Z's Blog

Important Notice: The author does not have any platform or channel to record paid courses and does not endorse any commercial activities by third parties. Please stay vigilant and be cautious of scams.
The open source license of this software: Allows free use of features in commercial projects, but does not allow any third party to charge any form of secondary fees based on this plugin, including but not limited to recording paid courses, secondary distribution of the plugin and code, etc.

HotPatcher is a tool used for managing hot updates and resource packaging, aimed at tracking changes in original resources of project versions to generate patches. It supports one-click cooking for multiple platforms, one-click packaging for multiple platform patches, and editor support for Windows and MacOS. Writing a process to download patches from a server creates a complete hot update solution for games. HotPatcher has been used in many UE projects and will continue to update to support new engine versions. Issues are welcome.

HotPatcher differs from the Patch mechanism in UnrealFrontEnd; there are some issues with UE’s Patch management for projects: based on the original project version, it is difficult to generate identical patches on different computers, it is not possible to generate a new patch based on the version of a patch, and the content included in a patch cannot be previewed intuitively. Additionally, it is not convenient to package external files into pak (such as lua files, db, and other non-assets, which often reside outside the Content directory), nor to manage project and patch versions easily.

This plugin is designed to solve such issues by using the project’s original resources as the version basis, only needing to manage the project itself without paying attention to other files generated by UE. It allows easy operations such as cooking, generating pak, extracting resource information from basic packages, diff between versions, and patch splitting. It has very rich configuration options and Commandlet support, making it convenient to achieve an automated hot update packaging process.

The currently supported engine versions are UE4.21-UE5, and support for the IoStore mechanism is provided! Many friends have contacted me privately to inquire about plugin-related issues, so I created a group to discuss UE hot updates and the HotPatcher plugin (QQ group 958363331). You are welcome to join and exchange technical knowledge related to UE.

To conveniently collect and manage common questions and solutions regarding hot updates and the HotPatcher, I have created a new article to document and organize: UE4 Hot Update: Questions & Answers. If you encounter problems, you can check this FAQ page first. Regarding the issue that many people have reported about the inconsistency between the configuration parameters in the plugin and the previous recorded video, it is because the plugin has undergone many updates. You can check the Change Log for detailed changes for each version.

Recently, a new project has been initiated, summarizing some issues from previous projects and listing design specifications and code standards for UE development projects (the term “code standards” seems too strict; coding habits are quite subjective, and “coding conventions” would be a better term, but strict execution is necessary for promotion within the team). This article will be continuously updated and organized, and feedback and discussions are welcome.

Last week, I uploaded a plugin I had previously written, ExortNavigation, to the Unreal Marketplace. I familiarized myself with the submission process for UE code plugins and would like to document it here.

The latest version supports UE5, see the UE5.0 branch on github: ue4-export-nav-data/tree/UE5.0.

Recast Navigation is an open-source game navigation/pathfinding engine that provides pathfinding calculations for AI in games. Both UE and Unity integrate RecastNavigation to provide navigation and pathfinding calculations for games (of course, in modified versions). The UE modules NavigationSystem and NavMesh contain relevant code implementations. Recently, there was a requirement to export the client’s map information to a server with a non-UE network architecture, for verifying player locations on the server. It occurred to me that the navigation data generated by the client could be exported as a map of the client world, so I tinkered and wrote a UE plugin (open-sourced on Github: ue4-export-nav-data) that implements directly exporting the navigation data generated by UE. If interested, you can directly view the specific code. Based on the exported navigation data, pathfinding calculations based on Recast Navigation can be fully implemented on the server with a non-UE network architecture, seamlessly integrated with UE.

2019.12.04 Update: This plugin has been listed on the Unreal Marketplace, purchase link ExportNavigation. In support of programmer sentiment for open-source, this project’s repository on Github will not be closed, but it is unlikely to be updated. If this plugin is useful to you, feel free to purchase it on the marketplace to support the author.

Oculus Quest is the new generation of all-in-one VR headset released by Oculus, supporting 6DoF, with no need for a PC connection or additional positioning base stations. It also supports Guardian; when the user walks out of the positioning boundary while wearing the headset, real-world visuals will immediately display in the headset to prevent accidental mishaps.

The Oculus Quest features two Pentile OLED screens, with a single-eye resolution of 1440x1600 and a refresh rate of 72Hz, powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor based on the arm architecture, which is the same as the flagship processors from two years ago (such as Xiaomi 6, Samsung S8).

Quest employs the Oculus Insight (inside-out tracking) positioning solution, using four cameras located at the four corners of the headset panel for positional tracking.
The introduction of Oculus Insight during the release event: Oculus Insight VR Positional Tracking System (Sep 2018)

And a video of a user’s test of Quest’s tracking range abroad: Quest Distance Test.

The 64G storage version of Oculus Quest is priced at $399, while the 128G version costs $499, with tax-excluded prices roughly around 3500; compared to HTC’s similar new product (HTC Vive Focus), it is significantly cheaper, and it offers even greater advantages over PC-Based VR since it does not require a high-performance host. I believe that 6DoF all-in-one VR devices must be the trend of the future!

Before the National Day holiday at OC6, Oculus announced two technologies: Oculus Link and finger tracking, both are impressive and promising.

The entire Quest device is about the same size as a 10.5 inch iPad, making it easy to carry in a small bag:

There’s no need to elaborate on the specifications of the Quest device; the main content of this article will focus on the environment setup, development documentation, debugging tools, and additional considerations when using UE to develop Quest projects, which will be updated continuously.

Module is the basic element that constitutes Unreal. Each Module encapsulates and implements a set of functions, which can be used by other Modules. The entire Unreal Engine is driven by the combination of various Modules, and even the game project that we create is a separate Module.

So how does UE create and build these Modules? This is the main purpose of writing this article, to study Unreal’s build system and the various properties they support (Target and Module).

It is recommended to read my previous article before looking at this one: Build flow of the Unreal Engine4 project, which mainly outlines the build process of UE; this article is merely one part of the UE build system.

工欲善其事，必先利其器！Mastering the right tools can elevate development efficiency to a new level.
This article is a compilation of notes I usually keep in notes about the UE toolchain and some configuration and usage tips for tools using UE. Future content in this area will also be included in this article.
Below are some standalone articles I previously wrote about the UE toolchain or relevant extensions:

• Analyzing the Content Distribution Restrictions of EULA in UBT
• Create A Standalone Application in UE4
• Build flow of the Unreal Engine4 project
• Scraping UE4 API and Generating Indexed Dash Documentation

The EULA License Grant/(A) of UE clearly states that content developed using UE and redistributed must not include uncooked source formats or paid content developed based on engine tools. This article studies the specific content distribution details in the EULA and how to technically circumvent this limitation.

PixelStreaming is a technology supported by UE_4.21 that enables games to run on a server, allowing players to play via a browser. The player side requires no additional operation, only needing a browser, while all logic processing and rendering occurs in the “cloud.” It is not merely a plugin (although there is the PixelStreamingPlugin, which is just one part of the PixelStreaming implementation). Its implementation has a distinct design and organizational approach independent of UE games.
This article mainly introduces the basic concepts of PixelStreaming and shares practical experiences with the Demo using PixelStreaming.

On Windows, UE modules are loaded via DLL lookup in non-IS_MONOLITHIC (Monolithic) mode, which means they are not packed into a single executable file. You can call functions like LoadModuleWithFailureReason or LoadModuleChecked from FModuleManager to load a module by passing its string name. This article serves as an extension and supplement to UE4 Modules: Load and Startup, focusing on the details of DLL lookup and loading for modules rather than the timing and order of engine startup and module loading.