PAK blacklist file deprecated in favor of DefaultPakFileRules.ini

matahari · November 2, 2020, 6:05pm

Hello,

I have been using PakBlacklist-Shipping.txt file for excluding folders during cooking, for some time.

Today, I have noticed the following message during cooking. (Using Unreal Editor v4.25.4)


Applying PAK blacklist file [Project]\Build\Win64\PakBlacklist-Shipping.txt. This is deprecated in favor of DefaultPakFileRules.ini

I am afraid, there seems to be no official documentation for **DefaultPakFileRules.ini **file.

What is the proper way of including/excluding folders during cooking using this method? Is there any information about DefaultPakFileRules.ini file format and how to use it?

Araxnid · March 12, 2021, 10:31am

Hi,

I suppose this is too late for you to help, but maybe this will help others.

There is a documentation about “DefaultPakFileRules.ini” inside “BasePakFileRules.ini” file.

“BasePakFileRules.ini” is located inside your UE4 Engine folder (“Engine\Config\BasePakFileRules.ini”).

It contains a basic explanation on how to use it.

In order to use it in your project you need to do several steps:

Create the “DefaultPakFileRules.ini” config file in you project Config folder (you can just copy and rename “BasePakFileRules.ini”)
Keep the [ExcludeContentForMobile] section (I do not know about any other section names for this config file, I suppose you will need to dig into the source code, maybe CopyBuildToStagingDirectory.cs will help you)
Specify the “Platforms” key (even “Win64” have worked so far)
Specify the “Targets” key (Shipping, Debug, Development, etc)
I suppose you should keep “bExcludeFromPaks=true” (it depends on your setup. The “Pak” containter is the one you specify in the package settings)
Add +Files to exclude files. It’s using Regex, so for example :
- +Files=“…/Content/Blueprints/Debug/*” will exclude all files with “<anything>/Content/Blueprints/Debug/<anything>” in their filepath (… and * means any symbol)

matahari · March 12, 2021, 10:53am

Hi @Araxnid,

Thank you very much for pointing out the “BasePakFileRules.ini” file inside the engine folder. I’ll certainly check that out.

muttsang · January 3, 2022, 11:49pm

@Araxnid @matahari
hi, can you please have a look at my application and see if i’m doing this correctly?
When I use this, it comes with the message of
UATHelper: Packaging (Android (Multi:ASTC,DXT,ETC2)): Excluding config file [drive]:\[folder]\[folder]\Unreal\[project]\Config\DefaultPakFileRules.ini and UATHelper: Packaging (Android (Multi:ASTC,DXT,ETC2)): Staging with more than one target, PakFileRules may apply too many rules!

Also, should i be doing something like

[ExcludeContentForMobile]
; Exclude specific large textures on mobile platforms, this was moved from CopyBuildToStagingDirectory.cs
; This can be added to in a game's DefaultPakFileRules.ini by using the same sections, and new sections can be added
; To remove this rule, use !Files to clear the list of file paths
Platforms="Android,iOS,tvOS"
Targets="Shipping,Debug,Development"
bExcludeFromPaks=true
bOverrideChunkManifest=true
:[LIST=1]
+Files=".../Engine/Content/EngineMaterials/DefaultBloomKernel.*"
+Files=".../Engine/Content/Fonts/*"
+Files=".../Engine/Content/Common/*"
[/LIST]

OR

[ExcludeContentForMobile]
; Exclude specific large textures on mobile platforms, this was moved from CopyBuildToStagingDirectory.cs
; This can be added to in a game's DefaultPakFileRules.ini by using the same sections, and new sections can be added
; To remove this rule, use !Files to clear the list of file paths
Platforms="Android,iOS,tvOS"
Targets="Shipping,Debug,Development"
bExcludeFromPaks=true
bOverrideChunkManifest=true
+Files=".../Engine/Content/EngineMaterials/DefaultBloomKernel.*"
+Files=".../Engine/Content/Fonts/*"
+Files=".../Engine/Content/Common/*"

If you could please reply, that would help me out of this problem with which I’ve been stuck for almost 2 weeks now.

Thanks!

neofuturelabs · February 22, 2023, 9:09am

Thanks for the information. After first trying the PakBlacklist rules without realizing they are deprecated and ignored during packaging, and then after a couple more hours of trial and error, I finally managed to get the exclusion list working.

Results: Saved about 3MB in final shipping package size, mostly from the excluded Slate image files. Not too significant, but at least it works.

