Unreal Engine X - Engine Setup

GitHub Repository

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Current Disk Footprint

The current UE5.8.2-based fork has been measured approximately as:

Build	Disk usage
Regular UE5.8.2 source/build checkout	~370-400 GB
Unreal Engine X aggressive slim	~201.9 GB
PDB files in the slimmed build	~50-80 GB

Final figure is around 150GB. These figures are reference measurements, not fixed requirements. Actual size varies with:

• enabled engine plugins,
• compiler output,
• build configuration,
• Intermediate data,
• Git history and local repository state,
• Derived Data,
• and debugging symbols.

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Recommended Setup Workflow

For a fresh Unreal Engine X checkout:

git clone --depth 1
        |
        v
XDevops\XInitSubmodules.bat
        |
        v
XDevops\XSetupSlim.bat
        |
        +--> Optional: XSetupSlim_V2.bat
        |    Uses .gitdepsignore to avoid downloading
        |    unsupported platform payloads.
        |
        v
GenerateProjectFiles.bat
        |
        v
Build UnrealEditor / project
        |
        +--> Optional: XCleanPDBs.bat
        |
        +--> Optional: XCleanDisabledPlugins.bat
        |
        +--> Optional: XCleanThirdParty.bat

Recommended defaults:

• use --depth 1 unless complete Git history is required,
• use platform-only GitDependencies exclusions,
• use cleanup scripts only after Setup and only for generated or explicitly reviewed data,
• keep PDB files if engine-level debugging is required.

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1. Clone the Repository

If the complete Git history is not required, use a shallow clone:

git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/mad-ben/UnrealEngine.git

A shallow clone reduces the initial Git repository footprint substantially.

Normal pulls can continue to work while the fork advances linearly, but operations requiring older common ancestors may fail after rebases or larger upstream synchronization changes.

Restore the complete history later with:

git fetch --unshallow

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2. Initialize Engine Submodules

Initialize the external engine integrations with:

XDevops\XInitSubmodules.bat

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3. Run XSetupSlim

Run:

XDevops\XSetupSlim.bat

XSetupSlim is the preferred replacement for invoking Epic's Setup.bat directly.

The setup policy is read from:

XDevops\config.txt

The setup-time dependency policy is intentionally conservative.

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XSetupSlim_V2

For a more aggressive setup, use:

XDevops\XSetupSlim_V2.bat

XSetupSlim_V2 uses the root .gitdepsignore file to avoid downloading unsupported platform payloads.

Platform exclusions are defined in:

XDevops\config.txt

and reflected in:

<UE_ROOT>\.gitdepsignore

Use V2 only after reviewing both files and confirming that every excluded platform is intentionally unsupported by the checkout.

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GitDependencies Policy

Unreal Engine source setup uses Epic's GitDependencies system to download binary files, libraries, tools, symbols, and other payloads that are not stored directly in Git.

Unreal Engine X uses a generated root file:

<UE_ROOT>\.gitdepsignore

to avoid downloading unsupported platform payloads.

Platform-only exclusions

The current .gitdepsignore policy is intentionally limited to platform and architecture exclusions.

Examples include:

Linux
LinuxArm64
Mac
IOS
TVOS
Android
Lumin
VisionOS
WinArm64

Typical patterns include paths are:

**/Linux/**
**/LinuxArm64/**
**/Android/**
**/IOS/**
**/Mac/**
**/TVOS/**
**/VisionOS/**
**/WinArm64/**
**/windowsarm64/**

This reduces the Setup download and installed dependency footprint.

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Platform Exclusions

Platform exclusions are configured in:

XDevops\config.txt

using entries such as:

EXCLUDE:Linux
EXCLUDE:LinuxArm64
EXCLUDE:Mac
EXCLUDE:IOS
EXCLUDE:TVOS
EXCLUDE:Android
EXCLUDE:Lumin
EXCLUDE:VisionOS
EXCLUDE:WinArm64

These exclusions are used during Setup to avoid downloading dependencies for unsupported targets.

Restoring an Excluded Platform

Platform exclusions affect what GitDependencies downloads.

If a previously excluded platform is required later:

1. remove the corresponding EXCLUDE: entry,
2. regenerate the setup policy,
3. rerun XSetupSlim.bat,
4. allow GitDependencies to restore the missing platform payloads,
5. rebuild the required targets.

Changing target settings alone is not enough if the platform dependency files were never downloaded.

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PDB Cleanup

Use:

XDevops\XCleanPDBs.bat

to remove generated Program Database (.pdb) files when engine-level debugging is not required.

The cleaner only targets .pdb files below generated:

Binaries
Intermediate

directories beneath:

Engine

It deliberately avoids arbitrary source/vendor PDB files such as those under:

Engine\Source\ThirdParty

Debug Symbols

PDB files are required for useful engine-level debugging.

Removing them does not normally prevent the editor from launching, but it reduces debugging quality significantly.

Without the corresponding PDB files:

• call stacks may lose useful symbol information,
• source-level engine debugging is limited,
• variable inspection may be unavailable,
• crash analysis becomes less useful.

Rebuilding the corresponding engine modules regenerates the required PDB files.

ThirdParty Cleanup

Use:

XDevops\XCleanThirdParty.bat

The cleanup policy is configured with:

CLEAN_THIRDPARTY_DEBUG_PACKAGE:
CLEAN_THIRDPARTY_PATH:

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