Issue with "Online" Plugins missing (Steam Integration)

Up until a few days ago, it appears my Steam (OnlineSubsystem) for my Unreal Engine have stopped working all together. Nothing with steam (the overlay, etc) would show. I thought maybe I broke something within the Project, so I went and did a download of the MP Project provided by Epic Games from a YouTube channel where they did a complete Steam Integration, and I also downloaded another Steam MP Project from a guy on youtube who did a 2 hr + tutorial.

Steam Overlay works for none of these projects.

I tried doing a complete uninstall and reinstall of steam + 4.12.5 and 4.11 (the versions that the projects are compatible with, and it still doesn’t work.

I went into my “Plugins” section and it appears that I am missing the entire “Online” category. Any ideas? This has really put me behind.

Regards

Hi,

Before 4.13, the online subsystem plugins were integrated in the core engine source code (under /Engine/Source/Runtime/Online/OnlineSubsystemSteam). The OnlineSubsystems got turned into plugins in 4.13, hence that you are missing them in your engine version.

To enable SteamWorks in 4.12, and earlier, you need to do bCompileSteamOSS=true; in your build.cs file (only enable for desktop platforms).

Hope that helps. Cheers,

Thanks, #1) I don’t do a lot in the back-end yet as far as C++, so where would I locate that file? #2) Would you have any idea as to why just now it just stops working all together? It worked fine for about 2 weeks into the project, and then one day, just stopped.

I read up a little, and it tells me that is only for a C++ project, whereas mine is completely blueprint at this point. So my steps for enabling steam was just to edit the DefaultEngine.ini file and place the proper information in there. Quite confused about this.

Some things to keep in mind/test:

  1. You need to have steam logged in before starting the game or editor
  2. Have you tried to bring up the overlay in standalone? People have had issues with the online subsystems in PIE
  3. bCompileSteamOSS should be true by default if it detects that the correct SteamWorks folder in your {thirdparty source directory}/Steamworks/{SteamVersion}. Check /Engine/Source/Programs/UnrealBuildTool/Configuration/UEBuildConfiguration.cs for which version your engine requires (I believe for 4.11/12 it is Steamv132)

Thanks for the replies.

  1. I always keep Steam online when I try to test.
  2. Yes, that’s the only thing I use is Stand-alone mode. I heard that using PIE caused a lot of issues so I avoid it.
  3. I’ll run through those folders. The only thing I find interesting, is when it worked. I use to go into Unreal Engine and goto the Plugins section and see an “Online” category. Which had the subsystem stuff in it. Now all of a sudden (after the reinstall) I don’t have that anymore. Nothing related to Steam is in the plugin list (except for controller and VR plugins). It’s very odd because even after loading the Multiplayer tutorial made by Epic, Steam doesn’t work in there either, so it’s making me wonder if it’s something on my computer causing the issue.

It appears I’m missing the folder UnrealBuildTool all together. Should that be?

After some tinkering around – it actually ended up being Steam itself. It needed to be closed completely and re-opened. I don’t understand why, but it’s working now. project.gheist did provide some useful information, so I mark it as solved thanks to him.