Build a Map

Build & publish

What you’ll need

Unreal Engine 5.8
Creator Kit v0.4.30 Alpha
Steam account that owns / has launched VR Realms
~10 GB disk for project + cook cache

Steam limits ~10–15 new Workshop items per 24h. Updates do not count, so iterate on the same item.

Building the level

Open the kit → File → New Level (Empty or Open World; keep small for VR).
Build geometry, lighting, materials, sounds as usual. Connect each sound to a player volume slider: see Sound & music.
Interactives: drag BP_VRItemMarker, pick Item in Details.
Save anywhere. The tool gathers referenced assets on Build and moves them into the item folder. See what Build does with your files.

The item folder name is permanent, so pick a good Item name the first time.

The New Level dialog in the kit project with Open World, Empty Open World, Basic and Empty Level — File → New Level in the kit project. Open World and Basic both work; Empty Level is the lightest start for a headset map.

The Content Browser open on Content/VRRealms/Community with Avatars and Maps folders — Content/VRRealms/Community is where Build puts your map and everything it references. Maps and Avatars each get their own folder under it.

The marker after picking TV Screen: a flat 160 by 90 preview plane with an arrow showing the front — Pick TV Screen and the box becomes the real 160 by 90 cm size, with an arrow on the side the picture is on.

The Item dropdown open, listing None, TV Screen, Jukebox, Surface Screen, Drawing Board, Marker, Eraser, Spray Can, Mirror, Button, Drivable Car, Rifle Pad and Pistol Pad — The Item dropdown as it looks in the editor.

PlayerStart and spawn

At least one PlayerStart, at eye height ~165 cm / 65"
≥2 m clear space so players don’t spawn in geometry
Multiple PlayerStarts for multiplayer

Build and publish

Tools → VR Realms Workshop → Map section
Pick level → green READY or amber FIXABLE
Item name if asked, which becomes the folder
Build Map Pak (switch level first if the open map is selected; 3–15 min first cook)
Title, Description, Preview image → Upload Map
Tags: tick Map Type, Player Capacity and Audience in the panel before you upload; they are applied when the upload finishes (Steam must be running and signed in)
Steam: open the item page and set visibility to Public when you are ready

The first cook can look hung. If UnrealEditor-Cmd is using CPU, it is still working. Truly hung = 5+ min at 0% CPU.

The Tools menu with VR Realms Workshop highlighted and its tooltip — Tools → VR Realms Workshop opens the panel. The tooltip says what it does: validate, build and upload maps and avatars.

The panel showing an amber FIXABLE state for a map outside the Community folder — Amber FIXABLE: the map is not under Community yet. Give it an Item name and Build moves it there, with everything it references.

The Build Map Pak button with its tooltip open — Build Map Pak does everything: validates references, moves the map into Community if needed, then cooks and builds the pak. Open a different level first if this one is open.

The panel in the green READY state with title, description, preview image, Workshop ID and tags filled in — Green READY, fields filled in, tags ticked, and the toolbar shows when the pak was last built. Upload Map sends it.

The panel after an upload: UPLOAD COMPLETE, the item link, and the tag log — Upload complete. The log prints the item link, applies your tags, and reminds you that a new item starts Private until it is approved.

The Steam Workshop page of a map with the Change Visibility menu open under Owner Controls — On the item page, Change Visibility under Owner Controls switches it from Private to Public. The tags you ticked show top right.

What Build does with your files

The first time you press Build Map Pak, the tool moves your level and everything the level uses into Content/VRRealms/Community/Maps/(your Item name). That covers meshes, materials, textures, sounds and Blueprints, wherever you had them saved. Nothing is deleted and nothing is lost. It all lives in that one folder now, with the same subfolders it had before, and everything still points at the right files.

It moves the files instead of copying them, for three reasons:

Your map pack is made from that one folder. Anything left outside it would be missing in game.
Only what the level really uses comes along. The unused parts of a store pack stay where they were, so they never make your download bigger.
Every Workshop map has its own folder, so two maps can never overwrite each other’s files.

The kit’s own content, such as the item marker and the ready made props, stays where it is. The game already has it.

Changing your map later

Keep working inside that folder. Open the level from Content/VRRealms/Community/Maps/(your Item name), change, add or remove whatever you like, then press Build Map Pak again and Upload Map to update the same Workshop item.

You can still bring in new assets from anywhere in the project. The next Build moves the new ones in beside the rest.

Starting a second map

Make a new folder in Content, outside VRRealms/Community, and save your new level there.
Build the level as usual.
In the panel, pick the new level and give it its own Item name.
Press Build Map Pak. The new map gets its own folder under Community/Maps, next to your first one.

Build never moves files that are already inside Community, because they belong to another map. If your new level uses assets from your first map, copy them first: in the Content Browser, drag them from the first map’s folder into your new folder, choose Copy Here, and use the copies in the new level. Each map pack carries its own copy of what it uses.

Test in-game

Subscribe on Steam → wrist menu → Host Workshop Map. Your items always load locally; approval only gates the public browser.

← Maps