Builders of Egypt – Major Update! Migration to Unreal Engine 5.5
Dear Builders,
First of all, I want to sincerely apologize for the long silence on my side. I decided to step back and return only when I had real, substantial progress to show, rather than keeping you updated on every small step. I believe this approach is more honest – after all, you want to see tangible changes in the game, not just words. Today, I finally have something worth sharing.
A New Engine – A New Chapter for Builders of Egypt
After many months of hard work, Builders of Egypt has been migrated to the latest Unreal Engine 5.5.4. This isn’t just a switch to new technology – it’s a real leap forward that affects every aspect of the game.
Stability and Performance One of the biggest advantages is a significant boost in overall stability. A lot of persistent crashes, memory management issues, and performance drops are simply gone. The game loads faster, handles large maps and bustling cities much better, and optimization now lets you get the most out of even older hardware. This does not mean that all the problems have magically solved themselves, but we have a giant step in the right direction.
Better Details and Visual Quality The rebuild of core graphic systems allowed me to finally solve well-known issues with models "popping in" and disappearing details. Every element of the scene is now displayed naturally, no matter how large your settlement grows. On top of that, I’ve significantly improved texture quality, material fidelity, and lighting effects – everything to make the world of ancient Egypt even more immersive and authentic. The effects of the new lighting can be seen in the screenshots.
Modern Foundation for Future Development Moving to the new engine means the game is now ready to embrace all the modern solutions and features that I previously had to skip due to technical limitations. Now there’s a robust, up-to-date foundation for future updates – in graphics, audio, and beyond.
Adapting the UI One significant part of this migration has been the need to adjust the existing interface, originally built for the old engine, to meet the requirements of Unreal Engine 5. In this area, a lot has changed on the Unreal Engine side, so adapting the current UI to the new standards and systems is still an ongoing process. There’s quite a bit of work ahead to make sure all elements of the interface work correctly, look consistent, and take advantage of the improvements made possible by the engine upgrade. This will remain a focus in the coming weeks, and your feedback will be especially valuable during testing.
Experimental Branch – Invitation to Testing
Due to the lack of access to a professional QA team, the new version of the game will soon be available on a dedicated experimental branch on Steam, open to everyone interested. I’m counting on your help and involvement – every opinion, suggestion, or bug report is invaluable and truly shapes the future of Builders of Egypt.
In short – I may have been silent, but I certainly wasn’t idle and even more so, the project is not dead yet. Rather than share tiny updates, I wanted to return with a real, major change. Builders of Egypt with this new technology is a solid foundation for future growth: more stability, greater comfort, and a whole new range of possibilities that simply weren’t there before.
Thank you for your patience, support, and all the motivation you give me. See you on the Nile!
Jacek Creator of Builders of Egypt
Patch - 1.0551 in patch test branch
Builders, here comes the March update!
It's been a while since the last update, but as promised – here’s the big March update. The weekly patches have been temporarily put on hold because… well, I decided to overhaul the game’s code. More details on this madness below.
Why a code overhaul?
Let’s not sugarcoat it – the game has a lot of quality issues, and we all know it. Many players don’t enjoy it, and there are many reasons for that. Some mechanics were never fully developed, some ideas remained unfinished, and others simply don’t add enough value. All of this resulted in a chaotic mix of different functions that have been tweaked over time but were never properly restructured.
As you can imagine, fixing anything in such an environment was a nightmare, so I made the decision to rewrite most of the code from scratch – this time, the right way.
The worst parts of the code have already been rewritten and are included in this update. This primarily concerns Stockpile, Granary, and Bazaar, as well as most systems related to resource management. The result? The code is now 2x to... 19x faster and more optimized. That’s a significant difference, and you should already feel the impact, especially in larger cities. Of course, this doesn’t completely solve the game’s performance issues – they are complex – but removing inefficient code is a solid step in the right direction. This also dramatically improves the stability of the game and the correctness of the parameters when loading the save game.
What am I aiming for?
I won’t promise miracles. Strategy Labs has shut down, and nothing will change that. But as long as I’m here, I’ll fight until the end. My goal is to improve the game’s ratings – a tough task, but I hope that with each update, at least some of you will reconsider your opinion.
The game has many problems, and most of them can only be fixed by restructuring large parts of it. Thanks to this update, I can finally add new features to Stockpile, Granary, and Bazaar – something that was previously impossible due to how the code was written. Now, I can implement sorting with minimal effort, which was unachievable before. And this is just the beginning – more features are already in the pipeline.
All these changes are leading to a bigger goal – a potential engine upgrade.
Why change the engine?
Because some of the game’s biggest issues come from the fact that it's running on the now outdated Unreal Engine 4.25. Many of the plugins I rely on are no longer supported, and their bugs will never be fixed. Upgrading Unreal Engine is always risky (the "if it works, don’t touch it" rule), but in this case, a lot of things… just don’t work.
At this point, I have nothing to lose, so I’m going to give this path a try.
