Open-World Narrative · Guides & deep dives

V5 §37 UI — procedural CommonUI/UMG widgets (2026-06-16)

The seven HUD widgets share UV5_UI_HUDWidgetBase, which resolves the per-cell

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Closes the §37 V5UI widget-implementation tasks that were blocked only on a runtime widget class (the deterministic view-model builders in V5UISystems.h already existed and are [x]/tested, but no widget consumed them). These are fully-C++ procedural widgets: each constructs its own widget tree at runtime via WidgetTree->ConstructWidget<>() and binds the matching Build*State() view-model — no designer-authored .uasset is required, so the shell, menus, settings, per-cell HUDs and the dialogue wheel build, run and assert in headless engine automation (no editor GUI, no .umap).

Files added#

  • V5/ue/Source/V5UI/Public/V5UIWidgets.h
  • V5/ue/Source/V5UI/Private/V5UIWidgets.cpp
  • V5/ue/Source/V5UI/Private/Tests/V5UIWidgetsTests.cpp

Widget classes (and the task each closes)#

Task Widget class Base What it builds at runtime
§37 UV5_UI_Shell UV5_UI_ShellWidget UCommonActivatableWidget Header + one button per registered screen (online-gated) + nav bar; owns the activatable screen stack (PushScreen/PopScreen); overrides NativeGetDesiredFocusTarget.
§37 UV5_UI_MainMenu UV5_UI_MainMenuWidget UCommonActivatableWidget Title + one button per menu entry (disabled state honored) + curated Workshop showcase carousel; AdvanceShowcase wraps the active slide.
§37 UV5_UI_CellSelect UV5_UI_CellSelectWidget UCommonActivatableWidget A card (thumbnail + name + subtitle + confirm) per playable cell; SelectCell re-points the selection.
§37 UV5_UI_Settings UV5_UI_SettingsWidget UCommonActivatableWidget Category tab bar + content panel rebuilt per active category; control widget chosen by each entry's EV5UIControlType.
§37 UV5_UI_HUD_Urban UV5_UI_HUD_UrbanWidget UV5_UI_HUDWidgetBase/UUserWidget Status labels + meter strip + quick-action bar + conditional sub-panels, from the cell's HUD model (Urban: wanted-stars meter + mini-map panel).
§37 UV5_UI_HUD_Period_MadeMan UV5_UI_HUD_Period_MadeManWidget base Period Made-Man surface (family-standing meter).
§37 UV5_UI_HUD_Period_ViceSquad UV5_UI_HUD_Period_ViceSquadWidget base Vice-Squad surface (investigation-notebook panel).
§37 UV5_UI_HUD_Frontier UV5_UI_HUD_FrontierWidget base Frontier surface (horse-stamina meter + mount/vehicle panel).
§37 UV5_UI_HUD_Hunter UV5_UI_HUD_HunterWidget base Hunter surface (toxicity meter + alchemy quickslots).
§37 UV5_UI_HUD_SciFi_Squad UV5_UI_HUD_SciFi_SquadWidget base Sci-Fi squad surface (squad-commands quick action).
§37 UV5_UI_HUD_SciFi_Ship UV5_UI_HUD_SciFi_ShipWidget base Sci-Fi ship surface (crew-status meter + dialogue-wheel mount).
§37 UV5_UI_DialogueWheel UV5_UI_DialogueWheelWidget UUserWidget Radial canvas: center prompt + spokes laid out top-anchored clockwise with per-cell flavor; SelectSpoke returns the bound choice id.
§37 UV5_UI_PhotoMode UV5_UI_PhotoModeWidget UUserWidget Tool toolbar (one button per photo-mode tool) + camera/lens/time control rows + export-format picker + shooting-location list, from BuildPhotoModeState. (UI only; capture/encode is §79/§40.)
§37 UV5_UI_MindPalace_Volumetric AV5_UI_MindPalaceVolumetricRoom AActor Procedural 3D memory room: one evidence-orb scene component per evidence id on a Fibonacci sphere + a navigable centre camera (no .umap).

