Lars Thießen
@larstofus.bsky.social
Senior Gameplay Programmer and former gamedev professor.
he/him
Blog: https://larstofus.com/
DMs are open.
he/him
Blog: https://larstofus.com/
DMs are open.
Pinned
Lars Thießen
@larstofus.bsky.social
· Oct 29
Larst Of Us
larstofus.com
Bio Time!
I work as a gameplay programmer, specializing in Unreal Engine 5. Sometimes I give lectures about game development and even worked as a game development professor for a while.
When I have too much free time, I also write about game programming on my blog: larstofus.com
I work as a gameplay programmer, specializing in Unreal Engine 5. Sometimes I give lectures about game development and even worked as a game development professor for a while.
When I have too much free time, I also write about game programming on my blog: larstofus.com
Good news! Epic submitted a fix for this issue!
The even better news is that they didn't just merge my proposed fix but wrote a better one, which can even handle arbitrary tooltip types, not just text-only ones.
Much better outcome than I could have hoped for 🥳
The even better news is that they didn't just merge my proposed fix but wrote a better one, which can even handle arbitrary tooltip types, not just text-only ones.
Much better outcome than I could have hoped for 🥳
There are a lot of reasons why starting the Unreal editor can be slow. In my latest blog post I fixed 38,000 of them.
#ue5
#gamedv
larstofus.com/2025/09/02/s...
#ue5
#gamedv
larstofus.com/2025/09/02/s...
Speeding up the Unreal Editor launch by … not spawning 38000 tooltips?
If there is one thing the Unreal Engine doesn’t suffer from, it is it’s lack of features. Over the past years it has been transformed from “just” a game engine into an ̵…
larstofus.com
November 22, 2025 at 6:52 PM
Good news! Epic submitted a fix for this issue!
The even better news is that they didn't just merge my proposed fix but wrote a better one, which can even handle arbitrary tooltip types, not just text-only ones.
Much better outcome than I could have hoped for 🥳
The even better news is that they didn't just merge my proposed fix but wrote a better one, which can even handle arbitrary tooltip types, not just text-only ones.
Much better outcome than I could have hoped for 🥳
Gave a lecture today using a windows PC that wasn't my own, so mostly using default settings.
Twice(!) during this lecture Windows decided to open a "news & weather" popup in front of my slides! It didn't even have a normal close button. Is this really the 'default windows' experience nowadays? 😵💫
Twice(!) during this lecture Windows decided to open a "news & weather" popup in front of my slides! It didn't even have a normal close button. Is this really the 'default windows' experience nowadays? 😵💫
November 21, 2025 at 12:26 PM
Gave a lecture today using a windows PC that wasn't my own, so mostly using default settings.
Twice(!) during this lecture Windows decided to open a "news & weather" popup in front of my slides! It didn't even have a normal close button. Is this really the 'default windows' experience nowadays? 😵💫
Twice(!) during this lecture Windows decided to open a "news & weather" popup in front of my slides! It didn't even have a normal close button. Is this really the 'default windows' experience nowadays? 😵💫
As a game developer spoiled by dozens of fast CPU cores I always find it amazing to see games running on decades old hardware. In my blog post I take a look at one of the optimizations to run the original SimCity on the CPUs of its time.
#gamedev #retrogaming
larstofus.com/2025/11/16/h...
#gamedev #retrogaming
larstofus.com/2025/11/16/h...
How to run a city builder on 12.5 MHz
Do you feel spoiled by modern hardware? I know I do. Even the cheapest CPUs have at least 4 cores nowadays, running billions of operations per second. The idea that you could run any software on le…
larstofus.com
November 16, 2025 at 3:49 PM
As a game developer spoiled by dozens of fast CPU cores I always find it amazing to see games running on decades old hardware. In my blog post I take a look at one of the optimizations to run the original SimCity on the CPUs of its time.
#gamedev #retrogaming
larstofus.com/2025/11/16/h...
#gamedev #retrogaming
larstofus.com/2025/11/16/h...
TIL that Path of Exile has two different, fully implemented networking modes (Lockstep & "Predictive"), which players can freely switch between o.O
I don't know of a single other game that does this, most developers are glad if they get one mode working properly.
I don't know of a single other game that does this, most developers are glad if they get one mode working properly.
November 16, 2025 at 3:10 PM
TIL that Path of Exile has two different, fully implemented networking modes (Lockstep & "Predictive"), which players can freely switch between o.O
I don't know of a single other game that does this, most developers are glad if they get one mode working properly.
I don't know of a single other game that does this, most developers are glad if they get one mode working properly.
Does anybody know what the first first-person game was that used a full body mesh instead of a floating pair of arms? In my own gaming history the first game that did this was Dark Messiah (2006), but surely there must have been others before it, right?
