UE4 : Deploying from Windows to iOS?

Development Platform & Builds Mobile
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Hello.
I wanted to know whether it is possible to deploy to iOS platforms through windows or whether to reduce the need to run UE4 on my Hackintosh,since my GPU(Nvidia GTX 970) Seems to be incompatible with Mac OS X,I will be only able to use the iGP which is Intel HD 4600 i have heard that UE4 performance is bad on Mac OS and the HD 4600 is already below minimum spec
My PC build has an i7 4770k,Gigabyte GA-Z87X-UD3H Motherboard,16Gb of corsair vengeance DDR3 memory and a plextor 256GB SSD + 1TB Seagate HDD and an Asus STRIX Nvidia GTX 970

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Yes. https://docs.unrealengine.com/latest/INT/Platforms/iOS/GettingStarted/index.html

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You can test on iOS from Windows, however when you are ready to submit it to the app store you must use a Mac.

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Are you sure about that? Can anyone else confirm? It doesn’t say anything on this page about having to package from OS X on this link: Packaging Unreal Engine Projects | Unreal Engine 5.3 Documentation. I haven’t gotten to that point yet.

1 Like
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Absolutely–the only way to submit an app to the app store is using the software on Mac, the ability to send to a device for testing on windows was a new feature in version 4.4
UDK had the same feature, where you could build iOS games on PC and then send to your device, but you still had to have a Mac for submission

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Ok, thanks.

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For my UDK app submission I used http://www.macincloud.com/ I’m not sure if that still works for UE4 though, since I don’t know how the process works now.

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Similar problem as OP: building on Mac is too slow (on PC: ~3 minutes, on iMac: over 13 hours…). What I would like to obtain: cook all the content on PC (that’s the 99.99% of the work); then build C++ code and pack the final IPA on Mac. Is possible to cook content for iOS on PC and then transfer it to Mac ready to be packaged?

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I don’t think so, the project files are definitely something you can switch over, but even on PC it has to rebuild each time you package the game. I don’t think it saves any of the cooked information outside of the final package.

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I think the full rebuild is due to the “Full rebuild” advanced option in the Project Settings menu, Packaging section ( true by default, Packaging Projects | Unreal Engine Documentation ). At the same URL, there is also the “Content cookin” section, that is similar to what I would like to achieve - but doesn’t discuss the “cross-platform cooking”.

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It seems to be possible: Cooking content for iOS on PC - Mobile - Unreal Engine Forums .

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Hi,

I have a similar question (apologies this may be same assuming I have read this correctly). I need to create a development version of my game but would like to present on a Mac not PC, can I do this from my Windows machine or is there an alternative i.e. boot camp?

Thanks for any help.

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Hi Sanjshah,

for a project with C++ files, to create the final executable for Mac or iOS, you need a Mac with Xcode. But if your project contains only blueprints (so, no C++) you can build for iOS directly from Windows; but as I don’t see the option for the Mac, I suspect that a build for Mac requires a Mac.

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Thanks Kafu, I have a IOS developer account and have installed XCODE, looks like I need to install UE on the Mac open the project and create an executable - has anyone tried this?

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Hey all - a totally newbie question from someone who’s just starting to look into running something on an iPhone; Do I need a developer account to just launch a level from UE4.5 through the launch menu?

Also, when you talk about Win vs Mac that means just for final publish to the app store right (as mentioned, just want to clarify)? Packaging a game to transfer from Win to iPhone via iTunes is possible (and a developer account would be required I’d imagine).

Thank you!

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You might have solved this already, but we were experiencing horrendous build times on Mac (same as you - in the multi-hour range). Nothing we tried worked to speed up the build times until we upgraded the build machine to Yosemite. The problem was instantly fixed and build times were back on par with our PC machines.

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So as far as I understand, for iOS games, it will be perfectlly OK to use Mac Mini just for the builds and submissions?

Buy Mac mini - Apple - the 2,6GHz model should do the trick, even if it takes some time… or will the dual-core i5 simply implode with UE4 thrown at it’s face?

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Ya, you can use a Mac-Mini, but build times will be slow. I used to use one and would face build times of about an hour for the editor and 15-30 minutes for a game depending on the game. Even on my Mac Pro it’s about 45 minutes to build the editor and the game.

-Pete

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That’s good to know. We don’t care about a build time of about an hour once in a while. It would be different if you could get a decent performance from a reasonably priced Mac but in this reality we find it more reasonable to put our money into the PC boxes.

Thanks for your response.