Recently started encountering this issue when packaging my project. I couldn’t find any threads where people had a similar issue. Not sure what started it.
When packaging my 5.5 project I noticed it seemed to be taking a really long time. When I checked the location of the package project I saw that the files were there.
I was able to launch the game and it seemed like everything was functioning.
Windows Task Manager doesn’t seem to recognize Unreal as being frozen, but I can’t click on any of the windows. Even the spinner will be completely stopped.
When I force close the engine it goes away almost instantly. Looking at the logs doesn’t reveal anything unusual.
It’s not severe, but it is super annoying.
So basically - Unreal appears frozen while packaging a project - when it’s complete there is no notification and Unreal can no longer be interacted with and must be force quit - Project is packaged correctly with no obvious issues - logs seem normal with no errors.
That’s a quite specific problem you are encountering, specially the fact that no crash or error takes place, just the whole engine freezing.
Does it happen with that particular project? Or even packing an empty project causes the same effect? If not, then an element in that particular project is causing the freeze, maybe a heavy load asset.
On the other hand, if it happens with every project you work on, I would suggest a clean state approach, via full uninstall/reinstall of all Epic software:
First, uninstall the engine, launcher, asset packs, etc
Next, open the registry directory HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Epic Games\Unreal Engine\Builds, and delete any build entries
Finally, delete the folders %userprofile%\AppData\Local\UnrealEngine and %userprofile%\AppData\Local\UnrealHeaderTool
After that, no elements related to UE should be left in your system
Now, reinstall UE launcher from scratch, and only add the latest version of the engine
After the process is complete, test packaging a project again
