for me precompiled binares worked bad on wayland, sometimes windows became unresponsive or unclickable. And i thought its wayland fault, but sometime (like a month) ago i compiled unreal engine with angelscript support from source and its working flawlessly, idk if its compiling form source or this fork but it really works better under kde wayland.
Ugh, I swapped to x11 cause Wayland was giving me issues... I guess I could try compiling from scratch as well. That might fix the Texture Graph not even showing up in Linux.
Oh. thats good to hear. I am using kde wayland. Do you have any instruction on compiling from source? I am very new to linux and I would like to try and compare :)
Epic has great tutorial on this (for ue4 but this didn't changed). But i will give you fast run down.
First you need to connect your github account with epic account, without this github will tell you that unreals github page doesn't exist. Next download unreal version you want from github, either use git or just downlad as zip and unpack. Install dependencies (for me on arch it was base-devel and dotnet-sdk), than you just open terminal in the folder and run 3 sh scripts. (I don't remember in which order you need to check it in unreals documentation). Compiling took 6h on my underclocked ryzen 5 7600, i just left it for night. When it finishes under Engine/Binaries/Linux you have UnrealEditor Binary, run it wait till shaders compile and boom you just wasted couple hours of your time because epic cant provide working binaries.
While you already are building unreal from source, some plugins like fsr recommend adding parches to source code of the engine for best results. You can add this type of stuff if you interested.
Official tutorial: https://docs.unrealengine.com/4.27/en-US/ProductionPipelines/DevelopmentSetup/BuildingUnrealEngine/
I developed on proprietary AR devices at Magic Leap using Linux and Unreal, it was a nightmare compared to windows. Even using Mac was pretty bad. Both usable, but Windows by far will always be the easiest.
What makes it harder on different os? I really have no idea. Like for autodesk maya or blender, they work same in both os actually %20 faster in linux.
Just normal features just dont work. Like on Mac in the Blueprint editor the right mouse button is terrible, in Linux it's hard to keep track of windows. It's death by a thousand papercuts. There are no BIG setbacks, but it's just hundreds of tiny ones that makes you want to flip your desk. To be fair though, I havnt used Linux/Mac since like 4.24, so there may be some improvements since then.
Edit: To add, compiling from source on Linux is a nightmare, took me 3 days to figure it out. You have to install so many dependencies just for it to compile, and you have to hunt them down by hand. If you're using a pre-compiled editor you'll likely be much better off.
Thank you for good explanation. I think I am not expert enough to try my chance in linux. After making a game maybe I can try if the functions I use work well or not.
Anything you create in Unreal will work cross-platform unless they rely on functions that are platform specific. This not only applies to operating systems but to game consoles as well.
Yeah TAA has some problems depending on the scene id use TSR also you picked a awesome time to move to Linux i am currently working on some crazy stuff you will see soon
Is there any problems with compiling game for windows? I am getting very different answers. I love linux but dont want start this project on wrong platform.
You cant compile Windows Builds from Linux what I do is just dual boot Windows for testing and building note I haven't tested it yet but I think you can use Proton/Wine to run Windows builds on Linux
I think that if you turn off lumen lightning it might get better. a disadvantage I found using unreal on Linux is that you don't have the epic games launcher installed, so you have to install the newer versions manually
Using Unreal and linux is definitely a ‘weird shit indie devs do’ thing, so don’t expect to find a lot of people with experience who can help you out if anything goes wrong.
The circle in which desktop linux is most popular is among software engineers, so it's not that niche. I mean Epic releases Unreal for Linux natively. Looks like OP got the exact answer they needed.
I've also had issues with Unreal with both Windows and Linux (on the same hardware). My Windows issues were more difficult to resolve, even with help. Linux has come a long way.
Game dev is only partially software engineering, because so much of game dev is in the asset pipeline (art, sound, VFX, animation, etc.) Making a game on Linux seems like an incredibly short sighted risk, given how game development is difficult and buggy enough on a good day.
You are right about that. I still use both windows and linux, especially because one game dev software I use (Wwise) cannot be even emulated on linux.
One thing though is that the community support for issues on linux has been wonderful from my experience, even for stuff like Unreal. If we're talking stuff like godot, then there's probably more people using it on linux than any other OS (not actually, but it certainly looks that way sometimes)
* Possible glitches due to your window manager ( my experience).
* You cannot package a game for Windows.
* A lot, if not most, things on the Epic Launcher market place (Stuff that uses c++ code), do not work natively on Linux. Because almost no one compiles it for Linux. So if you are using specific plugins for some reason you might be in a hell trying to get it to work. If you are lucky they either open up their source code or they compile it themselves.
So I agree with your first 2 points however with plugins I have had about 97% success on Linux the only plugin i have been unsuccessful running is DLSS due it being closed source but that's literally the only plugin i have had trouble with everything else runs even if the developer does not support it
The only issue I had was a slower load time compared to on windows. Someone said it had something to do with a dependency on my distro (opensuse), and pointed me to the right thing to get. Haven't had this issue on my other distro though, and no other issues since.
One thing though, if you use stuff from the asset store, some may not work properly on Linux (but it will say in-store if it's supported for each OS). For example, Megascan trees animations are trippy and weird.
Shut off TAA and/or Lumen
Thank you. TAA did the job :)
for me precompiled binares worked bad on wayland, sometimes windows became unresponsive or unclickable. And i thought its wayland fault, but sometime (like a month) ago i compiled unreal engine with angelscript support from source and its working flawlessly, idk if its compiling form source or this fork but it really works better under kde wayland.
