What are the limitations of using Visual Studio Express over that of the Professional version? I understand that the Express version does not support plugins. Can you detail the specific benefits you get for buying the Professional version of Visual Studio? (For example, since Professional allows the use of Plugins, you can use X, which will help you do Y).
Would you consider the benefits of Professional over Express to be worth $500? Perhaps, if you could answer this from the perspective of an experienced coder, and for a new game developer, that’d be helpful.
Small bit of information about me: I have a Computer Information Technology degree, so I have used C++ and C#. I’m a freelance website designer / developer, and thus spend most of my coding time in web languages (PHP, JavaScript). I built an Xbox 360 game using XNA (7Strains) in C#. Just researching the tools I’ll need for my next game as I have the money, though don’t wish to waste it on something unneeded.
I upgraded my home office setup to Pro after toying with the express version for about a month. Expected some of my issues to be resolved, but they simply were not fixed by going pro. For me, it was $500 wasted, completely.
One of the biggest issues you’ll find is intellisense for UE4 coding. Both many users and Unreal themselves have recommended Visual Assist from http://www.wholetomato.com/ Had a few other minor issues which are irritating not in a deal breaker way but in a “$500 software shouldn’t be like this” kind of way. Intellisense is the big issue.
You will need Pro in order to use this VAX. I am personally still struggling with the idea of investing even more money into it, but if you are just starting out, maybe consider the Pro cost to really be $600 with VAX. If you can deal with bad intellisense, then stick with express and put that money into something else. I also expected some improvements with the UE4 VS plugin as well, but have little reason to use it so far.
(My background is .Net and ASP in my day job. Pro is great for this use and would fully recommend Pro for anything in these languages.)
Intellisense is not that big issue, firsts of its UBT slowness is what stops it. once it parse header files it suggest faster but when you edit header foles it need to re do
Thank you for your reply, Timconwell. To be honest, I hope to make full use of the Blueprint system. However, since I have the money to buy VS Professional, as well as VAX (what does the X stand for?), I feel like it would be better to get it now and not need it, than need it in the future, and not have the resources for it. Guess I’m weighing the pros and cons. Is having it (with VAX) merely a convenience? As in, everything I’d need to do to release a stellar game can be done via Blueprint and VS Express? Would the Pro reduce development time, debugging time, etc. or is it just nice to have?
The other pros of owning Professional would allow me to switch to Unity3D and UnityVS ($100 plugin for working with the engine). So, having the professional software gives me more options in the future, should I need them.
Heh, you know I’m not sure about the “X” part, I see it recommended like so to the point where I’m just going with the crowd now
Best I can tell you really should be fine with express even up to release, but hate to really state such a thing definitively. Even with some of the people I’ve worked with we’ve had differences where they’d find some feature indispensable and I’m sorta “meh.”
Never did try Unity with VS, just mono. But seeing as content I am with C# otherwise in VS I can only imagine that it would be real nice. Plus if you are doing any sort of ASP you really can’t beat Pro. (Stick with php tho if you can). So maybe it’s being able to justify the cost for numerous systems that makes the decision. For only UE4…eh, really tough choice there, like maybe if one could write it off as a business expense or something.
Edit: oh the VAX really is just a convenience thing. It doesn’t make your programs run any Bette (best I know) but will be very nice during coding. Otherwise what you get is confusion as the system keeps highlighting bad code, except it’s not bad, or maybe it is, you just need to wait a minute until VS figures it out…except when it doesn’t figure it out until you add new functions and it rereads headers…
Hi Timconwell. Well, I think the best idea is to sign up for Unreal Engine 4, try it out with the Express version of Visual Studio, and see how it goes. Everyone is different when it comes to what tools they want. I do like Visual Studio. When I built my XNA game, it was a great tool. However, if I can get by without buying the professional version, all the better.
If you can think of any other benefit that would convince me to buy the professional license, please let me know. Thanks so much for your time and help!
I work at Microsoft as a Tech Evangelist (and was also a Rocket tester, and UDK author).
If you or anyone working on an UE4 project need Visual Studio, I can set you up with BizSpark for free, which will grant everyone on your team a license for Visual Studio Premium 2013.
This is a great initiative, but as far as I am aware this is limited to three years. Not that it matters, because it would always be possible to fall back to the express version But still, I think it could be useful information for anyone interested in this. Unless I am mistaken of course, then please correct me Beyond that, I would be interested in this, because my trial of the professional version ended a week ago.
Yes, correct, the program lasts for 3 years. After that, folks have to fork over money for Visual Studio :p. The idea is that after 3 years, a business should become somewhat sustainable.
This program is open to anyone utilizing UE4 for games, so developers would be silly not to take advantage of it, and continue to build for UE4.
Do you have any way to contact you for this process? Or is it a case of everyone who signs up gets access regardless? I’d be very interested in being able to use VAX again and work on UE4.
