First attempt packaging for distribution

Hello, I’ve recently finished a project and I’m trying to package it so that other people can download it and play it in the simplest way possible. So far, I’ve managed to package the project into a folder with a .exe file and clicking the .exe file runs the project fine on my PC.

The problem comes when I copy this folder onto a different PC and try to run the .exe file, I get an error message like:


The following component(s) are required to run this program.

Microsoft Visual C++ 2013 Runtime
Microsoft Visual C++ 2013 Runtime
Direct XRuntime

Would you like to install them now?

Obviously, I don’t want other people to have to download/install these components to play the game. What do I need to do to create a downloadable game that people can simply install/play? It was so easy in Unity, but I can’t work it out here.

Other info:
In the “project - packaging” settings, I’ve got “Build Configuration” set to “Shipping”, and underneath that I’ve got “For Distribution” checked. I thought this would create the kind of package I want, but am I missing something?
I’m NOT using Github
I’m very new to C++, visual studio etc
The .exe file I’m generating is called [ProjectName].exe, and I think I remember reading that a shipping build should be called something like [ProjectName]_shipping_64.exe

Edit:
I also know there’s a “prerequisites” button that (I think) includes the components listed in the error message, but ticking it seems to make the whole project size balloon by about 1GB. I’m quite new to UE4, but again surprised that the project files I’m generating are so big - surely it must be possible to create a standalone UE4 game under 100mb for mobile etc?

Bumping this…

I wondered whether anyone can point me in the right direction - I’m basically trying to create a downloadable version of my project, as small and simple to run as possible.

You can try NSIS to install the game and necessary runtimes all together.

Thanks for the reply - I’m coming to this as an artist and it looks like I have quite a bit of reading/experimenting to do.

At least I haven’t had to type any C++ yet, but having to touch on github and visual studio with next to no understanding of programming…tools of the gods etc.

There might be a much simpler solution if you don’t want to mess around installer like NSIS: in your engine install directory (eg, C:\Program Files (x86)\Epic Games\4.12\Engine\Extras\Redist\en-us), you can find a “UE4PrereqSetup_x64.exe”, just put it along side your game exe to distribute, and indicate somewhere (maybe on your game release page) that player could install “UE4PrereqSetup_x64.exe” if they got VC/DirectX runtime missing error.

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