Is the runtime engine completely separate from the Editor?

I just want to know if it is possible to just use the engine separate from the editor. I know that they are different modules but is it possible to just use a certain module. If yes how would I go about doing that. I’m not looking for a very technical answer (though it would be much appreciated) but something more generalized.

I think, yes. But it’s very hard way. I don’t see a reasone for cut off only engine and do with it… something. You can freely modificate engine, editor, plugins - they are is open-sourced. Yes, Unreal Engine have tree structure of including parts. There are some joint what we can probably name as UE. UE4Editor - it’s more like a game that can create games. But for what reason you need write you own editor? (Mean Editor - as Build Processor and Assets Packer). Engine ofcource use *.uasset file for resources. If you don’t have tool for creating *.uassets" (Editor), how can you put resources into Engine?

Thanks for the answer. That certainly addresses a few of my issues. I for a fact did not know that the Editor created the uassets. I don’t really plan on doing anything with it (for now) I just wanted to know how it was structured.

If you want to build the “game” or “client” or “server” build targets, you will get a version of the engine compiled without the editor modules. There is a preprocessor define WITH_ENGINE that will be set. We use this to reduce the size of the executable for standalone games.