Unreal is trying to add files to my repository from ignored folders on launch

Development Pipeline & Plugins
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1

Every time I launch Unreal I have to wait 4-5 minutes as Unreal keeps trying to add files from ignored folders to my repository.
I 'm using Plastic SCM as my version control system. My folder ignore rules are basically ignoring everything in /Content beside my project subfolder to avoid bloating the repository with other packages.

ignore.conf:

...
/Content
~/Content/MyProject
...

When I launch Unreal it seems Unreal is trying to add the files in the ignored folders under /Content.
There are “Adding files(s) to Repository” popups for like 4-5 minutes and in Visual Studio I can see the adding file commands:

[2024.09.11-10.27.03:203][  0]LogSourceControl: RunCommand: 'add --parents ? "C:/Dev/Projects/MyProject/Content/StarterContent/Blueprints/Blueprint_Effect_Smoke.uasset"' (in 0.004s) output (170 chars):
The selected items are about to be added. Please wait ...
c:\Dev\Projects\MyProject\Content\StarterContent\Blueprints\Blueprint_Effect_Smoke.uasset has been excluded.

[2024.09.11-10.27.03:753][  0]LogSourceControl: RunCommand: 'status --machinereadable --fieldseparator=";" --controlledchanged "C:/Dev/Projects/MyProject/Content/StarterContent/Blueprints/Blueprint_Effect_Smoke.uasset"' (in 0.551s) output (42 chars):
STATUS;10;MyProject;MyRepository@cloud

[2024.09.11-10.27.03:759][  0]LogSourceControl: RunCommand: 'fileinfo --format="{RevisionChangeset};{RevisionHeadChangeset};{RepSpec};{LockedBy};{LockedWhere};{ServerPath}" "C:/Dev/Projects/MyProject/Content/StarterContent/Blueprints/Blueprint_Effect_Smoke.uasset"' (in 0.005s) output (75 chars):
-1;-1;;;;/Content/StarterContent/Blueprints/Blueprint_Effect_Smoke.uasset

[2024.09.11-10.27.03:917][  0]LogSourceControl: RunCommand: 'lock list --machinereadable --smartlocks --anystatus --fieldseparator=";" --dateformat=yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mm:ss' (in 0.158s) output (0 chars):

[2024.09.11-10.27.03:919][  0]SourceControl: Command: MarkForAdd, Info: The selected items are about to be added. Please wait ...
[2024.09.11-10.27.03:919][  0]SourceControl: Command: MarkForAdd, Info: c:\Dev\Projects\MyProject\Content\StarterContent\Blueprints\Blueprint_Effect_Smoke.uasset has been excluded.
[2024.09.11-10.27.03:919][  0]LogSourceControl: MarkForAdd of C:/Dev/Projects/MyProject/Content/StarterContent/Blueprints/Blueprint_Effect_Smoke.uasset processed in 0.996s
[2024.09.11-10.27.03:924][  0]LogSourceControl: GetState: ForceUpdate
[2024.09.11-10.27.03:924][  0]LogSourceControl: ExecuteSynchronousCommand: UpdateStatus
2

It might be caused by the same issue as in this thread. The engine is re-copying the InsertPacks every startup.
UE 5.4 editor startup keeps re-copying StarterContent

Removing the InsertPack line for the StarterContent from the DefaultGame.ini is a workaround.

InsertPack=(PackSource="StarterContent.upack,PackName="StarterContent")

Is the re-copy at every launch by design or is that an issue?

Is it possible to check with the Revision Control System first if a file/directory is ignored before adding it to avoid the slow file-by-file add operations?

3

Hi there. We have the same issue at our studio. Till yesterday I just accepted it. Then i looked what was even happening. I guess most users don’t even notice this. However we work with perforce for revision control which makes all files read only (when not checked out). That prevents the files from being overwritten and ends in an error message at startup. I was about to exclude it from revision control but your solution seems much better.

But not sure if its intended this way… can’t make sense of it.