I’ve been struggling almost two weeks trying to use different IDEs with UE4 on Mac. I’ve tryed QTCreator and CLion as alternatives to XCode and VS for Windows. But all my efforts were idle.
REALLY: there is no better IDE for UE4 than VS 2015!
##In thins solution the idea is to use UE4Editor on your Mac OS, but Visual Studio 2015 on virtual Windows machine in parallel.
###Also I was looking for some kind of instruction on the internet how to install VS on Mac and get it work properly but I didn’t find it. So I decided share my own solution for people who are looking for this.
As some guys mentioned they have some problems with very slow intelli sence in VS there is only one solution I found: install Visual Assist extension for VS as someone here kindly mentioned.
FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO ARE USING MAC BUT DON’T KNOW HOW TO INSTALL VS ON VIRTUAL MACHINE: (this solution is not perfect and requires much hard drive memory and high CPU and RAM consumption, so if your Mac is old probably this won’t help you)
My system info is:
MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015)
processor: 2.5 GHz Intel Core i7
memory: 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
graphics: AMD Radeon R9 M370X 2048 MB
#Cooking VS on Mac (Instruction):
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Install latest version of Virtual Box.
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Install Windows 7,8,10 in VirtualBox (and adjust more ram for virtual system 4GB would be enough and all of your CPU cores to enhance VS performance and installation, also you must create virtual disk for system not less than 60 GB!!!).
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Install Visual Studio with Common Tools for C++.
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Install Unreal Engine on your Windows Virtual Machine (this is for your VS project files ability to read all headers macros etc.)
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Install Visual Assist X extension for VS on virtual machine.(it makes your VS fly like a bird trust me!)
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Make sure you’ve installed UE4 on your mac.
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Install Guest Additions for VirtualBox (this helps you to create Shared folders between your Mac and your virtual Windows machine, also allows you to make your virtual machine screen resolution fullscreen as you really running native windows system, it is very comfortable when you use VS in virtual machine).
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Create shared folder for Virtual Box and access it from your virtual Windows after installing guest additions. (the folder must be in Network tab in FileExplorer)
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Put your project in Shared Folder. Now you are able to access it from Mac and virtual Windows at the same time. But if you generate solution files for VS in Shared Folder (in Network) VS will not recognize it as a UE4 project. It is not over yet, still something to do.
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Install Synkron or some alternative app which will help you quickly sync between two folders in virtual Windows machine.
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Copy your entire project folder from Shared Folder somewhere to your virtual Windows system.
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Use Synkron or other tool to sync two folders: 1. From your Shared Folder with Mac (in Network 2. Fresh copied folder. You need to sync every time you make changes in your project. You can adjust Scheduler in Synkron by the way
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Now finally you are ready to generate your .sln files for VS in Windows run cmd and go to:
C:/Program Files/Epic Games/4.10/Engine/Binaries/DotNET -
in this folder in command line run:
UnrealBuildTool.exe -projectfiles -project="path\to\your\.uproject file" -game -rocket -progress
(it will generate .sln file in your project folder. ATTENTION!: generate project files for your virtual folder you’ve just copied to Windows machine! not the Shared Folder! -
Open .sln file in VS, waint untill Visual Assist parse through all files, it will take a while but still fast if you use all af your cores for virtual Windows.
VOILA!
Now you can simply edit your project and sync folders between Mac and Windows
Use UE4 on Mac to test your code and game. It is faster and more comfortable. Also after changes in code in virtual Windows VS compile your code directly in Unreal Engine Editor.
P.S. I know this is not very clean solution but I finally get VS with it beautiful features working on Mac. If you have another ways feel free to share it. Also this is not very detailed explanation on how to get it working if you really face some problems following this instruction I can help or even share MORE detailed instruction here on forums.
##Thank you for your attention. Have Fun! 