How to package a plugin dependent on another plugin?

Development Pipeline & Plugins Plugins
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1

Hi, suppose I have two plugins, MyPlugin and AdditionalPlugin. Both are game plugins. I’ve set AdditionalPlugin to be dependent on MyPlugin by modifying the MyPlugin.uplugin and MyPlugin.build.cs file, like so:

MyPlugin.uplugin

"Modules": [
         {
           "Name": "MyPlugin",
           "Type": "Runtime",
           "LoadingPhase": "Default"
         }
       ],
       "Plugins": [                       // <--
         {                                // <--
           "Name": "AdditionalPlugin",    // <--
           "Enabled": true                // <--
         }                                // <--
       ]                                  // <--

MyPlugin.build.cs

PublicDependencyModuleNames.AddRange(
         new string[]
         {
             "Core",
             "CoreUObject",
             "Engine",
             "AdditionalPlugin",          // <--
         }
     );

Now, I would like to package MyPlugin. Since AdditionalPlugin depends on MyPlugin, it seems that I can’t just simply package MyPlugin. Do I have to package AdditionalPlugin first and put it somewhere? When I try to package MyPlugin, this is the error I get:

Running AutomationTool...
UATHelper: Package Plugin Task (Windows): Parsing command line: BuildPlugin -Plugin=C:/Users/MyPlugin/MyPlugin.uplugin -Package=C:/Users/Desktop/MyPlugin -CreateSubFolder
[2018.11.22-23.44.20:319][488]UATHelper: Package Plugin Task (Windows): Copying 70 file(s) using max 64 thread(s)
[2018.11.22-23.44.20:423][494]UATHelper: Package Plugin Task (Windows): Reading plugin from C:\Users\HostProject\Plugins\MyPlugin\MyPlugin.uplugin...
[2018.11.22-23.44.20:456][496]UATHelper: Package Plugin Task (Windows): Building plugin for host platforms: Win64
[2018.11.22-23.44.20:457][496]UATHelper: Package Plugin Task (Windows): Running: C:\Program Files\Epic Games\UE_4.21\Engine\Binaries\DotNET\UnrealBuildTool.exe UE4Editor Win64 Development -plugin=C:\Users\HostProject\Plugins\SequenceGenerator\MyPlugin.uplugin -iwyu -noubtmakefiles -manifest=C:\Users\HostProject\Saved\Manifest-UE4Editor-Win64-Development.xml -NoHotReload -log="C:\Program Files\Epic Games\UE_4.21\Engine\Programs\AutomationTool\Saved\Logs\UBT-UE4Editor-Win64-Development.txt"
[2018.11.22-23.44.21:964][563]UATHelper: Package Plugin Task (Windows):   Using Visual Studio 2017 14.15.26726 toolchain (C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Professional\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.15.26726) and Windows 10.0.16299.0 SDK (C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10).
[2018.11.22-23.44.22:070][567]UATHelper: Package Plugin Task (Windows):   ERROR: Unable to find plugin 'AdditionalPlugin' (referenced via command line -> MyPlugin.uplugin). Install it and try again, or remove it from the required plugin list.
[2018.11.22-23.44.22:070][567]UATHelper: Package Plugin Task (Windows):          (see C:\Program Files\Epic Games\UE_4.21\Engine\Programs\AutomationTool\Saved\Logs\UBT-UE4Editor-Win64-Development.txt for full exception trace)
[2018.11.22-23.44.22:109][568]UATHelper: Package Plugin Task (Windows): Took 1.6590954s to run UnrealBuildTool.exe, ExitCode=5
[2018.11.22-23.44.22:115][568]UATHelper: Package Plugin Task (Windows): ERROR: UnrealBuildTool failed. See log for more details. (C:\Program Files\Epic Games\UE_4.21\Engine\Programs\AutomationTool\Saved\Logs\UBT-UE4Editor-Win64-Development.txt)
[2018.11.22-23.44.22:115][568]UATHelper: Package Plugin Task (Windows):        (see C:\Program Files\Epic Games\UE_4.21\Engine\Programs\AutomationTool\Saved\Logs\Log.txt for full exception trace)
[2018.11.22-23.44.22:134][569]UATHelper: Package Plugin Task (Windows): AutomationTool exiting with ExitCode=5 (5)
[2018.11.22-23.44.22:168][570]UATHelper: Package Plugin Task (Windows): BUILD FAILED
1 Like
2

I am also seeing this behaviour in 4.21.2. Is packaging plugins with a dependency on other plugins supported in UE4?

3

Bumping.

Since Unreal added the plugin dependency option in a more recent version (I believe 4.18 or so), there should be a way to package plugins depending on other plugins as well. I have tried doing so without success so far.

4

Hi!In plugins :
1)You can select when this plugin is loaded Default,etc
2)You should regenerate your project,if you include your second plugin as a dependency
And its possible to make any kind of hierarchy that you want in plugins.
if you will not get any success,just drop here the link to the source i will check.Cheers!

5

Hi, was a resolution ever found for this? Got the exact same situation and getting the error:

UATHelper: Package Plugin Task (Windows): ERROR: Unable to find plugin ‘MyPlugin’ (referenced via command line → AdditionalPlugin.uplugin). Install it and try again, or remove it from the required plugin list.

If I remove it from the dependency list, it gives an error that the includes for the dependant plugin can’t be found.