Substance plugin for UE4 - How to get it working

[Eric Batut]

Hello everyone!

As you might have heard, the Substance plugin for UE4 was released today

It looks like we could have offered more detailed explanations on how to get it working, though, and on the current form of the plugin.

There are two install options, binary version or source version:

- Binary version :
    1) Grab the prebuilt plugin on Allegorithmic website, on the Integrations UE4 page.
    2) Unzip it in the "Plugins" folder of your Unreal Engine 4 project's root folder (or create it if it doesn't already exist).


- Source version :
    1) Clone the Allegorithmic UE4 repository.
    2) Generate the Visual Studio solution as explained on Epic's GitHub page.
    3) Open the solution in Visual Studio and build the UE4 target as usual.
       

If the Substance plugin is disabled, enable it from the Plugins menu, you should now be able to import SBSAR files
We might edit/augment this post with more detailed/helpful instructions depending on the questions we end up answering most often.

Best Regards,
Eric

[Jan Kaluza]

Ah, so what we're compiling is not just the plugin, but a branch of the entire engine? In that case, here's how to install it, for dummies like me:

1. Download only the three dependency packages (Optional, Required_1of2 and Required_2of2) from Epic's UE4 Github page here.

2. Download Allegorithmic's source code from their github page here.

3. Create a new folder on your computer, and extract Allegorithmic's source into that.

4. Navigate to the root folder, where you'll find the "GenerateProjectFiles.bat" and ".command" files

5. Extract the three dependency packages Epic provided into that folder.

6. Run the GenerateProjectFiles.bat (if you're on Windows) or .command files (if you're on Mac) to create Visual Studio solution files

7. Make sure you have Visual Studio installed. VS Express 2013 is available for free online from Microsoft, and you'll need it to compile this stuff.

8. Double click the .sln file to open it in Visual Studio. Wait for it to load everything.

9. When it's done and ready, go to Build -> Build Solution in the menu, which will start compiling the Unreal Engine. This could take a while.

Now, basically, you're done! You've just compiled the entire Unreal Engine, with Substance support built in. Open the editor by navigating to the /Engine/Binaries/[YourPlatform] folder and open UE4Editor.exe. Then just enable the Substance plugin in the editor's plugin manager and restart the editor, and you're golden.

[rob.callicotte]

I can't get to UE's files, though I own it, via Kashaar's link.

Same thing for Allegorithmic.

[Jan Kaluza]

Make sure you're logged in to GitHub, and have your account linked with your unrealengine.com account - otherwise you won't have access to the UE4 repository. You can link your accounts at https://www.unrealengine.com/settings!

[foundre69]

So there is no way to compile the plugin and just add it to the plugin folders?  The only reason I ask is because I have to keep recompiling because I have other add-ons that I have to do the same with and the code management is getting messy and I am fighting a lot of bugs already.

[rob.callicotte]

Thanks Kashaar. I had no idea, until now.

[arvinmoses]

A quick tip here -
When I compiled it, VS kept telling me I had the old - 2012 - version of VS.

All you need to do is go to

Control Panel -> System -> Advanced system settings -> Environment Variables

There should be something there that says VS...etc.
Delete the one the points to the older version of Visual Studio.

[asfarnham]

In my case, I have my accounts linked; however, I still cannot get to the plugin. I really do not know what the problem is here.

[unity2k]

Please anyone tell me the right files to keep then copy without altering the engine version (turning 4.1 preview build to 4.0.2 like it did for me) so I can generate Project Files working with 4.1 and that has the plugin installed after compiling. Thanks.

I'm getting the same problem after running the .bat file that is supposed to get this process working. Anyone have any ideas how to get past this point?

[cyberwillis]

Hi...
Using Beyond Compare I did a diff on entire folder source between:
4.0.2 and Substance-0.3-preview to see and collect the modifications.

Then I opened another instance of the program to compare
4.1-preview and Substance-0.3-preview and started doing the modifications.

There is a lot of modifications from 4.0.2 to 4.1. So I am updating my 4.1 accordingly to the substance changes without break the 4.1 functionality. Its not so difficult merge that but take some time.

I suggest you investigate your copy between versions and take a 1 hour to merge it.

bye

[arvinmoses]

@cyberwillis

If you can get it to work would you mind giving us access to your fork?

[Fsalabedhabt]

Yes CyberWillis please help us. Thanks.

[cyberwillis]

The better way would be I share a DIFF Patch to upgrade your 4.1 preview to 4.1+substance (source code only) and mention the files you need to copy from Substance-0.3-preview to Epic-4.1-Preview.

If I succeed I will see how to better support you.

I am almost finishing merge here.

[Fsalabedhabt]

Yes Cyberwillis, it will be very much appreciated

[cyberwillis]

Compiling here ... I will see at the end