Outliner does not update after "Replace Actor"

Just a feature that needs implemented eventually that would make sense:

Dropping a static mesh into the world also puts it inside the World Outliner so that you can select things from the outliner, well if you place a mesh into the world, Right-Click → Replace Actor with another actor the name stays as the originally dropped actor.

This easily gets out of control, for instance I’m laying out a building using modular static meshes. I place down a simple wall labeled “Wall-10x10” and duplicate it a few times to make a 30x10 wall. Then I want to add a corner piece, so I drag one more out for ease because then everything is already lined up and use “Replace Actor” which then becomes my corner and my I’m good. Well then I want to take one of the walls and turn it into a window, so I replace the middle 10x10 with a 10x10-Window.

Repeat this process over an entire building, adding moulding, decoration, pillars, windows, doors, etc and at the end of it your entire outliner is “Wall-10x10” regardless of the pieces.

Which completely then defeats the purpose of the outliner because I can’t find the right pieces inside it because none of them are named correctly.

Thanks for your time!

Oh this also gets relayed into the Outout Log as the old name as well.

I often place down a wall, say Brick01 and later want to replace it with Stone04 or something. Well then I come back a few days later and want to remember which wall I selected so I can open it back up in my modeling program and continue where I left off, so I click the actor and look at the name of the log. Well it’s the old one so I have to use “Find In Content Browser” to lookup the name.

Not a big deal, but not exactly working correctly :stuck_out_tongue:

Hi IrishKilter,

Since this is not officially a bug per se, I have moved this post out of the Bug Reports section. However, I have entered a feature request to have the replaced actor’s name to be updated in the World Outliner: JIRA [UE-29196].

Thanks for the feedback,

.

Has the feature been implemented yet? :open_mouth:

Hi AlexanderLaheij,

You can track the status of this issue here: UE-29196 I have commented in the report that others would like to see this feature added to UE4 and have increased the community interest.

Thanks for your feedback,

.

I have a concern about the proposed behavior here where the user may have used a temp asset and changed the label to something specific to what he/she is designing. Then the user could use the replace actor functionality and have their specific label wiped out without realizing it.

One might suggest only replacing the label if it isn’t a default label, but I think that gets tricky since I believe the “default” labels come from the asset that was used to place the actor in the level. I don’t believe the Actor stores which asset it was created from so it wouldn’t be able to determine what its default/original label was.

The replace actors option actually allows you to select multiple Actors and replace them with a new Actor. If you had 3 Actors and selected to replace them with Cubes, would the result be that the actors became cubes with the names Cube, Cube2, Cube3?

@anonymous_user_bcdd396d
Was this ever fixed??? The issue-tracker link is broken.
Im in UE4.27.2 and 2023. This is a BUG and annoying, dangerous.

During prototyping, I place a BP actor in the map. Then as I change the code, I make a backup copy, then rename the original to increase the version number.

But the v# in the Outliner doesnt update. So if I later come back a map/project, I forget and click an actor in the Outliner to see that it’s an old version - I get confused and think this map didnt get the updated BP version. So then I have to right click on it, Edit in BP > to check if it’s the correct v# (based on name) = wastes my time. Unproductive.

  • The Outliner needs to show exactly which assets are in the map, based on file name of the asset.

If this is a limitation due to Redirectors or temp names, then tell us. And you should provide a solution that when Map is reloaded, it now refreshes to the correct asset names. Ty