Is there some old version of Epic Launcher or some way to run it on DX9 graphics card?
No, UE4 does not support DX9, chances are that even if it did then your card wouldn’t be powerful enough to run it anyways.
Since what version dx9 support was dropped?
UE4 has not supported DX9 ever, but UDK supports DX9 but it looks like the download has been removed from the Unreal website so you’d have to contact Epic and see if you can get the latest installer for that or find it somewhere else.
Why you say so, when there is [Compatibility List] Unreal 4 - Hardware Feedback - Feedback & Requests - Epic Developer Community Forums topic where reported many non-dx11 cards?
It supports DX11 and can be forced to support DX10 I believe. But again, chances are that if you don’t have a DX11 card that it wouldn’t be fast enough to support it anyways, the last DX9 only cards are very old.
But when launching Epic Launcher I see D3D11 error in log. Do you know the way I could launch Epic Launcher in OpenGL mode? Or my only option is to build UE4 from source?
Yeah is correct Unreal Engine can work under DX10, but even if you use OpenGL you need a minimal version with the same features that DX10 needs.
And no DX9 is not supported, only DX10 and Up.
You should copy and paste the error message.
Also: What are you actually trying to accomplish?
You’re trying to run … a game? the editor? … on what kind of computer and graphics card?
Does error actually matters? Something about non-possibility of creation of D3D11. I have graphics card that certainly does not support dx11 - nVidia 7900GS. And how states the title of this topic - I’m trying to launch Epic launcher. To download Editor. To not compile it. To run Editor, yes.
That card is way too old, nothing with UE4 will run on that card
Then I have some offtopic kind-of-philosophical question (will be happy if this will read some of UE4 developers). For what reason 2D tools exists in UE4? I mean, in 2D plays retro-fan guys, and guys that have old computers which can run only games from 200x and 2D games (which are still more powerful than Android devices, which UE4 supports, just another absurd). But what will happen when wave of 2D games come built with UE4 engine? What will be they thoughts? “What?? That time came?? My computer can’t even run 2D now?”
Ok, I know that in some statistics amount of users with DX9 is below 5%. But you don’t care who are these ‘5%’. I will tell you. I live in county where $35 considered as normal month salary. Yes, we have also prices for food 3 times lower than USA or Japan, but not for graphics cards, unfortunately. So lots of hardware here used more than 20 years, even at government institutions. What I’m trying to say is that these ‘5%’ is about 20% (and more) of gamers of such countries (some of them don’t have Steam, that’s because you don’t find such PCs @ their statistics). Progress is good, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t see the reason for which 2D must require DX11 and must not run on 5-10-15-years-old hardware.
P.S. I’d love to code in C++ with UE4, and I didn’t want to use Unity, I hate managed code, C#, .NET and other such things. But nevertheless, it still supports old hardware, and thanking for it, some kids in Africa still could play new games.
Today’s android devices are probably more powerful than your PC. And while 2D games look simple, if you’re doing them in an engine that’s not designed specifically for that purpose then it’s not going to run as well as it could. UE4 is designed for intense 3D graphics, while it can do some 2D, that’s just a bonus and not a primary purpose of the engine. If they try to support old technology then it means they can’t improve certain features.
Offtopic: My PC powerful enough to run latest 3ds Max. I don’t know any Android device that could do that.
You can’t compare that since 3ds Max doesn’t have an Android version, and also 3ds Max doesn’t require the same graphical features that UE4 does.
Yes, the specific error message does matter, because it will indicate what, specifically, is going wrong.
But, no, D3D9 is not sufficient to run UE4. Most computers these days support DX11 anyway – even the built-in Intel graphics stuff has supported that for a long time.
In fact, a built-in Intel graphics chip is likely much faster than the 7900GS. That card is over 10 years old! It only has 256 MB of graphics RAM and 20 pixel shaders (supporting shader model 3) which is roughly equivalent to Intel HD 4400 graphics. Except HD 4400 supports D3D11.