Debug Engine Sources in Standalone Game

Development Platform & Builds Debugging, Optimization, & Profiling
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1

Hi!

I can’t debug engine sources in standalone game in Visual Studio 2015 Update 3. Steps to reproduce the bug:

  1. In project settings enable “Packaging → Enable Debug Files”
  2. Set “Packaging → Build Configuration” to DebugGame
  3. Cook Content for Windows
  4. Close Editor
  5. In Visual Studio switch “Solution Configuration” to DebugGame
  6. Paste breakpoint in any place of Engine sources
  7. Run the Game by pressing F5
  8. Nothing happens, VS don’t see engine debug libraries :slight_smile: Breakpoints not working.

In the Editor mode all works fine, and breakpoints are triggerable.

Hope you can fix this in future releases :slight_smile:

2

Sad no one answers this question, I am also looking for answer, I find this similar question might be helpful: How to debug engine source file without launch Editor? - Pipeline & Plugins - Unreal Engine Forums

3

you cannot debug the engine code if you are using an installed version of unreal, even if you have the source code, you can only debug it when using the editor you build, but when packaging the installed libraries are used and the code of the engine is not accessible to you. That’s why you only see the solution configuration debuggame (which means you can debug your code but not the engine’s)

to be able to debug the engine code, you need to :

  • clone the unreal repository of the same version you’re using (see on unreal wiki how to get access)
  • build the editor
  • launch engine/binaries/win64/UnrealVersionSelector-Win64-Shipping.exe to register the unreal version you just built
  • right click on your project and convert it to the built version
  • generate project files
  • open the solution, build the editor, launch it and cook your files
  • build in debug configuration, now when you launch the debugger for this configuration you will have access to all

the source code

plan some time and some HD space !

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