I already have android SDK which I use in building android apps.
- how different is it from the sdk unreal wants me to download? and can I use it instead?
thank you.
Hi
I cannot speak on behalf of any other software that you have installed on your computer. I can however provide you with the documentation for the Android SDK. You should be able to compare and see whether or not you’re using AndroidWorks or not.
[Android SDK Documentation][1]
https://docs.unrealengine.com/latest/INT/Platforms/Android/GettingStarted/1/
I wont really call android studio SKD “any other software” 
, thanks anyway.
Here is the answer I found out:
-
If you have android sdk already installed that means you are probably an android developer. So here is what android works will mess for you:
1- it will download and use an older version of JDK -at the time of writing this 7, while the latest is 8-. This may not be bad if it didn’t replace your environment variables WHICH IT DOES.
2- It also changes your ANDROID_HOME environment variable, which will lead some errors in your applications that already use ANDROID_HOME variable.
4- The highest android API you can download using android works is 5.1 . while the latest is 6 -at the time of writing this-. This wont work with your other applications if you are targeting any higher versions.
I had some building errors in my other android apps. It took me a while to realize it was because the environment variable change. (I was targeting Marshmallow)
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So is it possible to use android studio sdk?
Yes, get nuts. But for some reason I think you have to download the android works anyway
. I believe it changes some settings in unreal which I am not aware of actually. Anyway, after downloading it just change the environment variable back and unreal will just use what ever SDK the path leads to.
If you want to try without android works at all, check the setting in: Project settings> Platforms> Android SDK
The fields you need to fill are: (Location of Android SDK, SDK API level, NDK API level)