Unreal Engine

Applications targeting Oculus devices automatically apply stereoscopic rendering, orientation tracking (Rift and Gear VR), and positional tracking (Rift only). The OculusPlatform plugin provides an online subsystem which interfaces with Oculus Platform features. The OculusInput plugin provides support for Oculus Touch and Oculus Remote controllers.

Unreal Engine Distributions

Epic provides a binary distribution of UE4 through the Launcher, and a source distribution available from their GitHub repository. These distributions all contain Oculus support, but they may be a version or two behind the latest SDK.

Oculus also distributes UE4 through our own GitHub repository. These distributions are always up to date with the latest Oculus SDKs. We support the current release of UE4, the previous release of UE4, and any preview of the next release of UE4.

This development sequence is illustrated in the following chart:

Note that our features ship first to the GitHub versions we maintain in our own repository.

Which distribution should I use?

For beginning developers, we recommend the binary distribution of the Unreal engine available through the Launcher. It is the most stable, and does not require pulling from GitHub or compiling the engine source code. It is typically a few months behind the latest Oculus SDK features.

For most professional developers, we recommend the source distribution hosted on Epic’s private GitHub repository here: https://github.com/EpicGames/UnrealEngine. It is available to developers who are subscribed to the private EpicGames/UnrealEngine repository. Note that if you are not subscribed and logged into your GitHub account, you will get a 404 error. For more information on accessing this repository, see https://www.unrealengine.com/ue4-on-github.

For professional developers who would like access to the latest SDK features, we recommend the source distributions hosted on Oculus’s private GitHub repository here: https://github.com/Oculus-VR/UnrealEngine.git. To access this repository, you must hold a UE4 license and be subscribed to the private EpicGames/UnrealEngine repository (see https://www.unrealengine.com/ue4-on-github for details). If you are not subscribed and logged into your GitHub account, you will get a 404 error.

What does this guide cover?

Unless otherwise noted, this documentation covers features included in Unreal versions available from Oculus’s private GitHub repository. Note that API changes may occur when these branches are merged back into Epic’s version of the engine.

For Epic's documentation about Oculus development, go to https://docs.unrealengine.com/latest/INT/Platforms/VR/.

Oculus Resources for the Unreal Developer

Platform SDK

• The Oculus Platform supports features related to security, community, revenue, and engagement such as entitlement checking, matchmaking, in-app purchase, VoIP, and cloudsaves. For more information on the Platform Unity plugin, see our Platform Developer Guide.

Avatar SDK

• The Oculus Avatar SDK includes an Unreal package to assist developers with implementing first-person hand presence for the Rift and Touch controllers. It includes avatar hand and body assets viewable by other users in social applications for Rift and Gear VR. The first-person hand models and third-person hand and body models supported by the Avatar SDK automatically pull the avatar configuration choices the user has made in Oculus Home to provide a consistent sense of identity across applications. For more information, see our Avatar SDK Developer Guide.

Audio Resources

• The Oculus Audio SDK includes spatialization plugins (OSPs) that provide HRTF spatialization and reverb modeling for audio editing tools commonly used with Unreal, including Audiokinetic Wwise and FMOD Studio. See Unreal VR Audio for more information.

Unreal/Oculus SDK Version Compatibility

The Oculus Unreal SDK requires Windows 7 or later.