Unreal Engine Level Snapshots: A Guide to Managing Architectural Scene Variations

What will you learn in this guide?

Experimenting with different lighting, furniture layouts, or object arrangements in an architectural scene can risk losing the original scene state. Unreal Engine’s Level Snapshots helps you save the state of actors in a level at a specific point in time and return to it later. This guide covers how to enable the plugin, create a scene snapshot, choose what to restore, and use filters to limit changes.

Level Snapshots saves the state of actors in a scene, as well as their components and properties. This means you can use it to undo changes to an actor’s position or to a property. However, the feature does not save the state of assets such as materials, so it is important to account for this distinction at the start of your workflow.

Requirements and setup

The basic requirements are an Unreal Editor project and the Level Snapshots plugin. Epic’s guide does not specify a minimum Unreal Engine version or user account requirements. Check in the editor whether the plugin is available in your installation.

To enable the feature:

1. In Unreal Editor, open Project Settings from the main menu.

2. Go to Plugins > LevelSnapshots.

3. Enable the LevelSnapshots plugin.

4. The editor will prompt you to restart after the change; restart it.

5. If your project uses nDisplay, you can also enable the nDisplay Support For Level Snapshots plugin. This additional plugin is not required for projects that do not use nDisplay.

Once the editor has reopened, you can access the Level Snapshots menu in the main toolbar and the Level Snapshots window. Before saving a scene, it is useful to check which level you are working on and review visibility settings. The system also captures actors that are not visible in the World Outliner at the time the snapshot is taken.

Step-by-step: Save a scene state

1. Prepare the scene state to save. Arrange actors, components, and properties as needed. Since this snapshot will be the reference point for a restore, describe the scene variation clearly.

2. Open the snapshot creation window. To take a snapshot, use the Level Snapshot button in the main toolbar, click Take Snapshot in the Level Snapshot window, or start the same action through the Remote Control Web Application. All three methods open the Create Level Snapshot window.

3. Name and describe the snapshot. The default name is generated in a format that includes the level name, user name, and time information. You can change the name and add a note explaining the purpose of the snapshot. For example, choose names that help your team identify which scene option was saved.

4. Check the save location. The snapshot is stored as an asset under the Root Directory shown in the window. The default root directory is named LevelSnapshots; its subdirectories are organized based on the level name and the year-month-day the snapshot was taken. You can change the root directory and the subdirectory for a specific snapshot. If you change the name before saving, it may become the default for subsequent snapshots, so check your naming convention.

5. Restore the snapshot. Select the relevant snapshot in the Level Snapshot window and click Restore Level Snapshot. Restoring removes actors added to the level after the snapshot was taken and brings back actors that were subsequently deleted. Actor transforms and properties also return to their saved states. The operation can be undone.

Selective restores and filters

When you select a snapshot, the right side of the window lists the actors, components, and properties to be restored. Use the checkboxes in this list to apply or ignore specific changes. This lets you restore, for example, only changes related to the lighting setup rather than reverting the entire scene.

Custom filters can help you make selections more repeatable:

1. Add a filter group using the + Filter Group button.

2. Choose a common filter from the Add Filter menu, or use C++ Filters, Blueprint Filters, or the search field.

3. Select the filter and configure its required properties. For example, Actor Has Tag Filter requires an actor tag to work.

4. After selecting a snapshot, click Refresh Results to filter the results.

5. To reuse a filter, save it with Save As from the Load / Save Filter menu. You can later load the saved filter from the same menu.

Filters in a group are evaluated together using AND logic; actors must meet all the criteria to remain in the results. Adding new filter groups creates OR logic between groups, so actors that meet the criteria of any group are included. You can also enable, disable, or delete filter groups. If others on your team will use the filters, give them clear names that explain what they include and exclude.

Considerations for architecture and archviz workflows

For architecture firms and visualization teams, Level Snapshots can help manage different actor arrangements in the same level without creating separate copies. For example, you can return to a saved state while testing changes to furniture or lighting actors in an interior scene. Selective restores let teams apply only the actors or properties they need. This can be useful when comparing scene alternatives, but the workflow depends on consistent naming and understanding what is captured.

The most important limitation is that asset states are not saved. Do not assume that changes to materials are preserved by a snapshot; Epic recommends tracking these kinds of asset changes separately with source control. Landscapes, USD actors, and console variables are also not tracked by Level Snapshots; use separate methods to track them if needed. If the sublevel’s name is changed after a snapshot is created, the system may treat the actors as new actors rather than as the existing actors that have changed.

In projects with multiple levels, the Level Snapshot window shows only snapshots for the currently open level. If you cannot find a snapshot, check that the correct level is open. In more complex scenes, keeping filters simple and reviewing the restore list before applying it can reduce the risk of changing the wrong actors.

Common mistakes and next steps

• Assuming material changes are included in snapshots: Asset states, including materials, are not part of these snapshots; use source control separately.

• Forgetting about hidden actors: Visibility does not determine whether an actor is captured. Check the list before restoring.

• Mixing up filter logic: Remember that filters use AND within a group and OR between groups. Name your filters and verify them by refreshing the results.

• Assuming unsupported items are tracked: Landscapes, USD actors, and console variables are among the listed limitations.

For your first test, create a snapshot and try restoring only a specific actor or property. Then save and name filters to share with the team, and include asset changes in a separate source control process. This makes Level Snapshots a controlled way to revert scene edits, rather than a backup for all project assets.

Source and license

This guide is adapted into Turkish from Epic Games’ official Unreal Engine Level Snapshots documentation. Source license: free.