Googling this is harder than expected :/
Googling this is harder than expected :/
October 30, 2025 at 5:09 PM
Does anybody know what the first first-person game was that used a full body mesh instead of a floating pair of arms? In my own gaming history the first game that did this was Dark Messiah (2006), but surely there must have been others before it, right?
Googling this is harder than expected :/
Googling this is harder than expected :/
Because of reasons I currently use more blueprints in Unreal than usually (normally I work in C++). I constantly stumble over small UI quirks that I never noticed before. Like the function inputs/outputs list. You can use drag & drop to change their order but only in the according subsection (1/2)
October 29, 2025 at 9:02 PM
Because of reasons I currently use more blueprints in Unreal than usually (normally I work in C++). I constantly stumble over small UI quirks that I never noticed before. Like the function inputs/outputs list. You can use drag & drop to change their order but only in the according subsection (1/2)
This sounds like a joke, but I deleted a file by accident and I am *actually* struggling to find the windows recycle bin. It's not on the desktop, not in the start menu and the windows search also can't find it.
I even made a screenshot to make sure I'm not going mad 🫠
I even made a screenshot to make sure I'm not going mad 🫠
October 28, 2025 at 7:48 PM
This sounds like a joke, but I deleted a file by accident and I am *actually* struggling to find the windows recycle bin. It's not on the desktop, not in the start menu and the windows search also can't find it.
I even made a screenshot to make sure I'm not going mad 🫠
I even made a screenshot to make sure I'm not going mad 🫠
I'm mostly ok with modern games trading image clarity for performance, but can we discuss the level of "acceptable noise" again? This is an actual, unedited screenshot from the Halo Remake 😵💫
It looks like a bad scan of an old print magazine
It looks like a bad scan of an old print magazine
October 25, 2025 at 4:30 PM
I'm mostly ok with modern games trading image clarity for performance, but can we discuss the level of "acceptable noise" again? This is an actual, unedited screenshot from the Halo Remake 😵💫
It looks like a bad scan of an old print magazine
It looks like a bad scan of an old print magazine
If you regularly use the PC Gaming Wiki, for example as reliable source to get older games working on modern systems... consider backing up the pages you are interested in ⚠️
According to staff members on their discord, none of the active staff members have full access to the backend anymore.
(1/?)
According to staff members on their discord, none of the active staff members have full access to the backend anymore.
(1/?)
www.pcgw.com
October 20, 2025 at 8:28 PM
If you regularly use the PC Gaming Wiki, for example as reliable source to get older games working on modern systems... consider backing up the pages you are interested in ⚠️
According to staff members on their discord, none of the active staff members have full access to the backend anymore.
(1/?)
According to staff members on their discord, none of the active staff members have full access to the backend anymore.
(1/?)
Just taking another look at the new Unreal FPS Template project because I need an example project for an upcoming lecture. Already on the first step you take you can notice that the new hands clip into the camera at every single step (screenshot attached). Feels a bit rushed tbh.
October 4, 2025 at 2:57 PM
Just taking another look at the new Unreal FPS Template project because I need an example project for an upcoming lecture. Already on the first step you take you can notice that the new hands clip into the camera at every single step (screenshot attached). Feels a bit rushed tbh.
Wait, what?! I read through the whole article without noticing that part 😱
Really looking forward to it. Right now Superluminal is one of the very few applications left that I couldn't easily replace when switching to Linux 👀
Really looking forward to it. Right now Superluminal is one of the very few applications left that I couldn't easily replace when switching to Linux 👀
Great post!
Including a sneak peek of a certain profiler on a platform that is very much not Windows ;-)
Including a sneak peek of a certain profiler on a platform that is very much not Windows ;-)
New blog post! In "Billions of triangles in minutes" we'll walk through hierarchical cluster level of detail generation of, well, billions of triangles in minutes. Reposts welcome!
zeux.io/2025/09/30/b...
zeux.io/2025/09/30/b...
October 1, 2025 at 12:35 PM
Wait, what?! I read through the whole article without noticing that part 😱
Really looking forward to it. Right now Superluminal is one of the very few applications left that I couldn't easily replace when switching to Linux 👀
Really looking forward to it. Right now Superluminal is one of the very few applications left that I couldn't easily replace when switching to Linux 👀
Reposted by Lars Thießen
New blog post! In "Billions of triangles in minutes" we'll walk through hierarchical cluster level of detail generation of, well, billions of triangles in minutes. Reposts welcome!
zeux.io/2025/09/30/b...
zeux.io/2025/09/30/b...
September 30, 2025 at 5:40 PM
New blog post! In "Billions of triangles in minutes" we'll walk through hierarchical cluster level of detail generation of, well, billions of triangles in minutes. Reposts welcome!
zeux.io/2025/09/30/b...
zeux.io/2025/09/30/b...