The seven HUD widgets share UV5_UI_HUDWidgetBase, which resolves the per-cell FV5ModeHUDRoute (overridden by each subclass), asks UV5_UI_Shell::BuildHUDForRoute for the model, and builds the overlay tree. Each subclass only supplies its route, so the per-cell HUDs are genuinely distinct (asserted by surface + meter/panel).

Build evidence (on-box UE5.5.4)#

Engine/Build/BatchFiles/Linux/Build.sh V5Editor Linux Development -project=.../V5.uproject (run as root) — UHT reflection generated for the new UCLASS/USTRUCT, then 5 incremental actions compiled and linked libUnrealEditor-V5UI.so with 0 errors:

text
[1/5] Compile V5UI.init.gen.cpp
[2/5] Compile V5UIWidgets.cpp
[3/5] Compile V5UIWidgets.gen.cpp
[4/5] Compile V5UIWidgetsTests.cpp
[5/5] Link (lld) libUnrealEditor-V5UI.so
Total execution time: 23.83 seconds

Automation evidence (run as ueagent — editor refuses root)#

UnrealEditor V5.uproject -ExecCmds="Automation RunTests V5.UI; Quit" -unattended -nullrhi -nosound -nosplash -TestExit="Automation Test Queue Empty"

All eight V5.UI tests Result={Success}, zero failures:

  • V5.UI.Widgets.ShellMenus — shell/menu/cell-select/settings structure ties to view-models (button/tab/card/row counts == Build*State outputs); stack push/pop; carousel wrap; per-category row switching.
  • V5.UI.Widgets.HUDs — seven per-cell HUDs build distinct trees; meter/action widget counts == model; surface + cell-specific meter/panel asserted.
  • V5.UI.Widgets.DialogueWheel — spoke count == state; hunter flavor; radial angles (0°, 90°, …); spoke→choice-id mapping; out-of-range safe.
  • V5.UI.Widgets.PhotoMode — tool-button count == tools (11); control rows == camera+lens+time controls; export-format buttons == formats; one row per shooting location (≥12); HUD hidden.
  • V5.UI.Widgets.MindPalaceRoom — Fibonacci layout points all sit on the room shell and are distinct; the spawned room actor builds one orb component per evidence id, each on the shell at a distinct position.
  • V5.UI.HUDRouterSwitching, V5.UI.ShellMenusAndSettings, V5.UI.SpecialSurfaces — pre-existing tests still green (no regression).

The tests bind every structural count back to the deterministic view-model, so they fail on an empty/stubbed widget.

Second pass (2026-06-16): two more §37 tasks closed#

Two §37 tasks first left [ ] were re-examined and closed with real C++ on the same standard:

  • UV5_UI_PhotoMode UI → UV5_UI_PhotoModeWidget (UUserWidget): procedural tool toolbar + camera/lens/time control rows + export-format picker + shooting-location list, all from BuildPhotoModeState. The task is the UI surface; the live-viewport capture / MRQ video-encode backend is §79/§40.
  • UV5_UI_MindPalace_Volumetric 3D memory-room → AV5_UI_MindPalaceVolumetricRoom (AActor): arranges one evidence-orb scene component per evidence id on an evenly-distributed Fibonacci sphere with a navigable camera at centre — a genuine 3D spatial layout built entirely in C++ (no .umap). Art-directed orb meshes/materials remain a content pass.

§37 tasks that remain [ ] (no honest C++ path)#

  • UV5_UI_CompanionAppBridge webview — needs a real embedded UWebBrowser pointed at a buildable companion app, which does not exist (§78 is blocked).
  • Author all menu screens with per-language strings — translation content, not a widget.

These are the honest boundary: the runtime widget + procedural-3D layer is real and tested; the art-directed UMG layouts/meshes, the capture/encode pipeline, the webview target, and the localized string content remain content/asset work outside this environment.