Getting Started: Building and Testing

Overview

In order to run a game created with Unreal Engine 3, code must be built and/or compiled. Licensees must build the entire engine if any native code changes were made, while any script changes for licensees or UDK users require the scripts to be compiled.

Once the code has all been built and compiled, testing and debugging of the game can progress. Unreal Engine 3 includes many tools that make finding problem areas and tweaking gameplay elements extremely simple.

Unreal Frontend

The UnrealFrontend application provides an interface for compiling scripts and cooking packages and maps. In addition, it provides the ability to package up applications created with Unreal Development Kit. This application can be found in the Binaries folder of your Unreal Engine 3 or Unreal Development Kit directory.

Building and Compiling

Building or compiling your game has been streamlined with the addition of several tools to Unreal Engine 3. The Unreal Build System and Unreal Frontend make the process as simplified as possible.

Compiling UnrealScripts

Compiling UnrealScripts for your game project can be done in several ways. The official method is to use the UnrealFrontend application as mentioned previously. Open the application from the Binaries directory and then press the Make button in the toolbar. This will start the compile process and display the output along with any warnings or errors in the output pane of UnrealFrontend.

For more information on compiling with UnrealFrontend, see the UnrealFrontend page.

Testing and Debugging

There are several tools provided with Unreal Engine 3 to aid in the testing and debugging process.

Statistics

Unreal Engine 3 provides the ability to view any number of statistics about various aspects of the game and engine as data rendered to the screen as a heads-up display. These statistics can help to point to problem areas in terms of performance or memory usage. To learn more about the statistics available and how to view them, see the Stats Descriptions page.

Debugging Gameplay

For tweaking, debugging, and testing gameplay elements, Unreal Engine includes several features that allow this to be done while the game is running to make the process intuitive and efficient. These features can be found on the Gameplay Debugging page.

Performance Analysis

The GameplayProfiler is especially useful for determining which aspects and elements of the gameplay may be causing performance bottlenecks.

The stats system allows for tracking and analyzing statistics from a wide variety of systems. See the Perf Stats page for more details.