It's understandable that Unreal needs to touch a lot of files when starting the editor. But what if I told you that >5500 of those files are not needed for the editor to start at all and are just adding seconds to the editor launch time?
(Fix included!)
#u5 #gamedev
larstofus.com/2025/09/27/s...
(Fix included!)
#u5 #gamedev
larstofus.com/2025/09/27/s...
Speeding up the Unreal Editor launch by … not opening 5500 files?
In my last article I wrote about some tooltip optimization to reduce the start time of the Unreal Editor by 2-5 seconds. Turns out people do really care about their editor start time. So much that …
larstofus.com
September 27, 2025 at 5:36 PM
It's understandable that Unreal needs to touch a lot of files when starting the editor. But what if I told you that >5500 of those files are not needed for the editor to start at all and are just adding seconds to the editor launch time?
(Fix included!)
#u5 #gamedev
larstofus.com/2025/09/27/s...
(Fix included!)
#u5 #gamedev
larstofus.com/2025/09/27/s...
Reposted by Lars Thießen
Are you or someone you know skipping GDC (or considering doing so) because of worries about coming to the US/San Francisco in the current environment?
If so, I want to hear from you for a piece. DM me here or kyle DOT orland AT arstechnica DOT com.
Please spread the word
If so, I want to hear from you for a piece. DM me here or kyle DOT orland AT arstechnica DOT com.
Please spread the word
September 22, 2025 at 6:13 PM
Are you or someone you know skipping GDC (or considering doing so) because of worries about coming to the US/San Francisco in the current environment?
If so, I want to hear from you for a piece. DM me here or kyle DOT orland AT arstechnica DOT com.
Please spread the word
If so, I want to hear from you for a piece. DM me here or kyle DOT orland AT arstechnica DOT com.
Please spread the word
Reposted by Lars Thießen
Becoming obsessed with adding QoL features to the Mip Explorer:
- Navigate directories with the arrow keys
- Taskbar notification when directory scan ends while app is in the background
- Resizable UI
- Support for single-channel textures (ok, not just QoL)
github.com/HaukeThiesse...
#gamedev
- Navigate directories with the arrow keys
- Taskbar notification when directory scan ends while app is in the background
- Resizable UI
- Support for single-channel textures (ok, not just QoL)
github.com/HaukeThiesse...
#gamedev
GitHub - HaukeThiessen/Mip-Explorer: A tool to display how texture information is distributed between mips, using a Laplacian Pyramid
A tool to display how texture information is distributed between mips, using a Laplacian Pyramid - HaukeThiessen/Mip-Explorer
github.com
September 21, 2025 at 7:41 PM
Becoming obsessed with adding QoL features to the Mip Explorer:
- Navigate directories with the arrow keys
- Taskbar notification when directory scan ends while app is in the background
- Resizable UI
- Support for single-channel textures (ok, not just QoL)
github.com/HaukeThiesse...
#gamedev
- Navigate directories with the arrow keys
- Taskbar notification when directory scan ends while app is in the background
- Resizable UI
- Support for single-channel textures (ok, not just QoL)
github.com/HaukeThiesse...
#gamedev
Just noticed that 5.7 is the first UE5 version since 5.0 without any explicit Lumen improvements on the roadmap 🧐
Guess MegaLights is the focus for the next few releases?
Guess MegaLights is the focus for the next few releases?
September 21, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Just noticed that 5.7 is the first UE5 version since 5.0 without any explicit Lumen improvements on the roadmap 🧐
Guess MegaLights is the focus for the next few releases?
Guess MegaLights is the focus for the next few releases?
Reposted by Lars Thießen
With the latest update for the Mip Explorer, it now also reads and compares the alpha channels if existent, and can process entire directories, returning the results in a sorted list.
The goal is to turn this from a toy into a tool for actual production.
github.com/HaukeThiesse...
#gamedev
The goal is to turn this from a toy into a tool for actual production.
github.com/HaukeThiesse...
#gamedev
September 14, 2025 at 6:40 PM
With the latest update for the Mip Explorer, it now also reads and compares the alpha channels if existent, and can process entire directories, returning the results in a sorted list.
The goal is to turn this from a toy into a tool for actual production.
github.com/HaukeThiesse...
#gamedev
The goal is to turn this from a toy into a tool for actual production.
github.com/HaukeThiesse...
#gamedev
Reposted by Lars Thießen
Attention fellow AUSTRALIANS! 🇦🇺
We now have an official petition to parliament to STOP MASTERCARD and VISA from its campaign of censorship, restricting what legal products we can buy.
Please sign it now, and if you're not an Aussie, spread the word!
www.aph.gov.au/e-petitions/...
