I’ve a big problem where my current UE4 install of 4.27.2 won’t start up anymore.
To give a bit of background, the first time this happened was about 3 to 4 weeks ago on a brand new work laptop while travelling. Everything was working perfectly on this newly purchased RTX 3070 laptop, with a fresh install of Win10 x64. Then suddenly UE4 (4.27.2) would refuse to start. I would either try to launch it via the Epic launcher (first it says “running” then reverts to “launch”) or just use the shortcut of the UE4 projects. The UE4 process is active in the details panel of the task manager, but no UI or anything that would indicate that it was actually running.
The solution that I found then, was to run UE4 from a shortcut with admin privileges. After a few days, even that didn’t work anymore, so I proceeded to fully nuke Windows and reinstall everything. This worked for the last 3 weeks up until yesterday. Then this morning again nothing works.
I already re-installed and verified UE4. Then I tried other versions. UE4 4.26.2 does not start either (except for the process in the task manager) however UE5 5.0.3 starts up perfectly.
Mind you, we are in the middle of production and need 4.27 for our active VP project.
Now, if this was isolated to that one work laptop, I’d probably just redo the same steps and Nuke Win10. But my workstation encountered the same problem a week ago and I had to rely on the laptop as a crutch since I can’t make time to reinstall everything on the workstation.
Which means that now I’m stuck with two PCs that can’t run UE4.
To recap, here’s what I have tried to fix things:
Launch via shortcut with admin privileges (only worked for a short amount of time, then never again)
Uninstall and reinstall UE4
Verify installation
Deactivate firewalls (windows firewall is permanently off and I’m using Comodo)
Manually add exceptions to firewall
Cleaned up webcache of launcher
I could do a screen recording if that helps. Other than that I’m out of ideas.
in the epic launcher you can “verify” the install
it will check all of the engine files and reset them
also
after any major windows update you have to reinstall your nvidia drivers
I do it almost immediately after an update now.
This is going to sound really stupid, but honestly just wait it out for a while and see what happens.
Seriously like 15-20 minutes. I was literally searching for answers for this on my phone after I restarted everything and clicked to launch it once. I opened task manager and saw it running but nothing starting, but it eventually just popped up. Even the launcher button said I could start it again.
A possible suggestion is to install the directx full redistributeable
your windows+nvidia are possibly all set to dx12 only
installing the full direct x will give you direct x 11 files as well which might help it go.
I have an older computer that I installed UE4 on in 2020. It began to freeze up and would not load. When it did load after several attempts it would take over an hour.
I found out that the DirectX system was corrupted. I built several small games over time. Each would use different versions of DirectX. The auto update would fetch the DirectX version for each new game as required. Somewhere in the process it would confuse the UE4 engine.
I found this article online that corrected the problem. By unistalling the DirectX packages and then re-installing them with the newest version the UE4 started working correctly.
The LINK:
If you look towards the bottom of the article it has the Actual Fix.
I unistalled all the DirectX packages first. I did this from a clean boot. Close all your UE4 services and editors. Save your work. Reboot your machine. Go in to Services and stop any UE4 services running.
Next open Task Manager. CTRL + ALT + DELETE. Go in to your processes tab and close ant UE4 processes. Also stop your spoolsv.exe and SearchIndexer.exe
I am not sure why you need to stop these services but there are problems installing DirectX 11 and 12 if they are running. I have an all Intel machine. DirectX and the auto update are very fickle.
After preping your machine by disabling the above programs begin installing teh newest version of DirectX. Follow the article mentioned previously and you will have no problems.
When you have updated DirectX shut the computer down completely. Do not just reboot the computer. You need the bios to come up from a cold start. This will cause the DirectX to fully search your registry and update properly.
Once booted to your desktop wait about 5 minutes. Do not launch the UE4. Do not do anything. Let the computer cook.
Next reboot the machine normaly.
When your computer boots wait another 5 minutes and do nothing. Now launch the UE4 and it should respond without delay.
Its been a real pain to figure this out. Alot of hours of trial and error. DirectX has issues that derive from building different games on the same platform. I suggest that you use different machines with clean install of UE4 or UE5. Install the latest version of DirectX that works for your project. If you start another project use another computer with clean installs of UE5 or UE4 and DIrectX.
For UE4 I found some Referb machines at MicroCenter. I picked up a graphics card made by Midland. $99 referb Dell and $49 Graphics Card. When I build a new game on UE4 I pickup a new machine. I just add it to my home hive. I have a 50 Seat Windows Ultimate Cert. So I can add new machines fairly inexpensively to my home network.
If your going to build games might as well go full Geek.
I have never had a problem with installing the dx redistributeable from microsoft
the full one is a bout 100 megs
if you are building for windows it might be prudent to ensure you have the dx sdk installed as well
but for the editors it is the dx 11+12 combo you need to run the editor
ue4 is not 100% dx12, it uses dx11 to
ue5 is dx 12 and doesn’t need any dx 11 drivers from ms in the mix.
