Today brings a major update: HIRAETH has been upgraded to the newest version of Unreal Engine — 5.8.
This is not a race for shiny new features. It’s a crucial stability and performance update that also unlocks new possibilities already visible in today’s build — including the first pass of dense coral and underwater vegetation filling the ocean floor.
Below is a full breakdown of what changed.
A significantly improved game engine with better stability, performance, and compatibility with modern hardware. Many of the new UE 5.8 features will be extremely useful for ☵ HIRAETH moving forward.
UE 5.8 introduces improved rendering stability and better GPU utilization. I have not enabled Lumen Lite yet, but it is expected to greatly reduce GPU load — especially important for older graphics cards.
Mesh Terrain is a huge revolution. In short, it allows fully customizable terrain shapes, easy creation of caves, rock formations, and complex geological structures.
I’ve been watching this feature for a long time, planning to use it for new post‑Nesoi locations — and likely for future updates to Nesoi Island itself.
Epic’s example and documentation
PCG is Unreal’s new world‑generation system — a massive upgrade over the foliage system used in ☵ HIRAETH since the beginning.
PCG offers far more flexibility and, as my tests show, is significantly more efficient than traditional foliage.
It is already in use today to decorate the ocean floor around Nesoi.
The first area using PCG is the ocean floor — from Harbor, through The Last Drop, and the cape near Marsh Shelter by Pier 3.
A large amount of coral and underwater vegetation has been added. This is the first update to the underwater world, and only the beginning.
This update is primarily a stress test: filling underwater terrain with dense, detailed coral meshes and vegetation.
A new streaming system has also been introduced, using underwater‑only layers that activate only when you are below the surface, reducing performance cost when you are above water.
You may see brief “popping” when diving — a fix for this is coming soon.
PCG already includes depth‑based rules, avoidance of rocks and large objects (like submerged pallets or boats), and basic placement logic.
Foliage elements (stones, debris) are still present — they will be removed from underwater terrain soon.
I will also refine coral and plant mesh selection and improve generation logic.
Currently slightly adjusted, but it will change significantly.
Underwater visuals — color, blur, depth effects — are still static. Soon, shallow water will look completely different from deep‑sea exploration.
The new engine requires new save files. As announced earlier, the game now automatically blocks old saves — loading them would cause errors due to major world changes.
I tested the new build and loading works correctly. However, I recommend avoiding saving in risky locations (airlocks, during swimming) until you verify the load behavior.
Achievements now activate differently on the technical side.
I tested everything, but as a Steam player I already have almost all achievements — so it’s hard for me to verify the new activation system.
Please report any issues on Steam forums or Discord. New achievements will be added soon so I can personally test the system.
Today’s update is a huge change for the game (and a lot of work on my side). For you, it may look like “just coral”, but I hope you’ll see how important this update is for ☵ HIRAETH — both now and for the near future.
Heads‑up:
The first load after updating may briefly show some assets streaming in. It’s a minor inconvenience — I’ll work on eliminating it in upcoming patches.
Please check whether the new DLSS update has changed your screen‑resolution settings. Use the default F8 key to verify.