How to: Package and Deploy Your Project to the Google Play Store in UE4

So in this tutorial we are going to try to walk you through the steps of getting your app onto the Google Play store.  Initially I assumed this would be a relatively easy and streamlined process, and for the most part it is.  Unfortunately, not everything is as simple as it seems, and while the process has gotten MUCH better since 4.7, there are still some nuances that aren't explicitly explained.

Created for UE4 v4.7.5

How to Get Plugins to Package Correctly in Your UE4 Projects

In this tutorial we are going to go through a work-around for packaging games with plugins in them.

 "Plugin 'Your Plugin' failed to load because module 'Your Module' could not be found.  Please ensure the plugin is properly installed, otherwise consider disabling the plugin for this project."

Created for UE4 v4.6.1

How to Create 3D Imposter Sprites in Unreal Engine 4 - Part 2

We covered the steps for capturing a high resolution screenshot of your mesh in Part 1 of this tutorial, so now it's time to put those together and make them into an imposter sprite.

Tutorial completed using Unreal Engine 4.7 Preview 5

How to Create 3D Imposter Sprites in Unreal Engine 4 - Part 1

We're nearing the release stage for our game and we've gotten to the point where we are working on optimizing everything for mobile devices. We want to try to support as many devices as possible, so we considered the idea of using sprites to replace our 3D models to save on system resources.

Unreal has a built in way to make what they call "3D Imposter Sprites" (also known as billboard sprites or 3D sprites) that are 2D sprites that look like 3D models from every angle (or just from one axis if you really want to save on system resources) because their surfaces are always facing the camera. This sounds great in theory, but I had some trouble getting them working when I was following the Unreal documentation. Here is my modified (and, in my opinion, clarified) method for creating 3D imposter sprites for your game.

Tutorial completed using Unreal Engine 4.7 Preview 5

How to Create a Global Audio Volume Control (Sound Slider) Using UMG - Part 2

Hey guys, so for part 2 of our sound tutorial we are going to be setting up the sliders on the menu, and setting up the blueprint for the sound menu.


Created for UE4 v4.6.1, Rama's VictoryPlugin Required

How to Create a Global Audio Volume Control (Sound Slider) Using UMG - Part 1

So we recently implemented a global sound slider for our SFX and Music.  We used the UMG Menu to implement this, and there have been a few changes to UE4 since we made the last tutorial.  In this tutorial we are going to go over the implementation of the sound slider. Keep a look-out for our updated UMG menu tutorial also.

Created for UE4 v4.6.1, Rama's VictoryPlugin Required

How to Create a Menu in Unreal Engine 4.6 using Unreal Motion Graphics (UMG) - Part 3

Alright guys, here is our third and final step in implementing your UMG menu in Unreal Engine 4. This step will tie everything together and ensure that any values that you set for your options persist after the values are changed.

Created for UE4 v4.6.1

How to Install a Plugin on Unreal Engine 4

There are several independent developers out there making some really useful plugins for UE4. This is going to be a short tutorial on how to install a plugin for use in Unreal Engine 4.

Created for UE4 v4.6.1, Rama's VictoryPlugin Required

How to Update your Unreal Engine 4.4 UMG Menu to Work in 4.5

When I updated my project from to Unreal Engine 4.5, my Unreal Motion Graphics menu still looked alright, but the buttons no longer fired. If you followed my earlier tutorial (or set up a menu on your own in 4.4), then there is an easy fix to get your menu up and running again. This is a short tutorial on how to update your Unreal Engine 4.4 UMG Menu to 4.5.

Try Rebuilding From Source Manually Error: How to Update Your Blueprints-Only Unreal Engine Project From 4.4 to 4.5

This is a short tutorial on how to update your Unreal Engine 4.4 Blueprints-only project to the current 4.5 version of the engine if it fails to update automatically and gives you a "try rebuilding from source manually" error.

How to Change Parameters in Dynamic Materials at Runtime in UE4 using Substance Designer and Blueprints

Substance Designer is an all-around great tool for texturing 3D models, but one of the features that I'm most excited about in my game development is Substance integration in UE4. Allegorithmic had already integrated with Unreal back in the UDK and UE3 days (I guess technically you can still use UDK and UE3), but they've only recently released a plugin for UE4 that doesn't require recompiling the engine for it to work.

