Staying under the 200 MB AAB base‑module limit in UE 5.5 – Google PAD (Fortnite precedent?)

Development Platform & Builds Mobile
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Environment :

UE 5.5.4, Windows 11 host

Target: Android, arm64‑v8a only, Shipping, Vulkan

Problem :

We are shipping an Android title on UE 5.5 and must distribute via Google Play.

After enabling the plugins we need (Online Services, Niagara FX, etc.) our AAB base module’s compressed size is around 1.2GB including the project, failing the Play Console’s 200 MB limit.

The uncompressed native library (libUE5.so) alone is ~120 MB.

We are also considering a Asset Management, Chunk Downloading system to support our app distribution.

Our Goal:

We need to understand the official, Epic-recommended strategy for managing these large engine binaries to successfully ship a large-scale game like Fortnite on Google Play using AAB.

Questions

What is Epic’s recommended path in UE 5.5 to stay under 200 MB?

Is Google Play Asset Delivery the officially supported solution?

Is it the only supported path in UE 5.5 to exceed 200 MB?

Are there any recommended compile‑time flags or section‑ordering that any titles use to shrink libUE5.so?

Are there any sample .ini / DefaultGame.ini (e.g., in Project Settings -> Android, UPL, or .ini files) that we need to configure to correctly separate the engine binaries into an asset pack?

We noticed that Fortnite’s original Play‑store build delivered a small installer and downloaded the full game at first run.

Is that workflow documented for licensees, or was it a custom Epic solution?

Any official guidance or up‑to‑date documentation links would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

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Steps to Reproduce

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Hi,

One option to distribute larger mobile games via Google Play is to utilize the DLC system to build an initial AAB that meets the size requirements of the Google Play store then download and mount the additional content during runtime.

To output DLC files you create a PrimaryAssetLabel in the Content Browser and assign the objects to be included in the PAK. These PAK files are then stored on a remote server ( this could be a server you host or a third party service ) and pulled into the game by your code when necessary.

Some things to consider:

  • For best results ensure that the objects in an individual PAK file contain all supporting assets for those objects ( e.g. all required textures, materials, animations etc).
  • Favor smaller self contained PAK files over very large PAK files as these can be downloaded and written to disk faster and be less likely to require re-downloading on a network failure.
  • An architecture change may be required to support a start up map that will query, download and mount the DLC files prior to starting the game.

To enable the Chunking system, set bGenerateChunks=True and UsePakFile=True in Game.ini or the Editor Project Settings. Further documentation on preparing the assets for chunking can be found here and a tutorial can be found here.