We now have an official petition to parliament to STOP MASTERCARD and VISA from its campaign of censorship, restricting what legal products we can buy.
Please sign it now, and if you're not an Aussie, spread the word!
www.aph.gov.au/e-petitions/...
September 6, 2025 at 1:34 AM
Attention fellow AUSTRALIANS! 🇦🇺
We now have an official petition to parliament to STOP MASTERCARD and VISA from its campaign of censorship, restricting what legal products we can buy.
Please sign it now, and if you're not an Aussie, spread the word!
www.aph.gov.au/e-petitions/...
We now have an official petition to parliament to STOP MASTERCARD and VISA from its campaign of censorship, restricting what legal products we can buy.
Please sign it now, and if you're not an Aussie, spread the word!
www.aph.gov.au/e-petitions/...
There are a lot of reasons why starting the Unreal editor can be slow. In my latest blog post I fixed 38,000 of them.
#ue5
#gamedv
larstofus.com/2025/09/02/s...
#ue5
#gamedv
larstofus.com/2025/09/02/s...
Speeding up the Unreal Editor launch by … not spawning 38000 tooltips?
If there is one thing the Unreal Engine doesn’t suffer from, it is it’s lack of features. Over the past years it has been transformed from “just” a game engine into an ̵…
larstofus.com
September 2, 2025 at 8:53 PM
There are a lot of reasons why starting the Unreal editor can be slow. In my latest blog post I fixed 38,000 of them.
#ue5
#gamedv
larstofus.com/2025/09/02/s...
#ue5
#gamedv
larstofus.com/2025/09/02/s...
Reposted by Lars Thießen
@godotfest.bsky.social is still seeking some volunteers to assist video recordings. Free ticket.
Discord: discord.com/invite/vA4pN...
Form: forms.gle/73X7M5pa59Dc...
#godot #godotfest #godotcon
Discord: discord.com/invite/vA4pN...
Form: forms.gle/73X7M5pa59Dc...
#godot #godotfest #godotcon
September 2, 2025 at 9:11 AM
@godotfest.bsky.social is still seeking some volunteers to assist video recordings. Free ticket.
Discord: discord.com/invite/vA4pN...
Form: forms.gle/73X7M5pa59Dc...
#godot #godotfest #godotcon
Discord: discord.com/invite/vA4pN...
Form: forms.gle/73X7M5pa59Dc...
#godot #godotfest #godotcon
In a recent talk I called Rollercoaster Tycoon 2 one of the best optimized video games in existence, and there probably aren't many big savings left anymore...
Well, just weeks later it's open source re-implementation made the creation of savegames 12(!) times faster 🏎️
openrct2.io/blog/2025/08...
Well, just weeks later it's open source re-implementation made the creation of savegames 12(!) times faster 🏎️
openrct2.io/blog/2025/08...
OpenRCT2's v0.4.26 behind the scenes
Read more about some changes introduced on v0.4.26 to make the game faster and smaller using a new compression algorithm!
openrct2.io
September 1, 2025 at 12:41 PM
In a recent talk I called Rollercoaster Tycoon 2 one of the best optimized video games in existence, and there probably aren't many big savings left anymore...
Well, just weeks later it's open source re-implementation made the creation of savegames 12(!) times faster 🏎️
openrct2.io/blog/2025/08...
Well, just weeks later it's open source re-implementation made the creation of savegames 12(!) times faster 🏎️
openrct2.io/blog/2025/08...
Reposted by Lars Thießen
Hi authors! Please remember to file a claim!
AI advocates have warned that if every author in the class action filed a claim, it would "financially ruin" the entire industry.
Authors celebrate “historic” settlement coming soon in Anthropic class action
Advocates fear such settlements will “financially ruin” the AI industry.
arstechnica.com
August 27, 2025 at 5:30 PM
Hi authors! Please remember to file a claim!
Reposted by Lars Thießen
Do you have a gamedev blog with RSS active? comment with the link, I'll follow, let's spread a bit of love for good old blogging! mine's in bio if you want.
August 27, 2025 at 1:03 PM
Do you have a gamedev blog with RSS active? comment with the link, I'll follow, let's spread a bit of love for good old blogging! mine's in bio if you want.
Reposted by Lars Thießen
We've made Property History free & open source!
You can use it to quickly see the history of any property in Unreal
github.com/VoxelPlugin/...
You can use it to quickly see the history of any property in Unreal
github.com/VoxelPlugin/...
August 25, 2025 at 2:48 PM
We've made Property History free & open source!
You can use it to quickly see the history of any property in Unreal
github.com/VoxelPlugin/...
You can use it to quickly see the history of any property in Unreal
github.com/VoxelPlugin/...