[UE5.6] Build errors on clean projects: pak + io store doesn't work | pak only doesn't generate shaders

Development Platform & Builds
,
1

I can’t package any clean 5.6.0 or 5.6.1 project with the default settings. I have tried ThirdPerson, TopDown and FirstPerson templates. I CAN package any clean project on 5.5.x

My setup:
Visual Studio 17.14.12
MSVC 14.38.33130
Windows SDK 10.0.22621.0

The steps I tried:

1 - I try to package using default package settings:
use pak store: ON
use io store: ON
Windows
Development

it fails with

System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object
PackagingResults: Error: Unknown Error

Output log: 1 - First Package Project with Pak and IOStore - Pastebin.com
Full Exception Trace: Output Log | Pak and IOStore - Pastebin.com

1 thing draw my attention: cook time very short: 1,05s

2 - I try to just “Windows - Cook Content”
It works, but cook is still very short: 1,01s

Output Log: Windows - Cook Content - Output Log - Pastebin.com

3 - Now I try to Package Project again. Pak store ON, IO Store ON. windows - development

It fails, but the error is different.

A package store manifest or project store is required when staging to IoStore. Expected to find "whatever/path/whatever/path" Ensure that cooking was successful.

Cooking was successful: 0.89s

Output Log: 2nd try | Ouput Log | Package Project | Pak IOStore - Pastebin.com
Full Exception Trace: 2nd try | Full Exception Trace | Package Project | Pak IOStore - Pastebin.com

4 - Change settings - Problem on IoStore? Then let’s turn off IoStore on package settings

5 - Close project, delete /Binaries, /DDC, /Intermediate , /Saved. Generate VS project files and open project again

6 - Windows → Cook Content | Pak only

Cooking complete! Very short though: 1.02s: Windows - Cook Content - Output Log | Pak only - Pastebin.com

7 - Try to Package Project again. Windows, dev, pak only

Packaging Complete!
Output Log: Output Log | Pak only - Pastebin.com
Full Log.txt: Full Log | Pak Only - Pastebin.com

When I try to run the .exe, I receive the error

Game files required to initialize the global shader library are missing from:

C:/Users/User/Documents/Unreal Projects/test5_6_1FP/package_tries/package_pls/Windows/test5_6_1FP/Content/

Please make sure the game is installed correctly.

when I go to the packaged game log under /gamename/Saved/Logs/ I see this error

LogShaderLibrary: Error: Failed to initialize ShaderCodeLibrary required by the project because part of the Global shader library is missing from ../../../test5_6_1FP/Content/.

There’s no ShaderCodeLibrary anywhere. Game Log Log on Packaged Game | Pak only - Pastebin.com

I’m stuck right now.

What else did I do?

  • no plugins are installed
  • reinstall/verify unreal engne 5.6
  • reinstall/update all VS toolchain, msvc etc
  • update VS studio and Rider
  • include the maps on the package settings
  • turn ON “cook everything in the project content directory”
  • shared the logs with gpt-5 plus, gemini pro, but nothing useful appeared
  • Running RunUAT on terminal with commands like below doesn’t work either. It builds, but the shaders are still missing.
& "C:\Program Files\Epic Games\UE_5.6\Engine\Build\BatchFiles\RunUAT.bat" BuildCookRun -project="C:\Users\User\Documents\Unreal Projects\test5_6_1FP\test5_6_1FP.uproject" -nop4 -platform=Win64 -clientconfig=Development -cook -allmaps -pak -stage -package -archive -archivedirectory="C:\Builds\test5_6_1FP"
1 Like
2

I didn’t pinpoint the issue yet. Yesterday I built UE from source (5.7.0) and it’s working. So…for now:
5.5 works
5.6 doesn’t
5.7 works

3

Updates with more issues and the solution.

TLDR;
Remove Warsaw DLLs. Search for Warsaw or Topaz on your programs and uninstall. There’s a high chance you have them if you live in Brazil. Downside: you won’t be able to use your computer for online banking.

The whole problem was cooking. My cooking time was very short: 1s. I tried to cook with the command line only, and realized that running the 5.6 binary UnrealEditor-Cmd.exe without any arguments was throwing a exception. The same binary for 5.5 opens the editor.

The exception is never thrown on regular cooking inside Unreal Engine because it has a flag -unattended, which suppress pop-up dialogs. That’s why it took me so long to pinpoint the cause.

So, by just running the binary below:

C:\Program Files\Epic Games\UE_5.6\Engine\Binaries\Win64\UnrealEditor-Cmd.exe

Generates the exception on a crash pop-up:

Unhandled Exception: EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION reading address 0x00007ffebab430a7 
UnrealEditor_Core
UnrealEditor_Core
UnrealEditor_Core
UnrealEditor_Core
UnrealEditor_Core
UnrealEditor_Cmd
UnrealEditor_Cmd
UnrealEditor_Cmd
UnrealEditor_Cmd
UnrealEditor_Cmd 
UnrealEditor_Cmd
kernel32
ntdll

This also generates a dump that you can find on the GUI that appears when the exception is thrown. There are 2 DLLs with paths Topaz OFD\Warsaw. These are the culprits. They’re common here in Brazil. We need to install them for bank applications and they cause a lot of issues (including this one). After I uninstalled it, the cooking started to work just fine.

Disclaimer: It was luck, I saw them listed and decided to uninstall to see what was going to happen.

1 Like
4

Hello my Brazilian Mate! Thanks for this! Yes, I also have the topaz for Bradesco Internet Banking! And I never had problems with cooking on UE 5.3 and 5.4. But I had the same exact problem as yours, on 5.6 the cooking took 1 second and it complained about the Shaders Library.

For now on I will wait until 5.7 gets officially released and will stick with 5.3 and 5.4 for my projects.

Valeu man!!! Tamo junto!!!

1 Like
5

YES! I’m happy that I could help another brazilian due to this weird bug.

1 Like
6

Only a Brazilian would have discovered that this Warsaw/Topaz package was causing problems (I don’t know if this is widely used in other countries, but here in Brazil, some banks require you to install it to use Internet Banking).

I had already tried a million things; I’d been having this problem for about a month. The only solution that worked so far was to delete all the temporary files from the project, Unreal Engine, and Epic Games. When I did that, it worked, but after a while the problem returned. Now I just uninstalled this Warsaw/Topaz crap, and the packing went smoothly without any errors.

Thank you very much, my friend!

1 Like