I only use blueprint scripting and never code in C++. My problem is that every other day UE4 fails to build my projects because it fails to cook either some of the structures I created (which were succesfully cooked in previous builds), some deleted files (which I believe shouldn’t be cooked since they are deleted from the project) and also the Roboto Italic font for some reason (it is related to Slate features that I never use).
I love UE4 very much but I feel like I’m in a mine field all the time and can never tell when it will fail to build my projects. It is infeasibly time consuming to continue from the previous backup and hope it would build this time. The only working solution I have found is to clone the project after every succesful build every half an hour or so and continue from that backup and repeat the changes I made. It’s very annoying to do almost everything twice.
Does anyone have any suggestions on fixing these problems?
Hello!
Which version of the Editor are you using? With that being said, are you using Binary (Launcher) or Source (GitHub) to create/package your projects? Have you updated the version of the Engine that you’re working off during the same project?
It would also be beneficial if you could provide us with the output that you’re receiving when the packaging fails for your project. You can find the output in the folder: PROJECTNAME/Saved/
Looking forward to hearing from you!
Hey,
I deleted the broken projects after salvaging whatever I could, so I don’t have any log files . Let me try and describe the circumstances these errors happened:
The Roboto Italic font and -defined structure cooking problem might be specfic to the UE4.7 Preview 7 update. They started after that and ended with the Preview 8 update. The -defined structures were failed to cook before too but it’s easily fixed by creating another structure and using it to replace the broken one’s references.
The most frequent error I run into is when the engine tries to cook deleted files. From what I understand, the engine deletes the files from the content browser, however leaves a 1 KB file for referencing purposes (which also prevents me from creating another asset with the same name in that folder, since its extension is also “.uasset”. For example, if I delete a blueprint and create a structure with the same name it won’t let me). Anyways, every now and then the engine fails to package my projects (both on my PC (win 8.1) and macbook) and the log says it failed to cook one of the deleted files (which shouldn’t be cooked in the first place, right?). The only working solution I found is to open another project and create an asset of the same type with the same name & directory then migrate it to the actual project. The engine then asks me if I want to replace the file, I say “yes” and then packages succesfully. It even builds after deleting the migrated file (it only failed to build once with this method, but I redid the migration & deletion then it succeeded). This looks to me as if the engine is sometimes forgetting to exclude the deleted asset from the “assets to cook for packaging” list. Maybe changing the extension of the 1 KB file would fix this. It’s not an “asset” for the packaged game anyways.
Thanks for the help, I hope you find something useful in what I wrote. You have no idea how much work I lost until I came up with the clumsy solutions above.
Hello ,
I’m glad to see that preview 8 has corrected some of the trouble you’ve been experiencing recently.
To be clear, in 4.7 preview 8, you are still running into the frequent error where the engine tries to cook the deleted files from your project? If so, could you please provide me with reproduction steps so I can investigate this further for you? Also, if you happen to still have a project where this has occurred, providing us with the output would be extremely useful during this investigation.
Much appreciated, have a wonderful day!
I haven’t deleted any assets so far, so I haven’t run into it yet. I’ll start a new project and delete a few to see what happens. I’ll first need to finish updating to the new preview version.
Btw, the reason I end up deleting so many assets is because of the way I work. I use marketplace content to quickly demo a scene or idea, then replace that content with the assets I create later on. Is this an uncommon or inherently flawed way of working with Unreal Engine? The packaging errors might just be happening because I’m not following a good methodology.
Good day, I hope you had a fantastic weekend!
So I have created a blueprint project and thrown in the starter content.
I’ve tried a few different things here:
- I placed different props, particles and materials around the blueprint project and saved it.
- I attempted to then package from file > package project > Windows - all worked perfectly fine
- I also attempted to just launch the project onto the computer, this worked fine as well
- Unreal Frontend was used last, I built, packaged and deployed the project onto Windows without any trouble. I was also able to package the project without deploying it and I received no errors.
Since I didn’t run into any errors, we will need to look into this a bit more. Could you please tell me your packaging process, what steps are you taking? Are you using the options within the Editor or through Unreal Frontend?
Thank you!
Hey ,
I haven’t heard from you since my response a few days ago. With that being said, I’ll be closing this thread for now. However, if you happen to have any further questions or concerns regarding this matter, please do not hesitate to respond back to this thread and we will assist you further.
Thank you and have a great weekend! 
Sorry for the delay, I’ve been quite busy lately. I haven’t run into any errors since, so I’m guessing it was a glitch that went away in the end. Thanks again.
Hey ,
I’m glad your issue has since been resolved. If you run into any other complications, feel free to contact us again!
Cheers!
Hi, I ran into the packaging error again but discovered why it was happening (at least for me). Here are the steps to reproduce, so you can check on your end and see if this is a general issue:
- Create a -defined structure and
add a couple of variables to it
(string, texture 2d etc.).
- Then use this variable in a couple
of blueprints but make them arrays.
Also call these variables from other
blueprints using cast to nodes. This
would build without problems.
- Delete a some of the variables in
the structure. This causes the
packaging failure (not every single
time but it does). It causes the
packaging of all following assets to
give errors. The error is fixed by
deleting the variable from each
blueprint, compiling them and
re-adding the variable, so it’s not
so bad.
Hey ,
Have you upgraded to UE 4.7.2 yet? This is the version of the editor that I’m using and I was unable to reproduce the same effects as you.
If you have one specific template that this is occurring on, but you’re not able to reproduce it on another project, it is possible that it’s project specific and something isn’t ‘hooked-up’ correctly in the scripting/blueprints. So this leads to my next question, are you able to reproduce this in any project you’ve attempted it in?
Looking forward to hearing back from you!
Thanks!
I always use the latest available version. The error occurs inconsistently and it did happen in several projects when I deleted some variables from the structures I defined when they were in array form.
Anyways, I already found how to solve it as I explained above. I kindly thank you for taking the time and looking into this.
Hey,
Thanks for giving me all of this information. I want to make sure it’s fully tested and bugged if needed.
Have a great day!