2026.08 Unreal Engine Changelog

GameDriver’s object-query engine (HPath) has been substantially reworked and is now 60-85% faster and uses ~99.6% less memory per query, with full support for every existing query feature — your existing queries keep working exactly as written, just faster.
The in-editor HPath Debugger now supports true step-by-step execution.
Fixed a bug where having any <resolver> settings in your Unreal agent config, even ones unrelated to the query engine, could silently keep you on the old, slower query engine instead of the new default. See GameDriver Agent Configuration Options for the newengine option.
Faster incremental compiles when building the plugin from source into your own project.

Full Unreal Engine support: live object explorer, event recording, script replay, autoplay, and connected-game logging.
Reworked Object Explorer: expandable properties/methods, drill-down into structs, and a refresh that preserves your place in the tree instead of resetting it.
New debugger with breakpoints, visual breakpoint-hit indicators, and automatic window focus. Windows-only.
Mouse, keyboard, and touch recording/replay for Unreal-connected games.

The GameDriver MCP Server — which connects AI assistants like Claude directly to a running game (see the 2026.08 Unity Changelog for the full feature list) — now also supports Unreal Engine games: browse a live Unreal object hierarchy, resolve HPath queries, and author and run tests against a connected Unreal game.
New capability to set an object’s absolute rotation directly.

Added Unreal UMG widget geometry data to the GameDriver protocol.
Math and transform utilities now use the correct axis conventions for Unreal (Z-up), alongside Unity’s existing Y-up support.

Bug Fixes

Fixed a crash on Mac (Editor and standalone builds) that could occur when releasing the mouse button.
Fixed a crash that could occur when a query produced certain error messages.
Fixed UMG widget clicks sometimes landing at the wrong position on screen.
Fixed mouse movement and dragging sometimes starting from the wrong position the first time it was used in a session.
Fixed mouse-release events not respecting an in-progress drag in some cases.
Fixed clicking, double-clicking, and tapping sometimes not registering against UMG buttons.
Fixed unreliable clicks, taps, and drags when Play-in-Editor runs inside the Editor’s own viewport.
Fixed VR grab actions (and other VR input actions) not firing when set up in newer versions of the Unreal Editor.
Fixed automatically starting Play mode hanging indefinitely in certain Editor states.
Unified the Unreal and Unity network transport layers, fixing disconnects that didn’t fire correctly on Unreal level loads and inconsistent message compression.
Fixed disconnected clients sometimes not being detected for up to a couple of minutes.
Fixed an issue where one event could incorrectly be reported to more listeners than intended.
Fixed a rare crash in packaged builds when diagnostic network logging was enabled.
Fixed a rare data race that could affect keyboard input state tracking.
Fixed a UMG button click that could silently fail in a packaged build (but not in the Editor) after certain prior button interactions.

Added full compatibility with Unreal Engine 5.8.
Fixed the downloadable plugin package sometimes missing required supporting files.
Fixed the Windows and Mac binary plugin packages: you no longer need to manually re-copy the plugin’s Binaries/Intermediate folders back into your project after an Unreal “build clean” wipes them.
Fixed the binary (precompiled) plugin distribution for Android and iOS. Previously it shipped no usable binary for either platform, so building against it would fail immediately. The compiled binaries now live in the plugin’s Source/ThirdParty/ folder, which an Unreal “build clean” never touches — verified on real iPhone and Android hardware.
The Standalone Test Assistant’s debugger is Windows-only.

Android on Unreal Engine 5.4 specifically: a packaged Android build crashes on launch. This traces to an engine-level default in Unreal Engine 5.4 itself, not a GameDriver-side bug — it does not reproduce on 5.7 or 5.8. Until it’s resolved, Android should be considered supported on 5.7/5.8 only.
CallMethod accepts a real array (e.g. a C# array) for a method parameter that takes a list of values, but does not currently support passing a List<T> for that parameter — pass an array instead.
If your queries use the descendant:: axis or the component()/components() functions, their matching behavior was corrected this release: descendant:: no longer matches the starting object itself, and component()/components() now match by class name instead of instance name. Double-check any queries using these against your test scenes.