ViewportContainer in Godot 4: it is SubViewportContainer now
By Eduardo Orellana · Updated
ViewportContainer is called SubViewportContainer in Godot 4, and the Viewport you put in it is a SubViewport. In a Godot 4 project, ViewportContainer.new() fails to parse with Identifier "ViewportContainer" not declared in the current scope. Did you mean to use "SubViewportContainer"?.
AppImage, x86_64. Ubuntu 22.04, Debian 12, Fedora 39 or newer.
Intel or AMD Chromebook, with Linux turned on.
What Godot is checking
GDScript resolves every name when the script loads. ViewportContainer is not a class in Godot 4, so the analyzer stops before anything runs, and because the name is in Godot's own table of Godot 3 renames, the message names the replacement.
The converter carries ViewportContainer to SubViewportContainer and Viewport to SubViewport. Viewport is now the abstract base of SubViewport and Window, so it cannot be created on its own. stretch makes the SubViewport take the container's size.
Reproduce it
A Godot 3 script that creates a ViewportContainer in code, in a Godot 4 project.
extends Node
func _ready():
var container = ViewportContainer.new()
print(container)
What Godot 4.7.2 prints
Godot Engine v4.7.2.stable.mono.official.ed1daf0bf - https://godotengine.org
SCRIPT ERROR: Parse Error: Identifier "ViewportContainer" not declared in the current scope. Did you mean to use "SubViewportContainer"?
at: GDScript::reload (res://answers/viewportcontainer-in-godot-4/repro.gd:4)
ERROR: Failed to load script "res://answers/viewportcontainer-in-godot-4/repro.gd" with error "Parse error".
at: load (modules/gdscript/gdscript_resource_format.cpp:46)Fix it
A SubViewportContainer holding a SubViewport, sized by stretch.
extends Control
func _ready() -> void:
var container := SubViewportContainer.new()
container.stretch = true
container.size = Vector2(320, 180)
var view := SubViewport.new()
container.add_child(view)
add_child(container)
await get_tree().process_frame
print(container.get_class(), " with ", view.get_class(), " size ", view.size)
What the fixed script prints
Godot Engine v4.7.2.stable.mono.official.ed1daf0bf - https://godotengine.org
SubViewportContainer with SubViewport size (320, 180)Verified on Godot 4.7.2
Both scripts on this page were run headless on Godot 4.7.2 (4.7.2.stable.mono.official.ed1daf0bf) on 18 October 2026, and the output above is what Godot printed, unedited.
Where the check lives in Godot's source: [gdscript_analyzer.cpp line 4687, the message with its hint](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/blob/4.7.2-stable/modules/gdscript/gdscript_analyzer.cpp#L4687), [renames_map_3_to_4.cpp line 1621, ViewportContainer to SubViewportContainer](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/blob/4.7.2-stable/editor/project_upgrade/renames_map_3_to_4.cpp#L1621), [SubViewportContainer class reference](https://github.com/godotengine/godot/blob/4.7.2-stable/doc/classes/SubViewportContainer.xml).
Questions
- How do I show a SubViewport as a texture?
- Use a ViewportTexture: get_texture() on the SubViewport, assigned to a TextureRect or a material.
- Is the root still a Viewport?
- The root is a Window, which inherits Viewport. get_viewport() still returns it.