Devlog 1: Sean Jeffries: Unresolved Redirectors

The Problem

This week, I encountered a significant roadblock while attempting to package our game in Unreal Engine 5. The packaging process was failing due to unresolved redirectors in the project files. Redirectors in Unreal Engine are essentially links or pointers to assets that have been renamed or moved within the project. Over time, these redirectors can accumulate and cause problems during the cooking and packaging phases, as Unreal tries to reference assets that have been moved or deleted. This problem was critical because it halted our ability to package the game entirely, preventing us from delivering a build.

If not resolved, this issue would lead to broken references in the packaged game, resulting in missing assets or a failure to load certain levels. For the end user, this could mean a poor gameplay experience or even an inability to run the game at all. Addressing this issue was crucial to ensure that the game functions smoothly for testers and eventually for players.

Solution

Upon investigating the issue, I realized that the root cause was leftover redirectors from assets that had been renamed or moved throughout the development process. Unreal Engine does not automatically resolve these redirectors, which can cause errors during the packaging process if they remain unresolved. To fix this, I had to manually locate and fix these redirectors in the project.

The solution involved using Unreal Engine's built-in Fix Up Redirectors feature. I navigated to the Content Browser, selected the top-level folder containing the assets, and right-clicked to find the "Fix Up Redirectors in Folder" option. This tool resolved most of the redirectors, ensuring that references to moved or renamed assets were correctly updated.

By addressing this issue, the packaging process was able to complete successfully. This fix will prevent broken asset references in the packaged build, ensuring that the end user will not encounter missing assets or gameplay-breaking bugs related to incorrectly referenced content. The project is now able to be packaged for distribution.