Visual Studio, reducing the need to toggle between different software.
Key Tools for Unreal Engine Developers
The Unreal Engine integration is aimed at making the development process more efficient. By reducing the need to switch between different windows or tools, Microsoft hopes to keep developers focused and eliminate workflow interruptions. Features like debugger attachment and log viewing now happen seamlessly, allowing for a more cohesive development experience. These features are particularly helpful for frequent tasks, minimizing disruptions caused by context switching. The new toolbar integrates four primary functions designed to ease development:
-
Attach to Unreal Engine Process: Developers can now directly attach a debugger to a running Unreal Engine instance without switching applications. The ability to choose between game and editor processes from within Visual Studio simplifies the debugging workflow.
-
Rescan Blueprints Cache: Blueprints are Unreal Engine’s visual scripting system, used by developers to build gameplay without code. The new toolbar allows users to rescan the Blueprint symbol cache quickly, ensuring that all information is up to date and preventing issues due to outdated data.
-
Access to Unreal Engine Log: Viewing real-time logs is now straightforward. Developers can keep track of live output from Unreal processes, filter messages by severity, and solve problems faster—all within the familiar Visual Studio interface.
-
Configuration Page Shortcut: With a quick-access link to the configuration settings for Unreal Engine, developers can customize how IntelliSense works or adjust formatting styles to better fit their coding standards.
Recent Additions to Visual Studio Tools
In March, Microsoft rolled out Preview 2 of Visual Studio 17.10, featuring GitHub Copilot integration. GitHub Copilot—an AI-powered coding assistant developed by GitHub and OpenAI—provides real-time code suggestions. With this update, developers gained tools like auto-generated pull request summaries, making code review less burdensome, and the “Explain Commit” feature, which offers insights into code changes directly within the Git Repository pane.
These new GitHub Copilot tools required a subscription and the GitHub Copilot Chat Extension for full functionality. Additionally, the update included text formatting options, like italics and strikethrough, to enhance code readability and express intentions more clearly.
In February they added the SharePoint Embedded extension to Visual Studio Code. SharePoint Embedded brings elements of Microsoft 365’s document management into the IDE, allowing developers to manage Azure Entra app registrations—part of Microsoft’s identity management service—without leaving the coding environment. This extension provided sample apps, Postman Collections, and REST API interactions, aiming to simplify working with Microsoft 365’s ecosystem.
During its public preview, SharePoint Embedded followed a pay-as-you-go model, with charges for API transactions, storage, and data transfer. Admin rights were required to access this feature, making it more suitable for larger development teams rather than casual users. The goal was to make the app development process feel more integrated with other Microsoft services.
The Unreal Engine tools specifically benefit game developers by keeping all necessary components within Visual Studio, reducing friction in the development process.
Last Updated on November 7, 2024 2:15 pm CET