Building Unreal Engine 5.6 From the GitHub Source Code on Microsoft Windows
Alright... I’m back.
Yes, I know—I vanished for a while. But just like the upcoming Unreal Engine `5.6` release, I’ve been quietly cooking in the shadows. And now… we’re both making a comeback.
Today’s tutorial is all about how to build Unreal Engine `5.6` from source—on Windows. That’s right, `5.6` isn’t officially out yet, but we’re not waiting around. If you’re impatient like me—or just curious to see what Epic’s brewing before the rest of the world—this video is for you.
Now, some of you patient folks out there might be thinking:
“Why bother? Can’t I just wait for the release?”
Fair question. But here’s the deal—I work for a company that publishes Unreal Engine plugins on the Fab Store. And they want their plugin ready on day zero when the new engine drops. The catch? Epic only allows you to submit plugins once the final version is officially released. So to stay ahead of the curve, we grab the source early, build it, test it, and make sure everything works before the launch day.
And hey, if you’re a Linux user—don’t worry—I’ve got a separate video coming soon. Just not today. Because building on Linux is like dating in your forties… not complicated, exactly—just different.
We’ll be diving into more Unreal Engine `5.6` goodness over the coming months, so buckle up, hit that subscribe button, and let’s get nerdy.
In this tutorial, you'll learn how to build any version of Unreal Engine from the GitHub source code on Microsoft Windows. While we’ll focus on the upcoming Unreal Engine 5.6, the steps apply to any versions of UE4 and UE5.
You'll learn how to:
Access the Unreal Engine 5.6 source code on GitHub.
Set up the required build environment.
Build Unreal Engine from source.
Strategies to work around possible build issues.
A Linux-specific tutorial is coming soon.
00:00:00 - 00:01:37 Intro
00:01:38 - 00:08:15 Prerequisites
00:08:16 - 00:11:37 Access UE Source Code on GitHub
00:11:38 - 00:15:19 Generate & Setup SSH Keys
00:15:20 - 00:26:45 Clone the Source Code
00:26:46 - 00:33:29 Get the Binary Dependencies
00:33:30 - 00:35:31 Generate the Project Files
00:35:32 - 00:39:49 Open UE5 Project in Visual Studio
00:39:50 - 00:46:13 Build Unreal Engine
00:46:14 - 00:56:16 Dealing with Build Issues
00:56:17 - 00:57:32 ShaderCompileWorker
00:57:33 - 00:58:44 Run UE Editor
00:58:45 - 00:59:59 Compiling Shaders
01:00:09 - 01:01:23 Unreal Project Browser
01:01:24 - 01:02:25 Compiling More Shaders
01:02:26 - 01:02:49 Unreal Editor
01:02:50 - 01:03:22 Conclusion
The blog post containing the Microsoft Visual Studio Installer configuation file and the relevant prerequisites URLs: https://www.babaei.net/blog/build-unr...
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