Hey guys! Does anyone have experience with packaging to iOS? I have been pressing up against this 2gig limit for the IPA (packaged iOS game). I added a new map and now its for sure over that limit and I get this error when packaging
UATHelper: Packaging (iOS): IPP ERROR: Application exception: System.IO.IOException: The file is too long. This operation is currently limited to supporting files less than 2 gigabytes in size.
Does anyone have any suggestions on the most efficient way of reducing IPA size? Does deleting unused asset help? Or does that not help at all cause it only includes used assets in the packaged file? I can’t find solid documentation on this. I don’t want to delete content that I might use later if it doesn’t reduce the size.
ALSO, is there a way around this altogether? Can I package the game in Visual Studio? I think games can be up to 4 gigs on the app store so why can’t UE4 push out a 3gig game?
Hi Nobandegan! I should have mentioned that I have already followed that page of documentation. Even after all of those optimizations I am still over the 2 gig limit. That doc does not specifically state if removing unused items from your project folder will reduce packaged game size.
Well, there is an option to never cook specified directories so I would think removing content could reduce the file size.
EDIT: Have you packed your textures?
MMMarcis, that cook setting would lead me to believe that, but then other areas the forums state that UE4 will only include used content in packaged games. If there are no references to an asset it will not be packaged.
So I am not sure. Once I am able to package again, I will have to test the theory be deleting a few assets and comparing IPA size.
I have packaged successfully recently which included all the textures, but then I made a new map and added some new 3d models to the project which put me over the limit.
EDIT: I just looked through my cooked content at: project folder → saved → cooked content
and I can confirm that unused assets do NOT get cooked.
What this means is that I have to reduce the number of assets being used in my project. Like assets I am using 1 or two times I can remove and replace with others. That is my only hope I guess. That or reducing texture sizes.
Perfect. He is using a program that I am not familiar with, but I can look up how to do essentially the same thing in photoshop I think. This will probably take a lot of manual work, but I could essentially reduce texture space by like 2/3 right? And textures are the majority of my IPA when I look at the cooked folder sizes
Not sure about 2/3 but definitely a significant reduction. There is a plugin on the marketplace called multipacker redux that I have but I haven’t used it much. It might save you some time.
EDIT: Also if you’re really desperate you could lower the resolution of your color textures but keeping roughness and normal at the same resolution (if you’re using PBR workflow).
I see what you mean, not all materials in my project use multiple greyscale textures that I could combine. HOWEVER, i found a plugin similar to the one you mentioned and did pack a decent amount of 4K textures. I also removed a few tree/foliage assets I was using only once or twice. I am exporting to iOS right now with my fingers crossed it works!
With the future in mind, i will not implement multiple nature scene marketplace packs into a iOS/ android project.
EDIT: Packaging failed, still over the 2 gig limit. The new village houses I added all use 4k textures and look like ■■■■ when I reduce them to 2K. The village pack alone has 2.05 gig of cooked content ): I will have to rethink things heavily unless there is a way to avoid this file size capacity. Apple for sure accepts apps up to 4 gigs so I’m not sure why Unreal doesn’t increase this cap.
To answer the question, no. Unused assets are not packaged into the iOS IPA file you get after packaging.
To get my game under the 2 gig limit, I did a lot of texture packing as @MMMarcis instructed me to do. I also removed some models, materials, and textures entirely by deleting them from my maps and replacing them with other models already in use.
It is amazing that large games like COD mobile can stay under 2 gigs. Basically you have to stay away from 4K textures as much as possible. That’s were all the space really comes from is the textures.
