minimal.uproject.md

Minimal Unreal New Project Setup

Skip the Launcher and create a new project directly

What is the minimal number of required files and folders needed to create an Unreal Engine Project? Surprisingly little -- one, one-line file to be specific -- and you can launch without needing to use the Launcher or have unreal prompt for a Template project.

Maybe the interesting thing here is that this is an option for some kind of automation. It's literally just create a one-line file, "open" it, and (maybe) select your chosen Unreal version.

Given the number of dev and test files I create, this is a nice direct way to get up and going.

In short, all you need to do is create one file - you're uproject file containing the following:

{ "FileVersion": 3 }

Here's a more complete example workflow:

1. create a folder, Minimal
2. create a file within that folder, Minimal.uproject
3. open Minimal.uproject in a text editor and paste in the following:

{ "FileVersion": 3 }

4. save and close your text editor
5. (windows) in file explorer, double-click on your Minimal.uproject file
6. If you have more than one version of Unreal installed, a dialog with a dropdown will pop up. Select your preferred version of Unreal and select [OK]

Unreal will create all the folders and files it needs to run in your project directory, and will launch with a default, blank project. You may need to rebuild some thing like Landscapes, and you may need to enable default plugins like Modeling Tools Editor Mode. Once in the editor, you can open the template levels or add starter content from within the content browser. Converting the project to a C++ project can be accomplished by using the Tools menu.

Note You can avoid having to select which Unreal version to run by adding the Unreal version to the uproject file:

{
	"FileVersion": 3,
	"EngineAssociation": "5.2"
}

Warning I haven't done extensive testing with this yet, and I'm not sure if there may be some Lumen or Raytracing settings that aren't being set up correctly by default. Please comment with your experiences using this.

sk...

#UnrealEngine #UE4 #UE5 #GameDev #VitrualProduction #DevOps #3D

Confirmed - some settings are different. I'm using 5.2 preview - compared to a default empty game started from the launcher. Here's the render settings need to make the minimal project match the launcher version. I didn't check all editor and project settings as I'm only working on a deep dive into some rendering stuff at the moment.

Engine - Rendering

• Dynamic Glocal Illumination Method: Lumen (this will enable another couple defaults, so I won't list them below)
• Shadow Map Method: Virtual Shadow Maps

Platform - Windows

• D3D12 Targeted Shader Formats: SM5: off
• D3D12 Targeted Shader Formats: SM6: on
• Default RHI: DirectX 12

Comparing UE5.1 launcher version vs. the one started from the one-line uproject file.

The launcher version, blank game:

• ModelingToolsEditorMode plugin is enabled (interesting that this is the default as this is still considered a beta plugin)
• an empty DefaultEditor.ini file is created (no impact)
• DefaultEngine.ini has a lot of platform, rendering, and openworld settings added - I don't know what impact this may have, so pay attention to it.
• beyond that, the differences are all in the intermediate and the saved folder, so none of those are critical.

Setting	one-line uproject	launcher blank game
Platforms, Windwos, D3D Shader format	SM5	SM6
Platforms, Windows, Default RHI	"Default"	"DirectX 12"
Project - Target Hardware, Target Hardware	"Unspecified", "Unspecified"	"Desktop", "Maximum"
Engine, Rendering, Dynamic GI Method	"None"*	"Lumen"
Engine, Rendering, Shadow Map Method	"Shadow Maps"	"VIrtual Shadow Maps (beta)"
Engine, Rendering, Extend default luminance range in auto exposure	disabled	enabled
Engine, Input, Console Keys		"Caret" has been added

*enabling Lumen automatically enables several settings that I've omitted from the above list because they match once lumen is enabled.

Great info, thanks