RF_Standalone flag in packaged assets

[anonymous_user_0bdfb1e4]

While trying to get deterministic packaging (binary-identical packages from the same data), we have noticed that some resources have the RF_Standalone flag “sometimes” when being serialized out to the final packaged files. We have seen that some flags are removed at that point but not this one. We are thinking on removing this flag like this in ObjectResource.cpp around line 95:

FArchive& operator<<( FArchive& Ar, FObjectExport& E )
{
	Ar << E.ClassIndex;
	Ar << E.SuperIndex;
	if (Ar.UE4Ver() >= VER_UE4_TemplateIndex_IN_COOKED_EXPORTS)
	{
		Ar << E.TemplateIndex;
	}

	Ar << E.OuterIndex;
	Ar << E.ObjectName;

	uint32 Save = E.ObjectFlags & RF_Load;
	// [anticto] Avoid saving the RF_Standalone flag, which seems to be enabled "sometimes" for some assets when
	// packaging but in theory should only be used in the editor.
	if (Ar.IsCooking())
	{
		Save &= ~(uint32)RF_Standalone;
	}
	// [anticto] end
	Ar << Save;
	if (Ar.IsLoading())
	{
		E.ObjectFlags = EObjectFlags(Save & RF_Load);
	}
 [...]
}

That flag, however, is very low level and we are concerned this may cause problems. Do you think this is a proper way to do it? Is this flag required at all in packaged assets?

Thanks in advance.