Unreal Engine 4 has a file handle locking bug persistent across multiple games

This started with GRAV, continued with ARK, and is once again happening with FortNite. Unreal Engine 4 causes issues where executable files get locked out of Windows control because they are not closing properly. There is no running process but if you try to update file (as programs like Steam and Epic Launcher try to do) or delete it manually, you will find you don’t have access to do so. Using Process Explorer I am able to discover that executable file’s “Handle” requires closing before access can be given to do anything with it, such as deletion, updating, or execution.

Considering this problem has happened with all 3 of games I’ve listed above, it seems to be a bug inherent to engine itself. I suggest you look closely into how your games are closing, it seems they do not do it well. I’m running on a Windows 7 64-bit system that’s never witnessed this problem with any other engine or program. I’ve never had to specifically close file handles through process explorer before.

Please let me know how I can help with this issue. Unfortunately, it is not reproducible effectively as it only happens about 5% of time when i go to play (or have updates for) one of games I’ve mentioned above.

Hey ,

I see that it’s about a 5% of happening however, we do need to know more in order to continue this investigation. Would you be able to provide us steps on how to reproduce this issue? If so, we will be more than happy to submit a report to Developers.

Thanks! :slight_smile:

Hey ,

We have not heard back from you in a few days, so we are marking this post as Resolved for tracking purposes. If you are still experiencing issue you reported, please respond to this message with additional information and we will offer further assistance.

Thank you

Somehow my last comment got eaten up so response I sent never appeared.

Anyway, to reproduce error, simply run any unpatched Unreal Engine 4 game with a patch ready to be deployed, shut it down, then try to run it again. Do this over and over, say a dozen times. After that, try to patch game using either Steam’s patching system or, in Fortnite’s case, through Epic Launcher patching system. You will get an error (from steam) about disk read while Epic Launcher just has some other weird error about being unable to access files necessary.

Hey ,

Could you please provide me error from UE4? With these , I can verify that I am getting same error as you.

Looking forward to hearing back from you, thanks! :slight_smile:

Hey ,

We have not heard back from you in a few days, so we are marking this post as Resolved for tracking purposes. If you are still experiencing issue you reported, please respond to this message with additional information and we will offer further assistance.

Thank you!

This bug is not resolved. A game still in alpha, Farlight Explorers, just updated their engine to Unreal Engine 4 and has just seen same error I’ve been reporting. I’m going to need you to explain where "error " are supposed to be for something that isn’t a crash bug. This happens when game runs normally and is quit normally, it’s just not consistent. You need to actually test using methodology I explained, not just expect an error log where none exists.

If you’re having an issue within engine, please go to Window > Developer Tools > Output then you’d simply just select all of text and paste it over to a text document.

Please keep in mind that this thread was originally “closed” due to being inactive. It wasn’t because issue was resolved.

Thank you. :slight_smile:

Er, I don’t use Unreal Editor, I just play games. Where, among games I’ve listed, should I be finding these ?

Keeping in mind, again, that there is no crash occurring. This happens after a normal startup and shutdown play session.

We can’t help you fix a released game. You would need to contact creators of games you’re trying to play and let them know what’s going on. They can then contact us if something is not clear regarding engine.

This is a bug with every Unreal Engine 4 game I’ve played. It’s inherent to your Engine. I don’t understand how else I’m supposed to report this other than directly to you.

If you are having trouble with a game that you’ve created on UE4, you’d contact us for assistance. If you are having trouble with a specific bug that’s happening in games (even if they’re created on Unreal Engine 4) you’d still need to contact Developers for those games.

I would highly suggest to gather all of details that you have about each game that you’re experiencing issues with and send out emails to their support.

I am now convinced you haven’t actually read or understood problem I’ve reported. If you could, please direct this bug report to someone else.

Hi Dave,

We can’t offer assistance on bugs in released games that we did not create, even if it was created using our engine. You’ll need to contact developers of games you’re having an issue with. If they aren’t able to resolve it themselves, they’ll contact us for additional support. Thank you.