Packaging

Our Travis CI automatically creates a plugin package on every commit to the Cesium for Unreal repo. But if you want to do it locally, there are a few things to keep in mind:

• Unreal Engine always uses Visual Studio 2017 to package a plugin. So if you only have Visual Studio 2019 installed, the package process will fail.
• Similarly, if you built cesium-native with Visual Studio 2019, you will get linker errors when you try to build Cesium for Unreal with Visual Studio 2017. So, be sure to build cesium-native with Visual Studio 2017 if you need to package.

Packaging Cesium for Unreal Plugin

Packaging an Unreal Engine plugin makes it portable and you can use it as part of the Unreal Engine directory, to be used for all your Unreal projects. This is similar to installing it from the Unreal Engine Marketplace, except you can use non-release branches.

To package the plugin, follow the steps below:

1. After compiling Cesium Native in your cesium-unreal directory, run the following command:

   # Command Template:
   $UNREAL_ENGINE_DIR/Engine/Build/BatchFiles/RunUAT.bat" BuildPlugin -Plugin="<absolute path to cesium-unreal/CesiumForUnreal.uplugin>" -Package="<absolute path to output directory>" -CreateSubFolder -TargetPlatforms=<target platforms>

   • Windows Example:

     "C:\Program Files\Epic Games\UE_4.26\Engine\Build\BatchFiles\RunUAT.bat" BuildPlugin -Plugin="C:\workspace\cesium-unreal\CesiumForUnreal.uplugin" -Package="C:\workspace\Packages\CesiumForUnreal" -CreateSubFolder -TargetPlatforms=Win64

   • Windows+Android Example (ensure you have completed the Android-specific cross-compilation steps first):

     "C:\Program Files\Epic Games\UE_4.26\Engine\Build\BatchFiles\RunUAT.bat" BuildPlugin -Plugin="C:\workspace\cesium-unreal\CesiumForUnreal.uplugin" -Package="C:\workspace\Packages\CesiumForUnreal" -CreateSubFolder -TargetPlatforms=Win64+Android

   • macOS Example: bash "$UNREAL_ENGINE_DIR/Engine/Build/BatchFiles/RunUAT.sh" BuildPlugin -Plugin="/home/user/workspace/cesium-unreal/CesiumForUnreal.uplugin" -Package="/home/user/workspace/packages/CesiumForUnreal" -CreateSubFolder -TargetPlatforms=Mac
   • macOS + iOS Example (ensure you have completed the iOS-specific cross-compilation steps first): bash "$UNREAL_ENGINE_DIR/Engine/Build/BatchFiles/RunUAT.command" BuildPlugin -Plugin="/Users/user/workspace/cesium-unreal/CesiumForUnreal.uplugin" -Package="/Users/user/workspace/packages/CesiumForUnreal" -CreateSubFolder -TargetPlatforms=Mac+iOS
   • Linux Example: bash "$UNREAL_ENGINE_DIR/Engine/Build/BatchFiles/RunUAT.sh" BuildPlugin -Plugin="/home/user/workspace/cesium-unreal/CesiumForUnreal.uplugin" -Package="/home/user/workspace/packages/CesiumForUnreal" -CreateSubFolder -TargetPlatforms=Linux
2. Copy the output directory CesiumForUnreal to the Unreal Engine Plugins directory, example C:\Program Files\Epic Games\UE_4.26\Engine\Plugins\Marketplace\CesiumForUnreal on Windows. Once the packged plugin is copied, all Unreal projects will be able to enable it.
   • Note: you can also copy the CesiumForUnreal directory to a specific projects Plugins directory, such as cesium-unreal-samples/Plugins/CesiumForUnreal. In this case, the built plugin is only available to the specific project and will be prioritized over Engine-level copies of Cesium for Unreal. This doesn't work well with shipping builds especially on mobile platforms.