Operating System Simulator

Operating System Simulator, Unreal Engine plugin lets you build a fully simulated desktop, laptop, phone, or terminal environment inside your game — complete with programs, filesystem, taskbar, store, BIOS boot flow, and terminal commands that can talk to the rest of your level.

Everything is modular: swap widgets, add Blueprint or C++ programs, wire terminal commands to gameplay through messenger subsystems, and ship on Windows, Mac, Linux, or consoles (where supported).

What you can build

Use case	How the plugin helps
Hacking / cyberpunk UI	Terminal, filesystem, fake apps, BSOD
In-world computers	3D device mesh + UOperatingSystemDeviceWidget
Phone / tablet gameplay	AOperatingSystemPortableDeviceActor with battery
Puzzle games	Terminal commands → Global Messenger → world actors
Narrative / immersive sim	Mail, video player, store, custom programs

Architecture at a glance

flowchart TB
  subgraph row1["Device chain"]
    direction LR
    Actor["AOperatingSystem<br/>DeviceActor"] --> Device["UOperatingSystem<br/>BaseDevice"] --> OS["UOperatingSystem"]
  end
  subgraph row2["Runtime objects"]
    direction LR
    HW["Hardware<br/>MBB · CPU · RAM · HDD · GPU"] --- Progs["UOperatingSystem<br/>BaseProgram"] --- FS["Directory &<br/>File objects"] --- UI["UOperatingSystem<br/>Widget"]
  end
  subgraph row3["Terminal & messengers"]
    direction LR
    Term["UOperatingSystem<br/>Terminal"] --> Cmd["Terminal<br/>Command"] --> GM["UGlobalMessage<br/>Subsystem"]
  end
  Device --> HW
  OS --> Progs
  Progs --> Term

1. Place a device actor in the level.
2. The actor constructs a device object with simulated hardware.
3. The device boots an operating system object that owns programs, directories, and UI.
4. Programs (Explorer, Terminal, Store, your own apps) run as UObject classes with UMG widgets.
5. Terminal commands and messengers connect the OS to gameplay outside the device.

See Plugin Classes for the full class map.

flowchart TB
  ROOT(("OS Simulator docs"))
  ROOT --> TUT[Tutorials]
  ROOT --> REF[Reference]
  ROOT --> FEAT[Features]
  TUT --> T1[Device chain]
  TUT --> T2[Programs]
  TUT --> T3[Messengers]
  REF --> R1[Blueprint]
  REF --> R2[C++ API]
  REF --> R3[Plugin Classes]
  FEAT --> F1[Programs]
  FEAT --> F2[Settings]
  FEAT --> F3[Viewport World]

Quick start

1. Enable the plugin and build your project — see Getting Started.
2. Open DemoMap from plugin content — see Try the demo map.
3. Follow the Overview series to create your own device, OS, and programs.

API documentation

Class-level signatures live under the API Reference tab: Operating System Simulator API.

Documentation map

Section	Contents
Features	Full feature list — OS types, filesystem, programs, messengers, save/load, and more
Overview	Step-by-step guides with Blueprint and C++ examples
Examples & Patterns	Cookbook index + 10 standalone example tutorials
C++ Extension Examples	Native add/extend recipes for programs, commands, files, messengers
Programs	Built-in apps and how to create your own
Settings	Theme, wallpaper, and custom setting modules
Messengers	Global and device-scoped event buses
Viewport World	Secondary game world inside an OS viewport
Blueprint Reference	Common nodes and widget bases
C++ Reference	Modules, headers, and override points

Support

• Troubleshooting — build errors, GlobalCore module, CCTV ERR_DATA_NULL, packaging
• Discord — community and support
• Demo download — standalone Windows/Mac build