Unreal Engine 4 Genvid Installation

The Genvid Integration for Unreal Engine 4 is composed of 3 components:

We also include a script to help install them along with the rest of the SDK files.

All these elements are optional to integrate with Genvid. You can avoid using the Blueprint if you prefer direct C++ programming with Genvid Module by using the low-level integration with the Genvid Plugin or writing your own integration of the Genvid MILE SDK. These are just there to help you do the groundwork and get you started integrating Genvid more quickly.

In this document, we refer to the folder in which your game .uproject file resides as {UE4_PROJ_ROOT}.

Before You Begin

The Genvid MILE SDK currently supports Unreal Engine 4.15.3 to 4.27.1.

For Unreal Engine 4.15.0 to 4.19.x, make sure you have the latest version of the Visual Studio 2015 toolchain. (Visual Studio 2017 build tools are available from the Microsoft download site.)

Installation steps for Visual Studio 2015 and 2017 toolchain:

  1. Launch the Visual C++ Build Tools executable.
  2. Select Visual C++ Build Tools in the Workloads tab.
  3. To use Visual Studio 2015 from the Summary section, select the following components:
  • Windows Univeral CRT SDK
  • Windows 8.1 SDK
  • VC++ 2015.3 v14.00 (v140) toolset for desktop
  • .NET Framework 4.5 targeting pack

For Unreal Engine 4.20.0 to 4.27.1, make sure you have the latest version of the Visual Studio 2017 toolchain. (Visual Studio 2017 build tools are available through Microsoft Visual Studio Essentials download You need at least a free account to log in.)

From Unreal Engine 4.25.x, we recommend using Visual Studio Essentials 2019. (Visual Studio Essentials 2019 is available from the Microsoft Visual Studio download page.) For more information, see the Platform SDK Upgrades section of the Unreal Engine 4.25 release notes.

Note

If Visual Studio 2015 isn’t installed on your computer, you will get the two following warning messages when building the Unreal Engine Cube sample.
They are expected and won’t prevent the build from being generated. You can safely ignore them.

Warning Messages

CommandEnvironment.SetupBuildEnvironment: WARNING: C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\Common7\IDE\Devenv.com does not exist.
CommandEnvironment.SetupBuildEnvironment: WARNING: Assuming no solution compilation capability.

Installation into the game folder

To install the plugin, copy them into your game directory (UE4_PROJ_ROOT). The Genvid Plugin is the folder GenvidPlugin, located at engine-integration/ue4/, and should be copied to UE4_PROJ_ROOT/Plugins. The Genvid Module is is the folder Genvid, located at engine-integration/ue4/. It should be copied to UE4_PROJ_ROOT/Source. You can put them in the Engine directory, but we don’t recommend it for a faster recompiling (the Unreal Engine doesn’t use it directly).

If you did the above already, you shouldn’t need to copy the following files, but in the case that you are updating to a new version of our SDK, you will need to copy the following Genvid Native API files:

api/native/include/genvid.h -> UE4_PROJ_ROOT/Plugins/GenvidPlugin/ThirdParty/GenvidSDK/include/genvid.h
The header file of the Genvid Native SDK which declares all of the functions and types.
api/native/Win64/Genvid.lib -> UE4_PROJ_ROOT/Plugins/GenvidPlugin/ThirdParty/GenvidSDK/Win64/Genvid.lib
The 64-bit import library used when linking. Requires associated Genvid.dll at runtime.
api/native/Win64/Genvid.dll -> UE4_PROJ_ROOT/Plugins/GenvidPlugin/ThirdParty/GenvidSDK/Win64/Genvid.dll
The 64-bit shared library used at runtime.
api/native/Win32/Genvid.lib -> UE4_PROJ_ROOT/Plugins/GenvidPlugin/ThirdParty/GenvidSDK/Win32/Genvid.lib
The 32-bit import library used when linking. Requires associated Genvid.dll at runtime.
api/native/Win32/Genvid.dll -> UE4_PROJ_ROOT/Plugins/GenvidPlugin/ThirdParty/GenvidSDK/Win32/Genvid.dll
The 32-bit shared library used at runtime.

In engine-integration/ue4/, we provide a Python script that copies the required files easily. Run the following to copy all the files at once:

py copy-ue4-plugin.py checkout {UE4ROOT}/MyGame

It will create a manifest file that will be updated with the copied files. If a previous manifest file is detected, the files in its content will be cleaned before new ones are copied.

Note

Starting with SDK version 1.25, the manifest file is located under your application folder rather than the plugin folder. To keep using an existing manifest file, move it your application folder.

You can use the --dry-run option to see what the script will do before running it. See copy-ue4-plugin.py for more information.

Once you’ve copied all the files, you need to modify your game’s build script to use the plugin. Add the following lines to your game’s build script. (For example, UE4_PROJ_ROOT/MyGame/Source/MyGame/MyGame.Build.cs.)

		PrivatePCHHeaderFile = "Cube.h";
#endif
		PublicDependencyModuleNames.AddRange(new string[] { "Core", "CoreUObject", "Engine", "InputCore", "JsonUtilities" });

        // GENVID - Adding GenvidPlugin - Begin

Once finished and if you get Unreal engine from the git repository, run GenerateProjectFiles.bat again and you should have access to the Genvid Module.