The Substance integration is huge because not only does it mean that you can save time importing textures and creating materials by simply dragging and dropping an SBSAR file into your game, it also means that you can dynamically change any values that you've "exposed" in your Substance graph at runtime.

This is a tutorial on how to manipulate your exposed Substance variables at runtime in your game using a key press.

How to Change Gravity Settings in Unreal Engine 4

This one is easy and relatively basic, but I've seen several questions about how to do this on UE4's Answer Hub, so I decided to make a quick tutorial on how to change the gravity in your Unreal Engine 4 game.

[Unreal Engine version 4.4 Only] Creating a Pause Menu for UE4 with Unreal Motion Graphics (UMG)

This is a short tutorial on adding a pause menu to your game. The steps here are very similar to Part 2 of my UMG menu tutorial, but enough of the logic is changed that I decided it warranted another tutorial.

[Unreal Engine version 4.4 ONLY] How to Create a Menu in Unreal Engine 4 using Unreal Motion Graphics (UMG) - Part 2

Note: Since the update to Unreal Engine 4.5 this tutorial is out of date. If you are using Unreal engine 4.4, then this is the correct tutorial for you. Otherwise, please go here to my updated tutorial.

This is the second and final part of my tutorial on how to create a menu in Unreal Engine using UMG. Here we will cover how to hook up blueprint functions to the menu buttons you created in Part 1 to make them work.

[Unreal Engine version 4.4 only] How to Create a Menu in Unreal Engine 4 using Unreal Motion Graphics (UMG) - Part 1

There are several options (both free and paid) that you can use to create menus for your game in UE4. The latest menu tool that Epic has been creating is called Unreal Motion Graphics or UMG. Right now this is an experimental tool and they are still adding features to it , but it's been developed enough to start using in your projects. This is Part 1 of a tutorial on how to use UMG to add a menu to your game.

Blender to Substance Designer to UE4: My Workflow

I like to think my workflow is unique. I use a free 3D modeling program, an engine that comes with a very affordable subscription plan, and a fairly expensive model texturing program (at least relative to my other tools). No Photoshop and no Autodesk products are involved. This is in part because the FBX exporter in Blender doesn't carry over the textures that you use in the Blender material editor to UE4 , and also partly because Substance Designer is a tremendous time saver.

(UPDATE: It seems that the materials in Blender can, in fact, be exported to UE4 now. I only exported a mesh with basic colors [by accident], so I can't attest to what extent Blender's material editor settings will carry over to UE4)

Here is the workflow I currently use to create meshes, texture them, and import them into UE4.

Creating Custom Collision for Unreal Engine 4 in Blender

After you have gone through the steps of readying your mesh to export into Unreal, you may want to consider adding your own collision to your model. Collision, put simply, is what tells your game what parts of your mesh objects can and can't pass through. UE4's collision tools are great, they have even updated the collision creation tool to work with more complex geometry to allow objects to pass through holes in the mesh, but if you want more control over how your collision works, it can be easily done in Blender.

Here are the steps to create custom collision in Blender for use in UE4.

UDK Landscapes Part 3: Using Weightmaps to Apply Your Landscape Materials

This is the third and final installment of the UDK Landscape trilogy. In the first two parts of this series, we created our height and weight maps using Terresculptor and then imported those maps into UDK. In this post we will show you how to apply materials to your landscape to make it look nice and pretty.

This one is relatively complicated if you aren't familiar with UDK's Material Editor, so I've made the instructions as detailed as possible.

UDK Landscapes Part 2: Importing Heightmaps and Weightmaps into UDK

You can either create your game landscape inside UDK using the landscape editor or by using an external program and importing those heightmaps into UDK. In our last post I detailed how to use one such external program called Terresculptor to generate height and weight maps for your landscape. This tutorial will show you how to import those maps into UDK.

UDK Landscapes Part 1: How to Create a Heightmaps and Weight Maps in Terresculptor

If you want to create a landscape for your game, you no longer have to painstakingly sculpt it by hand using UDK tools or a sculpting application. By using a program called Terresculptor, you can generate heightmaps and weight maps to import into UDK to save yourself a considerable amount of time. This tool is especially helpful for huge, sprawling landscapes. This tutorial will show you how to generate heightmaps and weight maps in Terresculptor, and how to import those maps into UDK.