Is it possible to use the editor fully without launching it from Visual Studio? When I try I get errors regarding the things I’ve coded being missing.
Edit: To be more specific, I mean to use the UE4 editor. I can open the editor, however the functionality I’ve provided via added classes in code are missing.
Not unless you have another way of compiling the project I believe. Basically, Visual Studio is used to build/link/compile your project into binary code which your computer can understand. Whilst you may be able to put changes into the actual code files, these aren’t being compiled and therefore technically aren’t in your project, hence they are missing.
It is worth downloading the Visual Studio Express 2013 anyway if you are going to be doing anything with the code.
Hi Daveoh,
Visual Studio is the only IDE that we currently support for Windows. It may be possible to work with other IDE’s, but we are not able to provide any help or support for using those with the Engine. As Dune mentioned, Visual Studio Express 2013 for Windows Desktop is free, and works with Unreal Engine 4.
What errors are you seeing when you try to open the Editor? Could you provide some more information about that?
You need to have VS installed, but UE4 does not use VS default build system but it own called UBT, outside the VS, so you can can edit code from else where and build code by using UBT, for example i made myself a BAT which will build debug 64-bit with editor in project where bat is, i sjut need to edit ProjectName in right places:
X:\PathToUE4\Engine\Binaries\DotNET\UnrealBuildTool.exe ProjectNameEditor Win64 Debug "%CD%\ProjectName.uproject" -rocket
If you can use it as a base for your own set up
I may have worded the question badly. I mean that when I open the project outside of Visual Studio (i.e. double clicking the project file, or opening it from the Unreal Engine Launcher) it opens the editor but the functionality I provided via code is missing. Is this to be expected?
That does not sound like it is working correctly. Would you be able to provide the steps that you are following when you create a new project and add some code functionality?
I tried my normal steps on a new project and I can’t recreate the problem. I opened the project I’m currently working on and when I hovered over my blueprints with a parent class which I created in code, it just said None. I tried recompiling the code within the editor and nothing changed, but I think after I restarted the editor it started working. Is that to be expected? When I tried opening my new project it asked me before launching the editor to recompile the project modules.
Edit: I still have an older copy of the project where it crashes, I don’t know if you’d like the crashlog or not.
Just to clarify, were you adding classes using the “Add Code To Project” option in the Editor? After you had made your code changes, had you successfully built the project in Visual Studio before trying to open the project in the Editor again? Did you rename any of your code classes?
Yes. Yes. No.
Yes, if you could provide the log for the project that is not opening correctly, that may be helpful.
Okay, here are three pastes. In the case where it crashes, I am right-clicking on a blueprint in the content browser whose parent class should be Robots.ConstructionPawn. It doesn’t crash when ran from VS.
1: the callstack after it crashes: 20141001 callstack - Pastebin.com
2: the output log when running properly from VS: 20141001 build + normal - Pastebin.com
3: the output log when opening the .uproject file before crashing: 20141001 crash after open - Pastebin.com
Between the last two I’ve noticed the build configuration and command line values are different.
What target did you build for? You need to build development editor to run from launcher.
DebugGame Editor
I tried to reproduce the issue using the binary version of the Engine, but was only able to get the message about module files being missing or out of date. That recompiled fine and let me open the Editor. I did not get any crashes, though.
The message about the module files being missing or out of date is, as mikepurvis mentioned, due to the project initially being built using the DebugGame Editor configuration. When double-clicking on the .uproject file, it wants to see files that were built using the Development or Development Editor configuration. The recompile that occurs at that point uses the Development configuration.
When you mention you were running the project from Visual Studio, you are talking about using the Visual Studio debug environment, correct?
Yes, I am. So it’s merely a case of building it for the Development Editor target instead?
That’s it, just build for development editor when your working on it from the launcher and when your ready to deploy it build development.
I learned this the hard way myself.
Yes, the solution configuration you use when you build the Engine is largely dependent on how you intend to open the project. DebugGame Editor includes a lot of debugging functionality and is intended to be used within Visual Studio’s debug environment.
As mikepurvis mentioned, Development Editor is intended to be used outside of the debug environment, and most of the debugging functionality is removed.
Once you are ready to start packaging your game, you will want to build it using the Shipping configuration, which is the most optimized build option.