I want to know how to build my game properly so that it does not complain about external dependencies. I have tried every configuration I can think of including doing both development and shipping builds, checking the Full Rebuild and For Distribution options under the Project tab, checking include app-local prerequisites under the Prerequisites tab. I then zipped it up and sent it to my friend who does not have visual studio installed or any of the c++ stuff and it complains about VCRUNTIME140_1.dll which prevents the game from starting. I am using UE4 version 4.23.0 downloaded through the launcher.
As far as I know, there are many games made with UE4 that have been released and do not have this problem. The same friend and I have played Satisfactory together which I know is made with UE4 and he does not have this issue.
Building for 32 bit windows fixed my issue instead of 64 bit.
Edit: I believe this issue stems from Visual Studio 2019 toolchain. I switched to VS 2017 and now I am able to build for 64 bit Windows without it complaining about VCRUNTIME140_1.dll.