Thank you to everyone who is still here and supporting the project. The fight continues! 🚀
Now, let's get into the update details!
For two reasons, this patch will initially be available on the test branch.
Why the test branch?
1. Massive code changes and save game compatibility The scale of the code overhaul means partial incompatibility with existing save games. The entire system handling goods management has been rewritten, so after loading an old save, Stockpile, Granary, and Bazaar will be empty. Additionally, the trader may have incorrect values when loading a save, potentially causing unexpected issues. So, it’s best to finish your mission before updating or start fresh.
2. I’m the only one left testing the game Unfortunately, I no longer have access to QA, so I’m testing everything myself. Until I’m 200% sure everything is stable (which I’m not yet), the update will remain on the test branch. In view of this, my request for understanding of any bugs that cause regression against the default version - everything will be fixed asap.
3. How to enable this update? You need to change in steam game properties from default to patch_test. There is also a branch there with the previous version of the game should something go wrong.
Changes in this update:
Added 4 quick-access shortcuts to selected locations on the map. Press Ctrl + 1/2/3/4 to set a location for quick access.
Click on the map to teleport to that location (works when zoom on the minimap is disabled).
Added sorting for goods in the player’s goods panel, Stockpile, Granary, and Bazaar.
Fixed several trader-related issues.
Fixed most issues related to goods, such as not being able to send sandstone when requested by another city.
Increased the number of goods purchased by traders.
Modified some land availability colors (still in progress).
Changed Stockpile behavior – "Collect" and "Export" no longer exclude each other. (Experimental, testing to see if this feels better.)
These are the major changes – I won’t list the small ones because time is better spent working on the next features! Next in line, in addition to the UI changes, are fixes to the monuments (I've been getting a lot of save game lately - thanks everyone!) and a complete overhaul of the notification system, another programming horror story that has been dragging on since the very beginning of the game.
Take care, and see you in the next update! ❤️
Patch 1.0408
Hey Builders,
in today's update small things, meanwhile collecting more serious topics for the big update, as I am currently dismantling the game and want to hit serious bugs more comprehensively. The upcoming festival will also see the same or better promotion than the last one. To all those who dared to try BoE, thank you very much, and I hope they will stay here longer as the dust settles after the drama of the release and concrete plans for improvement emerge from under it.
Regarding this big update. Let me write about it instead of creating a showy graphic with announcements. About the fact that I am improving the UI you know it so there is no need to repeat here, the same about bugs because it is obvious. On the other hand, what is addressed next is the first impressions of the game. A lot of people reject the game after several minutes for various reasons, but also a lot of these reasons are known and I'm focusing on them to change that. In view of this, you can expect simplifications in the interface, changes in some gameplay elements as well as removal of things that simply don't work or are obviously unnecessary.
Over seven years of producing and releasing different versions of the game, various strange ideas have accumulated, which must somehow be broken out of, and the first results will hopefully be seen in the upcoming update. There are several such things but I will leave describing them in detail to a future patch.
Fixed:
upgrade of houses - the lack of showing the icon of residents and in fact their incomplete number caused a lot of confusion in understanding how the upgrade of houses works. Now if a house can advance and only residents are missing, such an icon will be shown. This is, of course, one of many UI problems that will be fixed in a major update.
one of the rare bugs causing Trader to get stuck, particularly somewhere in the middle of a route, has been fixed. This probably doesn't solve all possible scenarios of such an error but at least we have one less.
improved house statistics in the building browser
fixed the display of some monuments on the minimap
Patch 1.0407
Hey Builders!
Another update, more changes. This time I managed to hunt down one stubborn bug, which could have quite an impact on gameplay. It will be discussed below. Preparations for the big update are underway, I'm working on interface changes and maybe a complete overhaul of the tutorial in the first mission (if I make it).
The priority is the UI and the tiresome bugs, which are terribly difficult to look for, but something is slowly managing to find. Some of them are in the test version, so before I make it public I have to play BoE myself and see if it causes any other problems.
Several people have sent me their save games, for which I thank you sincerely! One of them in particular helped me solve the problem I mentioned above. So if you have a save game where something is breaking, send it to me: info@strategy-labs.com <- then the fix will be added to the next update as long as it can be fixed at that time.
In this patch:
fixed ships that, while waiting for workers, would sail away for no apparent reason. This is a significant bug, which caused some of you to not be able to complete the mission (thanks to Matt G. for the save game)
construction sounds have been standardized, the problem with the cannonade of sounds when loading the game coming from the city has been has been mostly removed, and unnecessary building price widgets (mostly™) do not appear either
corrected display of the influence of decorative objects on neighboring buildings, the icon was incorrectly grayed out and they could fail to disappear (I mean those smiling faces)
Clicking on the docks shows approaching and departing Stockpile workers (a small change but how helpful)
Patch 1.0406
Hey Builders,
hope you are well! I'm still collecting ideas and suggestions for the big update, if something else is on your mind - go ahead and write, I'll try to add it to the game. Several ideas are already implemented in the game even if they require a lot of attention to changes in the game code.
