Hogwarts Legacy player finds Photo Mode workaround, but there’s a catch

While Hogwarts Legacy does not have an official Photo Mode just yet, one player has found a bit of a complicated workaround to remedy that.

Much to the chagrin of many Harry Potter fans, Hogwarts Legacy does not yet have an official Photo Mode where players can take clean screenshots.

While fans can disable the game’s HUD elements to limit the clutter of their in-game screenshots, there’s no way to freely move the camera away from the typical third-person perspective.

However, one fan has found a bit of a complicated workaround to freely move the camera around, but there’s a bit of a catch involved with the process.

Hogwarts Legacy fan finds Photo Mode workaround

The solution came from a Reddit user named Fineus, who posted evidence of the workaround on a thread begging Avalanche Software to add a dedicated Photo Mode to the game.

Fineus said that they had “good news” for PC players, and claimed they had discovered a method to break the camera away from the third-person view thanks to a tool called Universal Unreal Engine 4 Unlocker.

As Hogwarts Legacy was developed in Unreal Engine 4, this tool essentially gives PC players access to a suite of developer tools to modify their game.

Avalanche Software/Warner Bros. Games

While Hogwarts Legacy players are able to take fairly clean screenshots, the camera is always locked to a third-person view.

According to the screenshot Fineus provided, they were able to use the tool to freely move the camera around the players and environment, as well as disable every HUD element to get rid of clutter.

After further testing, they deemed this workaround a “viable photo mode.” Of course, there are quite a few caveats that come with taking screenshots this way.

First and foremost, this method is only available to PC players, as console players have no way to launch the configuration files needed for Universal Unreal Engine 4 Unlocker. Additionally, PC players would need to download this tool, follow the necessary steps to get it working properly, and launch it every time they want to take screenshots.

While it certainly makes for clear screenshots with a free camera, it’s far from convenient. Hopefully, Avalanche Software will add a Photo Mode to the game in the near future, though there’s no news of upcoming plans for one just yet.