This semester, I am introducing the game engine Unreal Engine (https://www.unrealengine.com/) to my Game Physics students.

The latest version of  the Unreal Engine is 4.10.1 (UE4). In order to install UE4, we need to first install the Epic Game Launcher, the installer is just about 30 MB.

After installing the Epic Game Launcher, we can download the game engine from the UE4 tab of the Epic Game Launcher. The download process will begin by downloading files with a total size of 4 to 5 GB !!

If you have a slow internet access, this is going to be a huge problem. For my case, 30 of my students were trying to install this at the lab PCs at the same time, and very few succeeded within the 2 hours lab time we had.

So, the question is whether we can install the UE4 on one PC when the internet is fast, and then copy the installation files to other PCs?

After google-ing and trials-and-errors, it turns out this can be done! Thank goodness.

Below is what we need to do:

1. Install Epic Game Launcher and then UE4 as usual on PC #1, when the internet access is fast enough, it still takes me about an hour on a 20 mbps line.
2. Install Epic Game Launcher on PC #2, i.e. the PC you wish to copy UE4 to.
3. Copy the whole “C:\Program Files\Epic Games\4.10” folder of PC #1 into the “C:\Program Files\Epic Games\” of PC #2. The files could be at “C:\Program Files (x86)\” instead, but here we simply assume it is at “C:\Program Files\”, you will need to check on that. We also assume it is version 4.10, hopefully this would also apply for future version. The whole folder may be more than 25 GB in size, so you may want to zip it up first before transferring, the zipped file should be only about 5 GB. Take note, you may not be able to unzip the files directly into the “C:\Program Files\Epic Games\” folder, in which case you should unzip it at another folder such as at the Desktop and then move the folder into “C:\Program Files\Epic Games\”.
4. Copy the file LauncherInstalled.dat at “C:\ProgramData\Epic\UnrealEngineLauncher\” folder from PC #1 into the same folder in PC #2. You may need to edit the file (just a text file) to remove unnecessary entries. You may also need to double-check in this file the path where the UE4 should be at PC #2.
5. Now, click “Install” at the UE4 tab of the Epic Game Launcher at PC #2. Hopefully, it would detect the files and would not download the files again, and it should initiate the file verification process, checking for prerequisites etc., until the installation is complete.
6. Take note, the Windows User Account Control (UAC) may prompt you for permission in some stages. If you do not press the “Yes” button on time, the installation may fail, but no worry, just try again.

So, good luck! Hope this works. If you find this helpful, or if you find any errors, or if you think something need clarification, please let me know at the comment box below. Thank you in advance.