Dear Epic,
In the rather hot topic of packaging C++ plugins (think Marketplace C++ plugins), I would like to report a major issue I am experiencing.
It is an issue that affects all distribution of all C++ plugins to people who cannot do a full rebuild of the C++ code for the plugin, and even those who can.
This issue prevents BP-only users from packaging C++ plugins with their projects, which is a requirement for C++ plugins to be on the marketplace.
Suppose I give someone a plugin, **and I dont include Intermediate folder**, just the source and the binaries.
They will be able to use the plugin in the editor, but they wont be able to package the plugin.
I dont want to have to include the Intermediate folder in the plugin distribution because it is usually a huge amount of space (134Mb or 500mb or more), and I also thought Intermediate folder was not supposed to be required.
**Repro:**
1. For any plugin that is a **runtime** plugin (will be included with the packaged game, verify by opening the .uplugin in text editor), **delete the plugin intermediate folder** and try to package for Windows Development 64. It wont work, citing missing Intermediate folder files.
3. Open the project .sln file, and do a regular build for Development Editor x64, it wont work due to missing Intermediate files.
4. Now do a full rebuild in VS, and **this will regenerate the Intermediate folder.**
5. Now try to package the game for Development 64, it wont work, citing missing Intermediate folder files.
6. Now do a full rebuild in Visual Studio for Development (Game) x64, **this will regenerate the Intermediate folder for Development Game x64**
7. Package the Game for Dev. x64 and now it WILL work because all the intermediate files are now present.
**My point:**
Prior to 4.9, I never had to include the Intermediate folder and UE4 was able to reconstruct the missing Intermediate files and package properly.
**Currently in 4.11, if the intermediate folder is missing, the plugin simply cannot be packaged**, until the intermediate folder is regenerated via a full rebuild in Visual Studio.
This affects all distribution of all C++ plugins to people who cannot do a full rebuild of the C++ code for the plugin.
People who can rebuild the C++ need to realize they have to do a full rebuild in Visual Studio for the destination build (such as Development (Game) Win64)
This process is prohibitively complicated at the moment, and requires distributing the Intermediate folder with the plugin, which addes anywhere from 100 to 500mb of extra data to the distribution files.
I am very concerned about this because it was not an issue prior to 4.9, where the plugin Intermediate folder was regenerated automatically.
This issue also permanently prevents BP-only users from packaging C++ plugins with their projects, which is a requirement for C++ plugins to be on the marketplace.
Rama