How to get it to work:

Create the file DefaultPakFileRules.ini in your [Project]/Config directory.
Paste the following contents into the file (customize as necessary):

; These rules are applied in order, the first rule that applies per file is taken and no others are evaluated
; [SectionName]
; bOverrideChunkManifest=false 		; If true this allows overriding assignments from the cooker
; bExcludeFromPaks=false 			; If true this removes entirely, cannot coexist with overridepaks
; OverridePaks="pakchunk1" 			; If set this will override pak list, comma separated
; Platforms="iOS,Android"			; If set this rule will only apply to these platforms
; Targets="Shipping,Test"			; If set this rule will only apply to these configurations
; bOnlyChunkedBuilds=true			; If set this rule will only apply to chunked builds
; bOnlyNonChunkedBuilds=true		; If set this rule will only apply to non-chunked builds
; +Files=".../*FileMask*.*"			; List of file masks to apply to, using the C# FileFilter class

[ExcludeDefault]
;Platforms="Windows,Win64" ; Note: Win64 doesn't seem to be recognized in UE5.1.1
;Platforms="Windows"
;For now commenting out above Platform designation so that exclusion rules apply to all platforms
Targets="Shipping,Development,Debug"
bExcludeFromPaks=true
bOverrideChunkManifest=true
+Files=".../Engine/Content/ArtTools/*"
+Files=".../Engine/Content/EditorLandscapeResources/*"
+Files=".../Engine/Content/EditorMeshes/ColorCalibrator/*"
+Files=".../Engine/Content/EngineSounds/*"
+Files=".../Engine/Content/Maps/*"
+Files=".../Engine/Content/MobileResources/*"
+Files=".../Engine/Content/Slate/Automation/*"
+Files=".../Engine/Content/Slate/Common/*"
+Files=".../Engine/Content/Slate/CrashTracker/*"
+Files=".../Engine/Content/Slate/Docking/*"
+Files=".../Engine/Content/Slate/Fonts/DroidSansFallback.ttf"
+Files=".../Engine/Content/Slate/Icons/*"
+Files=".../Engine/Content/Slate/MessageLog/*"
+Files=".../Engine/Content/Slate/Old/*"
+Files=".../Engine/Content/Slate/Testing/*"
+Files=".../Engine/Content/Slate/Tutorials/*"
;+Files=".../Engine/Content/Slate/Checkerboard.png" ; don't exclude - used in the default slate brush. excluding this turned one of my UI transition screens white instead of black in packaged version
+Files=".../Engine/Content/Tutorial/*"
+Files=".../Engine/Content/VREditor/*"
+Files=".../Engine/Content/EditorMeshes/Camera/SM_CraneRig_Arm.*"
+Files=".../Engine/Content/EditorMeshes/Camera/SM_CraneRig_Base.*"
+Files=".../Engine/Content/EditorMeshes/Camera/SM_CraneRig_Body.*"
+Files=".../Engine/Content/EditorMeshes/Camera/SM_CraneRig_Mount.*"
+Files=".../Engine/Content/EditorMeshes/Camera/SM_RailRig_Mount.*"
+Files=".../Engine/Content/EditorMeshes/Camera/SM_RailRig_Track.*"
+Files=".../Engine/Content/EditorMaterials/MAT_Groups_Toggle.*"
+Files=".../Engine/Content/EditorMaterials/MAT_Groups_Visibility.*"
+Files=".../Engine/Content/EditorMaterials/PreviewShadowIndicator.*"
+Files=".../Engine/Content/EditorMaterials/PreviewShadowIndicatorMaterial.*"
+Files=".../Engine/Content/EditorMaterials/MatineeGroups/MAT_ColorTrack.*"
+Files=".../Engine/Content/EditorMaterials/MatineeGroups/MAT_Groups_Anim.*"
+Files=".../Engine/Content/EditorMaterials/MatineeGroups/MAT_Groups_AudioMaster.*"
+Files=".../Engine/Content/EditorMaterials/MatineeGroups/MAT_Groups_Director.*"
+Files=".../Engine/Content/EditorMaterials/MatineeGroups/MAT_Groups_Event.*"
+Files=".../Engine/Content/EditorMaterials/MatineeGroups/MAT_Groups_Fade.*"
+Files=".../Engine/Content/EditorMaterials/MatineeGroups/MAT_Groups_Float.*"
+Files=".../Engine/Content/EditorMaterials/MatineeGroups/MAT_Groups_Move.*"
+Files=".../Engine/Content/EditorMaterials/MatineeGroups/MAT_Groups_Slomo.*"
+Files=".../Engine/Content/EditorMaterials/MatineeGroups/MAT_Groups_Sound.*"
+Files=".../Engine/Content/EditorMaterials/MatineeGroups/MAT_Groups_Vector.*"
+Files=".../Engine/Content/EditorMaterials/ParticleSystems/PSysThumbnail_NoImage.*"
+Files=".../Engine/Content/EditorMaterials/ParticleSystems/PSysThumbnail_OOD.*"
+Files=".../Engine/Content/EditorMaterials/Camera/CineMat.*"
+Files=".../Engine/Content/EditorMaterials/Camera/MI_CineMat_Rig.*"

Package your project and it should apply. A lot of rows of “UATHelper: Packaging (Windows): Excluding …(file)…” should appear in your Output Log window if it was successful.

Other Notes:

The Platform identifier “Win64” doesn’t seem to work in UE5.1.1, but “Windows” works. I commented out the Platforms row so that the exclusion rules will apply to all platforms.
The Section name (ExcludeDefault above) is arbitrary and can be changed to anything.

Kein · October 17, 2023, 10:08pm

DefaultPakFileRules.ini actually very poor replacement. It is non-exhaustive. For example, you cannot blacklist/remove packaging of /Game/Plugins/* path, but you can with PakDenylist-*.txt