Fixes:
(new) added the ability to pause the voiceover while loading the game
repaired chariot settings in stockpile
fixed display of sphinx on minimap
fixed display of icons for papyrus maker
further fixes for the culture balance
further language fixes
(this time I check four times to which language I am posting the update, last week I pasted my post to Polish instead of English and thus went the old update as a new one, I corrected it after time)
Hotfix and a few words about the situation
Dear Builders,
As you all know, the launch of Builders of Egypt was not an easy moment for us. The scale of the failure is hard to bear, both for me and the entire team. It’s difficult to pinpoint a single cause—there were many—but what matters now is: what’s next?
Some of you may already know about the gradual closure of Strategy Labs, which means that the dream of creating new games will remain just that—a dream. However, I, as the game's creator, will stay at the helm to improve Builders of Egypt, fix all encountered bugs, and work on its further development.
In the near future, I’ll share a roadmap with you, outlining where I want to take the game. We all know there’s still a lot to be done, but let’s keep our expectations realistic—this journey won’t culminate in a Builders of Egypt 2.0. That said, I hope to deliver a solid 1.5 version, which will introduce significant improvements and provide a glimmer of hope for a better experience.
Thank you for your support, patience, and every piece of feedback. It’s because of you that I still believe Builders of Egypt can become a project we can all be proud of. And now about the latest update 1.0399:
fixed the loading of main events, the absence of which was causing you to get stuck in a mission
Changed the Wage balance, reducing the impact on the difficulty level
from now on, the game shows that it waits for a main event if one is active and the other mission conditions have been fulfilled
further translation errors corrected
NEW: Icons in buildings have been added to allow switching to the next same building.
Patch 1.0401
Hey Builders!
In the meantime, while fixing bugs and addressing the most tiresome problems with e.g. monuments, I'm also working on improving the UI - we're at the beginning of this process so the further away from launch the more serious things will be changed.
In this update:
added switching of carriers between the same workers coming from the same building
added ability to check which building a carrier goes to and from which building he comes from
added a missing reed on map 10
fixed several minor errors in the display of materials
fixed the display of the stockpile range after loading the game
increased the range of the bazaar
added the display of the range of a house when building it
Hotfix and a few words about the situation
Dear Builders,
As you all know, the launch of Builders of Egypt was not an easy moment for us. The scale of the failure is hard to bear, both for me and the entire team. It’s difficult to pinpoint a single cause—there were many—but what matters now is: what’s next?
Some of you may already know about the gradual closure of Strategy Labs, which means that the dream of creating new games will remain just that—a dream. However, I, as the game's creator, will stay at the helm to improve Builders of Egypt, fix all encountered bugs, and work on its further development.
In the near future, I’ll share a roadmap with you, outlining where I want to take the game. We all know there’s still a lot to be done, but let’s keep our expectations realistic—this journey won’t culminate in a Builders of Egypt 2.0. That said, I hope to deliver a solid 1.5 version, which will introduce significant improvements and provide a glimmer of hope for a better experience.
Thank you for your support, patience, and every piece of feedback. It’s because of you that I still believe Builders of Egypt can become a project we can all be proud of. And now about the latest update 1.0399:
fixed the loading of main events, the absence of which was causing you to get stuck in a mission
Changed the Wage balance, reducing the impact on the difficulty level
from now on, the game shows that it waits for a main event if one is active and the other mission conditions have been fulfilled
further translation errors corrected
NEW: Icons in buildings have been added to allow switching to the next same building.
Hotfix 1.0396
Hey Builders!
More fixes, you report a lot of them, we are listening, working and not giving up. - The first fixes for the LOD, visible in particular on the foliage, which when moving very quickly changed quality. Work on this continues. - Scoring corrections at the end of the mission. The intention was to pass the mission as quickly as possible (the effect of time on scoring) but the conditions were too radical so now the first balance. The required number of points was reduced and also the effect of time on scoring was radically reduced. further down the line: - more LOD (buildings) amendments, people - bugs of course - first QoL changes suggested from the community
Hotfix 1.0393
Hey, Builders!
First hotfix available. I sincerely apologize to all who experienced the following bugs, I know how frustrating it is:
- fixed: the problem of not being able to advance to the next level in the campaign has been solved. The fix works on new game and on save game, in this case you should:
load the campaign save, wait a second (the fix will work) and load the campaign from the main menu again, it should load the next mission normally
- fixed: after finishing the campaign mission, the game returned to the loading screen and not to the campaign map of the next mission - fixed: problem with constantly negative Satisfaction - fixed: fixed slow switching of save game windows, especially when there were a lot of them - fixed: incorrect default values in Bazaar - fixed: synchronized voiceover with scrolling text - fixed: blockers when loading game during tutorials - fixed: further errors in translations Next in line: LOD and first performance fixes
