I am using unreal engine 5.6.1 with disguise renderstream plugins. For some reason, when I paackage the project into an exe file, the engine failed to package my renderstream plugins.
The temporary solution is to add a empty C++ class to this project so the plugins could be included, which is super inconvenience.
Wondering if we can fix it on the engine side.
repro steps could be follow the official disguise userguide:
the empty C++ class workaround is a hint at the actual mechanism: in a Blueprint-only project, non-installed (developer) plugins only get their modules reliably staged when the project itself has a native module — adding the class creates a project target, UBT runs for it, and dependent plugin binaries get pulled into staging. so it “works”, for the worst possible reason.
the durable setup without the dummy class:
move the plugins into your project’s Plugins folder. engine-installed plugins go through the reduced staging path in BP-only projects; project plugins always stage. copy the RenderStream plugins in, disable the engine-installed copies so you do not ship two versions.
on your copied .uplugin files, check the descriptors: bInstalled should be false for project-local copies, and make sure each runtime module is actually listed with Type “Runtime” — plugins whose only runtime pieces ride along as content often describe editor-only modules with runtime content attached, which is exactly the case BP-only packaging skips.
confirm the plugins are enabled in the .uproject file’s Plugins array, not just toggled in the editor UI — an editor-toggle that never landed in the uproject is a silent miss.
verify what actually staged: after packaging, check ProjectName/Plugins/ vs Engine/Plugins/ next to the exe, and search the package log for the plugin names. if binaries stage but content does not, that is a content-staging problem, not a module one — different fix (cook rules / Additional Asset Packages to Cook).
so the engine-side change you are asking for effectively exists — BP-only projects are supposed to stage installed plugins — but third-party installed plugins with unusual descriptors are exactly where it falls over. project-local copies with clean descriptors sidestep the whole class of problem.