I found that weaker machines have issues. Not everyone can afford a $2500 PC. The lower end referbs can be utalized with the UE4 engine. If you are building 2D games similar to Roller Coaster Tycoon or other RPG games they are fine.
So I have have about $10k invested in 4 top end i9 Intel-ASUS rigs. I have over 30 Dell Referbs from Microcenter that run Windows 7 Ultimate. The 30 machines cost less than 1 of the top end machines. I got them for about $79 each most are Quad core.
Below is as Google search for DirectX 11 Emulator. I found that it will fill in the gaps if you have a machine that is stubborn and has errors.
I was building a game and it would get the DirectX 11 error. Something about a file missing. I installed the Emulator and ran it with default setting. The game worked fine. Saved me hours of trouble shooting. Its a very small program and works great.
This is the Google Search I did.
You can choose your own download source if you decide to ry the emulator. If you are having hardware/software compatibility issues the information below may help you get your gaming development rig working properly. I spent months of trial and error getting mine setup. I thought I would pass the information along to help others developing on Epic UE4 and UE5.
My goal for developing games was to use UE4 and UE5 as the development engine. Lets face it Epic is the best platform to develop on. I created a hardware pool that would let me use various types of hardware. I can customize a machine specificaly for the game format I want to develop.
I use a simple 1 GB local LAN powered by two Sagemcom RAC2V15 routers and two 24 port Linksys Gigabit Switch.
Sagemcom RAC2V15 router - (I have no affiliation with this sales link. I bought from here. They are good units)
24 port Linksys Gigabit Switch - (I have no affiliation with this sales link. I bought from here. They are good units)
I found that AMAZON has better spec lists for hardware than the manufacture at times.
Here is how I setup my rigs. I split the hardware evenly. 2 top end i9’s and 15 Dell 7050’s on each 24 port switches. I use one Sagemcom RAC2V15 router on each switch. This provides the NAT needed to network the machines together. I use one of the DELL 7050 as a download port. I installed a low profile NIC. This gives it two ports. One to the Linksys the other to my home internet connection. I download what I need to the Dell. Then publish it to my private network and the machine I want to develop on.
The Windows Direct X 9,10,11,12 offline SDK and Full Installs are always available. I put the DirectX 11 emulator on there as well. I keep both networks seperate. To publish to my private network I use a simple small anchient utility called Simple Server by AnalogX.com. This site has been around since 1999 and debut on ZDNET TV in 1999. Solid software that is simple, free and works!
You can add a NAS to each private network. I use FREE NAS. I use the version from 2009. It has a built in Webserver and other cool utilities not available in the modern versions.
So when I develop a game I have it backed up to the second network. Lets say I deveolped a SkyRim clone on one of my top i9 rigs. It will be backed up to my NAS and automatically backed up to the clone machine identicaly on the second network.
It is complicated to get a system like this setup. Wake On Lan, period backups, hot backups and recovery are quite challenging. However, your game creations will be safe. If a bug develops I can recover from my clone machine localy. No need to use Cloud backups that can be problematic if you lose connection or account access.
Obviously I am in this to make money and to have fun as well. I am looking forward to the day when I owe 5% to Epic for one of my games.
The DirectX installer was the ticket to success. Thank you so much!!!
I was down to my last machine that was running UE4 flawlessly. We’re in full production mode, so absolutely no time to fluff around. Anyway, yesterday I’m building a level and needed to switch projects. Closed the editor, open the other project and … nothing.
Grabbed the installer, ran it, restarted, waited for 5min, opened the project and boom!
If anyone encounters the same, I opted for the web installer to make sure it grabs all the latest files. And luckily it worked.
The same thing , happened to me , a week ago. Right in the middle of a project. Short before, before 4.72.2 puked, I was receiving constant pop ups, “Informing me, I was missing valuable updates?” On the day, the Engine quit, it went right into "Updating, and seeking PRe_REQUISITES. I had no control over this. I had previously re-installed the engine, in late March, and exactly three months, to the day, everything quit. THE FIX? I sent several E-Mails to the support, where I included detailed videos and screen shots of the error messages. What caught my attention though, was the CODE had changed from my original installer, from six months previous. THE MARCH UPDATES , included tons of code, that was native to WIN 10. API, and CPL. WHY was this this in the line code, if I was running WIN 7? THE latest update destroyed the Launcher. THE Update tried to add files: STUDIO 2017, 2019, which were WINX only. EPIC, needs to explain itself, and provide an answer to ALL of us, who just LOST OUR GAME ENGINE. AND projects . Techs, trying to suggest a solution, never corrected my problem, because they were looking at it from the wrong angle. There was NO FIX, because the launcher was trying install files, that weren’t on my P.C If, anyone , has found a work- around, please let me know. I worked with three techs, and they all gave me, three different answers, that didn’t work. And a general question: If assets, bought for 4.27? Will they be usable in 5.2? Or, will I be forced to update them, as well? Thanks,
Mark
