On a fresh computer install, both the pre-compiled Editor and source compiled version of UE4 Editor crashes immediately on launch. Clicking “Launch” on the UE4 Launcher results in an almost-immediate unhandled crash (no crash handler dialog opens, only the Windows default “UE4 has stopped working”. Compiling Development Editor x64 in VS2012 (Update 4) I hit a DebugBreak in the shader compile worker with it saying “ShaderCompileWorker Fatal Error”.
Rig:
GPU: GeForce GTX 760
CPU: Intel i5-4670K
Memory: 16GB
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional
I got the same error on Windows 8.1 having compiled UE4 using VS2012. It was caused by the shader compiler worker failing to find one of the VS2013 CRT dlls.
Installing the Visual C++ Redistributable Packages for Visual Studio 2013 fixed it for me.
It’s possible you’re missing a different DLL then, or it’s failing for a different reason. Have you installed the June 2010 DirectX runtime? I can’t remember how I found out which DLL it was missing now, I may have simply tried to run the shader compiler directly from windows, without any command line options, if there’s nothing useful in the visual studio output window.
This issue is from March, so it’s likely a different error with the ShaderCompileWorker. I would recommend making a new Question thread for this. Have you tried the usual solutions, such as reinstalling the engine or running an older version?
The user in this thread fixed the problem by copying the UE4 directory over from a friend’s computer, that could potentially fix your issue as well.