Plugin Installation via Microsoft Azure DevOps Repositories

While plugin installation via the Epic Games Launcher is the most convenient method for most users to obtain and install the latest version of the SenseGlove Unreal Engine Plugin via Fab, there might be valid reasons to instead download and install the plugin directly from the SenseGlove Unreal Engine Plugin Microsoft Azure DevOps Repository. These reasons may include:

• Downloading an older version that is no longer available on Fab.
• Downloading a recent version that has been submitted to Fab, but is still awaiting approval and publication by the Fab Team.
• Downloading an under-development, unstable release of the plugin for testing purposes.
• Or, any other specific needs that require direct access to the repository.

Nonetheless, here is a step-by-step guide to downloading and installing the plugin from the Microsoft Azure DevOps Repositories.

Download a Specific Version

To download a specific version of the plugin, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to the the SenseGlove Unreal Engine Plugin Microsoft Azure DevOps Repository.

2. Locate the branch dropdown menu at the top of the page, just below the navigation bar, and next to the Copy to clipboard icon. There you'll find a dropdown menu. By default, it usually selects the master branch.

3. Use the dropdown menu to choose a desired branch containing the source code for a specific version of Unreal Engine or a specific release of the plugin marked with a release tag.

4. After selecting your desired branch or tag, click on the kebab menu (three vertical dots) located at the top right of the screen and choose Download as Zip to obtain the source code for that branch or tag.

Download a Specific Version for a Specifc Unreal Engine Version

As mentioned earlier, due to breaking changes between Unreal Engine versions, it might not be feasible to share the same source code across different Unreal Engine versions. Since release tags are created from the master branch, they contain code compatible only with the latest version of Unreal Engine. Therefore, the instructions for downloading a specific version from a release tag might not work with some Unreal Engine versions. In such cases, you can use an alternative approach:

1. First, choose the appropriate branch for your desired Unreal Engine version from the branch dropdown menu, as discussed earlier. Then navigate to the History tab.

2. Look via the commit history for a commit message that says bump the plugin version to vX.X.X as all releases are finalized with this exact commit message and the plugin version. Next, click on the commit message for the version you are looking for.

3. Once you've selected the correct commit, click on the Browse Files button next to the kebab menu (three vertical dots) at the top right of the screen.

4. You should now be in the Content tab, with the branch dropdown menu displaying the commit hash instead of a branch name or tag. Click on the kebab menu (three vertical dots) again, and select Download as Zip. This will give you a zip file containing the exact release you need, compatible with your chosen Unreal Engine version.

Download the Bleeding-edge Development Branch

Downloading the dev branch is as easy as choosing the dev branch from the branch dropdown menu (as discussed earlier) and then choosing Download as Zip from the kebab menu (three vertical dots).

Installation

Once you have obtained the desired plugin version compatible with the Unreal Engine version you have in mind using any of the methods mentioned above, it's time to build and install the plugin. There are two ways to install the SenseGlove Unreal Engine Plugin, one is at the engine level, and the other is per project.

• Engine-level installation: this method makes the plugin accessible to any project within that Unreal Engine version.

• Per-project installation: this method makes the plugin accessible only to a specific project.

Engine-level installation

Per-project installation

1. Locate your existing C++ or Blueprint project, or create a new project from scratch.

2. Inside your project's root directory create a new Plugins directory if you don't have one already.

3. Inside the Plugins directory create a new directory named SenseGlove.

4. Extract the content of your downloaded zip file into the SenseGlove directory.

5. Remove any directories or files that are only meant for use by the SenseGlove Unreal Engine Plugin maintainers. These are not part of the distributed plugin package and are not required by either Unreal Engine or the SenseGlove Unreal Engine Plugin to function correctly.

The mandatory files and folders to stay are as follows:

Config
Content
Resources
Source
SenseGlove.uplugin

Anything else can be safely removed. For example, these files and folders can be safely deleted:

Handbook
Packager
.clang-format
.editorconfig
.gitattributes
.gitignore
README.md

6. Ensure your project has the correct structure.

For a Blueprint-only project, it should look something like this:

MyBlueprintProject
  │
  ├── Config
  │
  ├── Content
  │
  ├── Plugins
  │     │
  │     └── SenseGlove
  │           │
  │           ├── Config
  │           │
  │           ├── Content
  │           │
  │           ├── Resources
  │           │
  │           ├── SenseGlove.uplugin
  │           │
  │           └── Source
  │
  └── MyBlueprintProject.uproject

For a C++ project, the structure should look like this:

MyCppProject
  │
  ├── Config
  │
  ├── Content
  │
  ├── Plugins
  │     │
  │     └── SenseGlove
  │           │
  │           ├── Config
  │           │
  │           ├── Content
  │           │
  │           ├── Resources
  │           │
  │           ├── SenseGlove.uplugin
  │           │
  │           └── Source
  │
  ├── Source
  │
  └── MyCppProject.uproject

7. OK, now it's time to build the plugin.

For a Blueprint-only project, on Microsoft Windows simply double-clicking the project's .uproject file should present you with a pop-up informing you that some binary modules are missing.

After confirming, the build process will start automatically, and a dialog indicating the build progress will be shown:

Once finished successfully, the project will be loaded.

