When installing the engine through the launcher, it’s possible to install the source code so that you can access it through the solution of a game project. It’s a very useful thing to have when developing a game, without having to download the whole source code from GitHub and setting it up just to read through it. However, as far as I know, you can only open it in Visual Studio through the project files generated for a game project. Can I open the source code project separate from a game project? I prefer having a separate instance of Visual Studio to read through the engine source, but I don’t want to download and set up the full Git repository just to read through the code.
Forgive me NickEast, I don’t quite understand what you are asking. As you may know, when you create a project the launcher offers two ways of doing so, Blueprint or C++. When you start from a C++ template, the launcher creates the Visual Studio solution for you, which is automatically opened initially. Is this what you are doing?
Do you want to debug just your C++ game code? Again, something you may know, the Engine is included as part of the Visual Studio solution, along with your game project. Of course, you need to make your game project the Start Up Project if it isn’t already. This can be done by right-clicking on the project in Visual Studio and selecting the option from the context menu. Are you already doing this?
EDIT:
“Can I open the source code project separate from a game project?” – this is where I’m a little confused.
If I understand correctly, you want to open the game project or the engine project in Visual Studio without opening the other parts of the solution. I don’t recall doing it for a game project itself but I’ve done it for parts of the engine. You should be able to open either of the project files but of course without the needed dependencies. Personally, I think the main solution is the simplest way of working with the code.
alas no - there is no project for the “rocket” build you download - though you can browse the source using explorer.
I recommend just browsing through an existing game project like you already do.
I meant opening the UE4 engine source as a separate solution instead of through a game-specific project.
Okay, thanks. It’s fine if it’s not immediately possible, I was curious to see if it was. I already use a generic project for testing and migrating template content to avoid cluttering a “real” project.