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Install Unreal Engine 4 on Ubuntu (UE4 Tutorial)

2020-11-01

Introduction

This post walks through the complete process of installing Unreal Engine 4 (UE4) on Ubuntu.

Unreal Engine is one of the most advanced real-time 3D creation engines available today. While it started as a game engine, it is now widely used across industries for simulations, interactive experiences, and virtual worlds.

I have personally used Unreal Engine for:

  • building a small Android game for learning and experimentation
  • generating synthetic image datasets using NVIDIA’s NDDS plugin for machine learning

If you are planning to work with UE4 on Linux, the steps below will help you get a working setup from source.

Install Unreal Engine 4 on Ubuntu

You can follow the official documentation or use the practical steps below:

Official documentation:
https://docs.unrealengine.com/en-US/Platforms/Linux/BeginnerLinuxDeveloper/SettingUpAnUnrealWorkflow/index.html

1. Create and configure an Epic Games account

  1. Register for an Epic Games account:
    https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/
  2. Choose the Creators License during registration.

Unreal Engine license selection

2. Connect Epic Games with GitHub

Unreal Engine source code is hosted on GitHub and requires account linking.

  1. Connect your Epic Games account to your GitHub account.
  2. Accept the Epic Games organization invitation on GitHub.

Clone Unreal Engine source code

Open a terminal and run:

git clone https://github.com/EpicGames/UnrealEngine.git

If you only need a specific version (for example UE 4.22), clone that branch directly:

git clone -b 4.22 https://github.com/EpicGames/UnrealEngine.git

During cloning, you will be prompted to enter your GitHub credentials.

GitHub login in terminal

Build Unreal Engine on Ubuntu

Move into the Unreal Engine directory and run the setup and build steps:

cd UnrealEngine   # Repository size ~1.4 GB
./Setup.sh
./GenerateProjectFiles.sh
make

If a popup appears asking to register UE file types, select Yes.

Register UE file types popup

Note: The build process can take a significant amount of time depending on your system.

Optional: Add helper commands to .bashrc

To simplify working with Unreal Engine projects, you can add helper functions to your shell.

Open .bashrc

nano ~/.bashrc

Add Unreal Engine helper functions

UE_HOME=/home/jitesh/3d/UnrealEngine  # Change this to your UE4 directory path

function unrealbuild {
    CURR_DIR=`pwd`
    PROJ_NAME=$(basename ${1%.uproject})
    $UE_HOME/Engine/Build/BatchFiles/Linux/Build.sh         $PROJ_NAME Linux Development -editorrecompile         "${CURR_DIR}/${PROJ_NAME}.uproject" -progress -editor -game -NoHotReloadFromIDE
}
complete -f -X '!*.@(uproject)' unrealbuild

function unrealeditor {
    DIR="$( cd "$( dirname "$i" )" && pwd )"
    $UE_HOME/Engine/Binaries/Linux/UE4Editor $DIR/$1
}
complete -f -X '!*.@(uproject)' unrealeditor

function unrealgen {
    DIR="$( cd "$( dirname "$i" )" && pwd )"
    pushd $UE_HOME
    ./GenerateProjectFiles.sh -project="$DIR/$1" -game -engine -editor
    popd
}
complete -f -X '!*.@(uproject)' unrealgen

# For automation tests (optional)
function unrealtest {
    DIR="$( cd "$( dirname "$i" )" && pwd )"
    $UE_HOME/Engine/Binaries/Linux/UE4Editor $DIR/$1         -Game -ExecCmds="Automation RunTests $2" -log
}
complete -f -X '!*.@(uproject)' unrealtest

Reload shell configuration

source ~/.bashrc

Reboot the system

A reboot is recommended to ensure all environment changes take effect correctly.

Run Unreal Engine

After reboot, launch Unreal Engine using:

cd Engine/Binaries/Linux/
./UE4Editor

Unreal Engine plugin: NDDS

NDDS (NVIDIA Deep Learning Dataset Synthesizer) is a useful Unreal Engine plugin for generating synthetic datasets for machine learning.

To learn more and install NDDS, see:
https://jiteshgosar.com/install-ndds/

Example UE4 project: Android game

Unreal Engine is developed by Epic Games and is widely used for cross-platform game development.

As a learning project, I created a simple 2D game called “Jinja the Ninja” for:

  • Android
  • Windows
  • Linux

Resources:

I plan to publish a dedicated tutorial covering Unreal Engine game development and deployment in the future.

Video tutorial

I will be adding video tutorials on Unreal Engine installation and related topics on my YouTube channel:

17 Jutsu
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNoGSPhTJ5ipcWa2Ai4mM_g

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