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Signing Projects for Release

Getting your project ready to be release to the Google Play store.

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Windows

macOS

Linux

In the following document, we will cover what you need to do in order to get your UE4 mobile project ready to be released on the Google Play store.

Please keep in mind that this document will only focus on items that are relevant to getting UE4 based projects on the Google Play store. If you are looking for more general information about the Google Play store, please consult the official Google Developer Console Help .

Generating Key

Before you can submit or even upload your project to the Google Play store, you will need to generate a Keystore. A keystore is a unique key that will ensure that your project will be linked to your Google Play account and no one else's. In the following section we will go over how you generate this key as well as where it needs to be placed to ensure that your project will use it when being packaged.

  1. Open a Command Line prompt window and navigate to the directory where Android Studio installed the keytool.exe file. This will be the \jre\bin folder if you are using default installation directories.

    01.png

    01_Mac.png

  2. With the Command Line prompt window now open, input the following Command Line argument and then press the Enter key. 

    keytool -genkey -v -keystore ExampleKey.keystore -alias MyKey -keyalg RSA -keysize 2048 -validity 10000

    02.png

    02_Mac.png

    Instead of typing this in by hand you can also copy the above text and then click with the right mouse button to paste what you copied into the Command Line argument window

  3. Now enter a password for your Key Store. Make sure that this is something you will remember as you will have to enter it one more time after this. For this example, we will be using 123password for our Keystore password.

    03.png

    03_Mac.png

  4. Next you will need to enter a First and Last name into the Command Line window. For this example, input the name TestGuy and then press the Enter key.

    04.png

    04_Mac.png

  5. Now enter the name of your Organizational Unit. For this example, input the name MyCompany and then press the Enter key to continue.

    05.png

    05_Mac.png

  6. Then enter the name of your organization. For this example, input MyGame and then press the Enter key to continue.

    06.png

    06_Mac.png

  7. Now enter the name of the City or Locality you are in. For this example, input MyCity and then press the Enter key to continue.

    07.png

    07_Mac.png

  8. Then enter the name of the State or Province that city is located. For this example, input NC and then press the Enter key to continue.

    08.png

    08_Mac.png

  9. Now input the country code where the city and state are located. For this example, input 00 and then press the Enter key to continue.

    09.png

    09_Mac.png

  10. You will now be asked to verify that all the information that you have entered is correct. Type Yes or Y into the Command Line window and then press the Enter key to continue.

    10.png

    10_Mac.png

  11. Because we are only storing a single key into this Keystore, all you need to do next is press the Enter key when asked to enter a password.

    11.png

    11_Mac.png

  12. The last line in the Command Line window should now say, [Storing ExampleKey.keystore] if everything has been setup correctly.

    12.png

    12_Mac.png

Once the key has been created it will be placed in the \jre\bin folder containing keytool.exe .

Keystore_Location.png

Keystore_Location_Mac.png

Placing the Key

Once you have the key generated, it will need to be placed in the following location inside of your UE4 project. 

    (Your Game Folder)\Build\Android

Keystore_Build_Location.png

Keystore_Build_Location_Mac.png

Applying the Key

After the key has been placed in your (Your Game Folder)\Build\Android folder, you will need to apply it to your UE4 project by doing the following.

  1. Inside of UE4, go to Edit > ProjectSettings > Platforms > Android .

    Android_Signing_Section.png

    Android_Signing_Section_Mac.png

  1. Under the APK Packing section, make sure to set the Store Version to the number one if this is the first time you are uploading the project to the store.

    APKPackaging_Store_Number.png

    Each time you re-cook your project to re upload to the store, you will need to increase the Store Version number. If you do not do this, your new APK file will fail to be uploaded over the old one.

  2. Next under Distribution Signing , make sure the following fields are filled in with the Keystore information that was used above to generate the Keystore.

    UE4_Keystore_Input.png

    Property Name

    Description

    Name used in example

    Key Store

    This is the name given to the .Keystore file.

    ExampleKey.keystore

    Key Alias

    This is the name of the .Keystore file. - ExampleKey.keystore

    MyKey

    Key Store Password

    The password that was used to secure the key

    123password

  3. Once all of this has been filled, go to the Packaging section of your project and under the Project section make sure that both Full Rebuild and For Distribution are enabled.

UE4_Shipping_Settings.png

UE4_Shipping_Settings_Mac.png

Deploying to the Google Play Store

Now all that is left is to upload your project to the Google Play store. For a full breakdown of how to upload your project to the Google Play store, please check out the official Google Developer Console help page.

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