What are the benefits of installing Unreal Engine from source code?

Please could you elaborate on what are the differences and the benefits of installing Unreal Engine from source code?

What is done in c++ can be also done with bluprints?

You can change the engine code. If you don’t know why you would want to do that, just install it from the store. The EGS version does not allow changing the default engine classes.

As for C++, that’s not really related to installing from source code, since you can use C++ in the EGS version too. And yes, you can do more stuff with C++ than with blueprints, but C++ is also much less forgiving than blueprints.

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Thank you for your answer @Tuerer, i am building a multiplayer session and in order to install the right plugins to create the network session in c++ the system ask me to install from the source UE. That is why I was evaluating if I need yo reinstall it all from scratch… Operation tedious and boring without considering the waste of time…

I was wondering if there were a solution where I can establish a p to p connection without passing some plugin installation but doing it natively.

Practically i need to let other colleagues from around the world to connect to my level and share info within the scene allowing all to talk and sharing files

There are two different “source” installations.

You can go into the EPIC launcher, and check the “install source code” (and ideally also “install debug symbols”) checkbox. This is not “install from source,” just “install source.”

You can also clone the source code from GitHub, install all the dependencies, and then build the entire engine from scratch. That’s “installing from source,” and is a lot more involved, and generally leads to a worse iteration cycle and a harder time upgrading to new engine versions.

Chances are, you just need “install engine source” in this dialog:

If you have plugins that need patching the actual engine, by installing from GitHub, I would recommend not using those plugins unless you are an experienced C++ programmer.

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I really appreciate your clarification.
I am studying programming and I am not an experienced programmer at all yet.

So to be able to allow multiplayer subsystems and P to P or Server Client networking… could you please address me in some official documentation from where i can learn how to let this happen without installing any widgets nor plugins?

Try starting here: Networking and Multiplayer in Unreal Engine | Unreal Engine 5.0 Documentation

If there’s some particular thing that seems unclear, you can ask questions in the appropriate forums, perhaps with a pointer to the part that’s unclear.

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@jwatte thx… a lot

I resolved following your advise… :grinning: How can I close this topic as Resolved?