UWorld

class Engine Blueprint Since 1.0

Inherits: UObjectBase › UObjectBaseUtility › UObject › UWorld

#include "Engine/World.h"

Access: public Specifiers: UCLASS

Description

The top-level game world object. UWorld owns all actors, levels, the physics scene, the navigation system, and the timer manager. It is the primary context object — most gameplay operations that interact with the world (spawning actors, raycasting, etc.) require a UWorld pointer.

Signature

class UWorld : public UObject

Caveats & Gotchas

• In Unreal, there can be multiple UWorld instances simultaneously (game world, editor world, PIE world, preview worlds). Fetching the wrong one is a common source of bugs. Use `GEngine->GetWorldFromContextObject()` or `GetWorld()` on a valid actor or component.
• Never store a raw `UWorld*` as a class member — always get it via `GetWorld()` when needed.
• The timer manager (`GetTimerManager()`), line trace functions, and `SpawnActor()` are all accessed through UWorld.

Example

Spawning an actor and performing a line trace C++

UWorld* World = GetWorld();
if (!IsValid(World)) return;

// Spawn actor
FActorSpawnParameters Params;
AMyActor* NewActor = World->SpawnActor<AMyActor>(
    AMyActor::StaticClass(), SpawnLocation, FRotator::ZeroRotator, Params);

// Line trace
FHitResult Hit;
FCollisionQueryParams QP;
QP.AddIgnoredActor(this);

bool bHit = World->LineTraceSingleByChannel(
    Hit,
    TraceStart,
    TraceEnd,
    ECC_Visibility,
    QP
);

if (bHit)
{
    UE_LOG(LogTemp, Log, TEXT("Hit: %s"), *Hit.GetActor()->GetName());
}

Functions (10)

Transform 1 Collision 4 Utility 5

Transform

1 ▼

Access	Type	Name	Description
public	function	UWorld::SpawnActor	Spawns an actor of the given class into the world at the specified location and rotation.

Collision

4 ▼

Access	Type	Name	Description
public	function	UWorld::LineTraceMultiByChannel	Traces a ray from Start to End and returns all overlapping hits plus the first blocking hit.
public	function	UWorld::LineTraceSingleByChannel	Traces a ray from Start to End using the specified collision channel and returns the first blocking hit.
public	function	UWorld::OverlapMultiByChannel	Tests a stationary collision shape at Pos against the world and returns all overlapping components on the given channel.
public	function	UWorld::SweepSingleByChannel	Sweeps a collision shape from Start to End and returns the first blocking hit.

Utility

5 ▼

Access	Type	Name	Description
public	function	UWorld::DestroyActor	Removes an actor from the world, calling Destroyed() and cleaning up all associated resources.
public	function	UWorld::GetAuthGameMode	Returns the current AGameModeBase instance cast to the template type.
public	function	UWorld::GetGameState	Returns the current GameState instance cast to the template type.
public	function	UWorld::GetTimerManager	Returns the FTimerManager for this world, used to schedule, cancel, pause, and query gameplay timers.
public	function	UWorld::GetTimeSeconds	Returns the elapsed game time in seconds since the world began play.

Version History

Introduced in: 1.0

Version	Status	Notes
5.6	stable	—

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