Redistributables for Steam

When I put my game (Say a first person desktop project) on Steam, from Steam’s redistributables page which ones do I have to check, if any? Is DirectX or .NET or Visual C++ mandatory, and if so, which ones?

Hi there,

Did you ever find out the answer to this?

Hi, I haven’t found out any answer. I check DirectX, .NET and Visual C++ 2015 enabled.

Sometimes some users write in my game forums that they can’t run the game with Redist error. I had Googled it and found out that if the user has a non-geniune copy of Windows, they don’t get all the updates and end up with some missing files. That causes the error that makes them not able to run the game. So I opened threads in all my games telling that the game requires a geniune copy of Windows. That has ended the “can’t run the game because of error” feedback.

Maybe I’m doing something wrong. Maybe if I don’t check those redists enabled on Steam, I won’t have to strive against the errors and everyone will be able to run all my games but I could find noone to help me on it and the issue goes on.

Thank you for the quick answer! I’m beginning to feel this place should be called QuestionHub instead of AnswerHub, so this was a pleasant surprise! :slight_smile:

I’m working on a VR experience myself, and when uploading to the Oculus store I get similar options to those in Steamworks regarding redistributables. However, I’ve been told on the Oculus forums that when uploading a UE4 build to the Oculus store you’re not suppose to check any of the boxes for .NET and Visual C++ etc. - just leave them all blank and make sure you have the “Include prerequisites installer” checkbox checked in the build settings when building your shipping build in UE4. So I’m wondering whether or not that is the case with Steam as well. So strange that no one seems to be able to answer that. I’ll let you know if I manage to find anything out regarding Steam.

I wonder if checking “Include prerequisites installer” does the installation when running the project on the machine for the first time. Anyway, thanks in advance :slight_smile:

That would be really interesting to know! I read somewhere that there’s an install script feature in Steamworks that allows you to run certain files (i.e. the UE4 redist installer) as the app is being installed on Steam. That could be the way it’s intended to work as well? If no one can provide answers, I guess one possible solution is to uninstall all of the prerequisites on your machine, then create a dev build that includes the prerequisites, upload it to Steam on the dev branch, uncheck all the redistributables on Steam, then download the dev branch build and install it and see if it also installs the prerequisites. However, I can’t remember if you can set the install settings in Steamworks for the dev branch exclusively or if it’s a global setting for all builds. I’m guessing you don’t want to change the settings on the live build as you’re investigating this :slight_smile:

Yes, I think there is no exclusive dev setting for prerequisites. But if it is true that they are installed when the app is installed on Steam, then it is a nice feature.

A bit more info has just popped up in the following thread: What redistributables are required for packaged game installs?

Incase someone comes to this later, just as I did. I uploaded my first build to steam and this was their reply.
“Caution: During our review the app failed to launch on Windows due to some missing dependencies. These dependencies are caught by the Unreal launcher, however we ask that these dependencies be included with the Steam installation. To resolve this, we have edited your Steamworks settings to include these dependencies automatically. You can view the change by visiting the App Admin and selecting the Installation > Redistributables tab. Please publish this change before releasing your app by using the ‘Publish’ tab. The following common redistributables have been added: DirectX End-User Runtimes - June 2010 Visual C++ Redistributable 2022”
Very nice and helpful of them. Im using 24.7

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