This was a new trick I found out about recently while doing some optimisation.

Did you know you can copy static mesh LOD settings from one mesh to another?

If you would prefer to watch the video version, check it out here

Below I have 2 static meshes. The first has LODs setup and the second, another very similar mesh does not have any LODs. Because they are so similar they should be able to use the same LOD settings.

If we Right-Click on the asset with LODs then we go to the top of the menu Level of Detail -> Copy LOD. We will then have that assets LOD details stored.

If we then Right-Click On The Asset we want to put LODs on. Go to the top of the menu Level of Detail -> Paste LOD from Door01_Fixed. The settings will now be copied over!

An important step is to save the asset before you open it up. Otherwise, I have found that the LOD transfer may not work correctly.

Below you can see a gif of the whole process in one go.

It’s worth mentioning that you can also quickly set up LODs on an asset using LOD Groups. LOD groups are effectively presets. If you don’t know what they are you should definitely check them out: https://docs.unrealengine.com/4.26/en-US/WorkingWithContent/Types/StaticMeshes/HowTo/AutomaticLODGeneration/ .

However, one problem I found with using them is that you can’t set up presets for the custom screen sizes. By this I mean if you turn off “Auto compute LOD Distance”, you are able to handset the distances at which LODs switch e.g. LOD 1 to LOD 2.

That is why I found copy/pasting between assets of a similar size/detail amount worked well instead.

This works in exactly the same way in Unreal Engine 5.

This was a great find and it really helped speed up the optimising pass I was doing on my project.

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Also, check out the parkour game I'm solo developing called Freerunners. Give it a wishlist if you like the way it looks!: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1430330/Freerunners/