For C++ projects, on Microsoft Windows, right-click on your C++ .uproject file and choose Generate Visual Studio project files:

A dialog will pop up shows you the progress of generating the Visual Studio project files:

Once the project files are generated, open up the C++ project in your preferred C++ IDE and build the project. After this, the project can be loaded in the Unreal Editor.

8. Once the plugin has been built successfully, ensure the SenseGlove Unreal Engine is enabled and verify the plugin version matches the expected version.

Linux Build Instructions

When building the SenseGlove Unreal Engine Plugin on Linux, you won't encounter the Missing Modules dialog that appears on Microsoft Windows. Instead, examining the Unreal Editor logs reveals that the Unreal Editor automatically chooses No in response to the Would you like to rebuild them now? question as the No is implied states.

$ /path/to/UnrealEngine/Engine/Binaries/Linux/UnrealEditor \
    /path/to/MyBlueprintProject/MyBlueprintProject.uproject

LogLinux: Warning: MessageBox: The following modules are missing or built with a different engine version:

  SenseGlove
  SenseGloveAndroid
  SenseGloveBackend
  SenseGloveBackendKismet
  SenseGloveBuildHacks
  SenseGloveConnect
  SenseGloveConnectImpl
  SenseGloveConnectKismet
  SenseGloveCore
  SenseGloveCoreImpl
  SenseGloveCoreKismet
  SenseGloveDebug
  SenseGloveDebugKismet
  SenseGloveEditor
  SenseGloveInterop
  (+8 others, see log for details)

Would you like to rebuild them now?: Missing MyBlueprintProject Modules: No is implied.
LogCore: Engine exit requested (reason: EngineExit() was called)
LogExit: Preparing to exit.
LogPakFile: Destroying PakPlatformFile
LogExit: Exiting.
LogInit: Tearing down SDL.
Exiting abnormally (error code: 1)

If your Unreal Engine installation on Linux was obtained from the GitHub Sources y you can generate the project files using the following command:

$ /path/to/UnrealEngine/GenerateProjectFiles.sh \
    /path/to/MyProject/MyProject.uproject \
    -editor -game -makefile

However, if you are using a prebuilt Linux version of Unreal Engine, the main GenerateProjectFiles.sh script at the engine root does not exists. Instead, we have to invoke the underlying GenerateProjectFiles.sh script located elsewhere. This is a different script which shares the same name and is also present in the GitHub sources. The main GenerateProjectFiles.sh script at the engine root is actually a wrapper around this script.

$ /path/to/UnrealEngine/Engine/Build/BatchFiles/Linux/GenerateProjectFiles.sh \
    /path/to/MyProject/MyProject.uproject \
    -editor -game -makefile

Still, running the any of the above commands on a Blueprint project results in the following error:

$  /path/to/UnrealEngine/Engine/Build/BatchFiles/Linux/GenerateProjectFiles.sh \
    /path/to/MyBlueprintProject/MyBlueprintProject.uproject \
    -editor -game -makefile

Setting up Unreal Engine project files...

Setting up bundled DotNet SDK
Log file: /home/mamadou/.config/Epic/UnrealBuildTool/Log_GPF.txt
Project file formats specified via the command line will be ignored when generating
project files from the editor and other engine tools.

Consider setting your desired IDE from the editor preferences window, or modify your
BuildConfiguration.xml file with:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<Configuration xmlns="https://www.unrealengine.com/BuildConfiguration">
  <ProjectFileGenerator>
    <Format>Make</Format>
  </ProjectFileGenerator>
</Configuration>


Generating Make project files:
Discovering modules, targets and source code for project...
Total execution time: 0.35 seconds
Directory '/path/to/MyBlueprintProject/MyBlueprintProject' is missing 'Source' folder.

For a C++ project, however, the project files will generate without any issues:

$ /path/to/UnrealEngine/Engine/Build/BatchFiles/Linux/GenerateProjectFiles.sh \
    /path/to/MyCppProject/MyCppProject.uproject \
    -editor -game -makefile

Setting up Unreal Engine project files...

Setting up bundled DotNet SDK
Log file: /home/mamadou/.config/Epic/UnrealBuildTool/Log_GPF.txt
Project file formats specified via the command line will be ignored when generating
project files from the editor and other engine tools.

Consider setting your desired IDE from the editor preferences window, or modify your
BuildConfiguration.xml file with:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<Configuration xmlns="https://www.unrealengine.com/BuildConfiguration">
  <ProjectFileGenerator>
    <Format>Make</Format>
  </ProjectFileGenerator>
</Configuration>


Generating Make project files:
Discovering modules, targets and source code for project...
Generating data for project indexing... 100%

Generating QueryTargets data for editor...
Total execution time: 2.98 seconds

So, the workaround for Blueprint projects is to build the plugin inside a C++ project and then copy the Plugin/SenseGlove directory, which contains the built binary modules, to the corresponding directory in your Blueprint project.

$ /path/to/UnrealEngine/Engine/Build/BatchFiles/Linux/GenerateProjectFiles.sh \
    /path/to/MyCppProject/MyCppProject.uproject \
    -editor -game -makefile
$ make MyCppProjectEditor -C /path/to/MyCppProject/
$ cp -vr \
    /path/to/MyCppProject/Plugins/SenseGlove \
    /path/to/MyBlueprintProject/Plugins/
$ /path/to/UnrealEngine/Engine/Binaries/Linux/UnrealEditor \
    /path/to/MyBlueprintProject/MyBlueprintProject.uproject