A week ago I received an e-mail informing me that unreal engine 4.20 has been released.
So I updated my visual studio from VS2015 to VS2017 in preparation and now have attempted to install unreal engine 4.20 through the Epic games launcher. I am using windows 10 and the installer tells me I need windows 7 service pack version 6.1. I think I had encountered this previously, and if I remember correctly, I can ignore this warning.
After selecting ignore anyway and selecting the install path to be the same as for my previous unreal engine installations, I now encounter the message.
Install failed
Maximum path length exceeded. Please specify a shorter install location.
Error Code: IS-PL01
What on earth is going on?
How could this be possible that the directory path name I had successfully used to install in the past is not viable now because it is too long?
What is the maximum number of characters I can use?
Is this an installation bug?
Consequently I will not be installing 4.20 until I can install it where I want to.
Is there a work around, or do I have to wait until an updated version of the game launcher is released or specify some parameter in some option with the game launcher that I am unaware of and where it may be?
Thank you in advance for any help given.
Hi IDominioNI,
I’m afraid what you’re describing isn’t a bug. With very large applications with deep file structures such as unreal engine you can often run into path length issues. With the current build of 4.20 the folder structures max depth means you only have 50 characters to play with in the installation path.
This is likely because of some new changes in 4.20 that presumably weren’t present in the earlier versions you successfully installed.
I suggest attempting to shorten your install path length to less then 50 characters. Short of this you could wait for future releases of the engine and hope they reduce the path length required, this however is by no means guaranteed to happen.
Thank you for this information. Much appreciated. I have come across a few search results of past posts with the exact same problem I have, and no answers or explanation.
A max of 53 characters is a strange number, but OK, 53 it is. If only the installer gave this information, all would be good!
But anyway, I have also seen quite a few posts with problems running UE 4,20 and the C++ side of things. I may just decide not to rush things and wait until these problems are resolved and an update is released. My main interest is in Niagara, and that is in early access mode as well. So waiting for a future update may be the best thing to do while I continue to work on things that I intend to try and include in UE and experiment with after some initial success earlier in the year.
Thanks again.
Hi there, I thought i’d ask the question here. My Launcher does not show 4.20 as available. It does say 4.16.3 though which is really strange? I’ve completely uninstalled unreal and installed again and i’m getting the same issue where the highest I can get is 4.19.2 but it also has 4.16.3 there to install? Is this one of those times that Unreal gets the name wrong?