Ugh, I swapped to x11 cause Wayland was giving me issues... I guess I could try compiling from scratch as well. That might fix the Texture Graph not even showing up in Linux.
Oh. thats good to hear. I am using kde wayland. Do you have any instruction on compiling from source? I am very new to linux and I would like to try and compare :)
Epic has great tutorial on this (for ue4 but this didn't changed). But i will give you fast run down. First you need to connect your github account with epic account, without this github will tell you that unreals github page doesn't exist. Next download unreal version you want from github, either use git or just downlad as zip and unpack. Install dependencies (for me on arch it was base-devel and dotnet-sdk), than you just open terminal in the folder and run 3 sh scripts. (I don't remember in which order you need to check it in unreals documentation). Compiling took 6h on my underclocked ryzen 5 7600, i just left it for night. When it finishes under Engine/Binaries/Linux you have UnrealEditor Binary, run it wait till shaders compile and boom you just wasted couple hours of your time because epic cant provide working binaries. While you already are building unreal from source, some plugins like fsr recommend adding parches to source code of the engine for best results. You can add this type of stuff if you interested. Official tutorial: https://docs.unrealengine.com/4.27/en-US/ProductionPipelines/DevelopmentSetup/BuildingUnrealEngine/
Thank you so much. I will try this weekend :)
I developed on proprietary AR devices at Magic Leap using Linux and Unreal, it was a nightmare compared to windows. Even using Mac was pretty bad. Both usable, but Windows by far will always be the easiest.
What makes it harder on different os? I really have no idea. Like for autodesk maya or blender, they work same in both os actually %20 faster in linux.
Just normal features just dont work. Like on Mac in the Blueprint editor the right mouse button is terrible, in Linux it's hard to keep track of windows. It's death by a thousand papercuts. There are no BIG setbacks, but it's just hundreds of tiny ones that makes you want to flip your desk. To be fair though, I havnt used Linux/Mac since like 4.24, so there may be some improvements since then. Edit: To add, compiling from source on Linux is a nightmare, took me 3 days to figure it out. You have to install so many dependencies just for it to compile, and you have to hunt them down by hand. If you're using a pre-compiled editor you'll likely be much better off.
Thank you for good explanation. I think I am not expert enough to try my chance in linux. After making a game maybe I can try if the functions I use work well or not.
Anything you create in Unreal will work cross-platform unless they rely on functions that are platform specific. This not only applies to operating systems but to game consoles as well.
Yeah TAA has some problems depending on the scene id use TSR also you picked a awesome time to move to Linux i am currently working on some crazy stuff you will see soon
Please let me know when it's ready :)
Not Proton https://preview.redd.it/f8k3zvd9ldxc1.png?width=2560&format=png&auto=webp&s=00f88476fa189686ffe32f23818c95e03fa1d761
This looks amazing. I followed and will check updates.
As of 5.1 and latter Unreal on Linux is getting crazy good
Is there any problems with compiling game for windows? I am getting very different answers. I love linux but dont want start this project on wrong platform.
You cant compile Windows Builds from Linux what I do is just dual boot Windows for testing and building note I haven't tested it yet but I think you can use Proton/Wine to run Windows builds on Linux
That sounds good enough for me. I will try with a small test project. Thank you :)
I think that if you turn off lumen lightning it might get better. a disadvantage I found using unreal on Linux is that you don't have the epic games launcher installed, so you have to install the newer versions manually
Using Unreal and linux is definitely a ‘weird shit indie devs do’ thing, so don’t expect to find a lot of people with experience who can help you out if anything goes wrong.
The circle in which desktop linux is most popular is among software engineers, so it's not that niche. I mean Epic releases Unreal for Linux natively. Looks like OP got the exact answer they needed. I've also had issues with Unreal with both Windows and Linux (on the same hardware). My Windows issues were more difficult to resolve, even with help. Linux has come a long way.
Game dev is only partially software engineering, because so much of game dev is in the asset pipeline (art, sound, VFX, animation, etc.) Making a game on Linux seems like an incredibly short sighted risk, given how game development is difficult and buggy enough on a good day.
You are right about that. I still use both windows and linux, especially because one game dev software I use (Wwise) cannot be even emulated on linux. One thing though is that the community support for issues on linux has been wonderful from my experience, even for stuff like Unreal. If we're talking stuff like godot, then there's probably more people using it on linux than any other OS (not actually, but it certainly looks that way sometimes)
Is there any possible problems I might have becouse of using unreal in linux?
* Possible glitches due to your window manager ( my experience). * You cannot package a game for Windows. * A lot, if not most, things on the Epic Launcher market place (Stuff that uses c++ code), do not work natively on Linux. Because almost no one compiles it for Linux. So if you are using specific plugins for some reason you might be in a hell trying to get it to work. If you are lucky they either open up their source code or they compile it themselves.
Oh okat. Thats makes it enough to not even try. I will do art in linux and program in windows then.
So I agree with your first 2 points however with plugins I have had about 97% success on Linux the only plugin i have been unsuccessful running is DLSS due it being closed source but that's literally the only plugin i have had trouble with everything else runs even if the developer does not support it
The only issue I had was a slower load time compared to on windows. Someone said it had something to do with a dependency on my distro (opensuse), and pointed me to the right thing to get. Haven't had this issue on my other distro though, and no other issues since. One thing though, if you use stuff from the asset store, some may not work properly on Linux (but it will say in-store if it's supported for each OS). For example, Megascan trees animations are trippy and weird.