Unreal Engine 5.5 source build for Dedicated server & reduce size build

Development Platform & Builds
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I have a question that might sound weird or stupid. Since I do not have much space. Is there a way to only build a dedicated server & client modules and then place the binaries of them in standard Epic’s ue to integrate them ? Like I wouldn’t need to build the whole UE from the source.

I have bought a dedicated server course and I want to learn but don’t have too much space like 400 or 500gb, mostly 200 and 113 available due to Epic’s UE5.5 & some projects. Many youtube and course tutor build development editor which include extra files. I can’t afford that much storage.

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Same, i was so confused, i hope someone can answer this, because im new to learning Unreal

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it seems that one can add extra linking flag such as “-strip” to get rid of debugging symbol info to reduce target executes size.

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can i use an external hard drive?

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yes you can , it’s better use Gen4 (or higher ) SSD with high-speed type-c interface

1 Like
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this post also discussed how to disable debug files to save space:

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Thank you! I decided to buy a 2TB SATA internal hard drive, which should be arriving tomorrow. I was a bit sceptical about installing it myself, so I looked up some tutorials and it turns out it’s actually one of the easiest upgrades I could do. At first, I was nervous because this is my first ever proper PC, and I bought it pre-built, so I didn’t want to risk breaking anything. I went with the SATA version instead of the USB one since it’s apparently more reliable. Hopefully I can get it working without issues I’ll try to post an update once it’s installed.

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I received my SATA hard drive yesterday, and I’ve got to say it really did the trick. Setting up the UE 5.6 source build took a while, but I finally got it running, which I’m super happy about. In the end, the solution was simply to increase the available storage.

For anyone wondering about space requirements, here’s what I saw on my setup: the source build used around 333 GB after I launched from the Development Editor. I haven’t tried the Development/Debug server yet, so I’m not sure if that will add more files, but for now, my full project runs fine, including the default level map.

Adding the extra SATA drive completely solved my issue, and I’d definitely recommend it to anyone running into the same problem. Don’t panic about installing it yourself either as a beginner, I found the process surprisingly easy, and it was way less intimidating than I thought it would be.

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Adding extra external storage seems a pretty workable solution. Can these Unreal Engine builds run directly on these drives?

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I’m not 100% sure about USB hard drives, I think they’d work, but there might be noticeable speed differences compared to an internal drive. Since I went with an internal SATA hard drive, I haven’t had any issues at all, and Unreal runs just as smoothly as before. My main setup still uses the SSD that came with my PC for the OS and prebuilt storage, while the SATA drive just handles the extra space I needed.

You could probably use a USB external hard drive, but load times might be significantly slower depending on the drive’s speed and connection. If you’re curious, here’s the exact SATA drive I bought on Amazon:
Seagate BarraCuda 2TB, Internal Hard Drive, 3.5 Inch, SATA 6GB/s, 7200 RPM, 64MB Cache, for Desktop PC (ST2000DMZ08)