Commit plugin content to game repository (fails without binaries)

[codewing]

Hey :) I had to commit the binaries in the three plugin folders to make it work on another machine. This is obviously not preferred so I am wondering what in my setup is wrong:

Steps to reproduce:

• Create a blueprint project
• Add a gitignore (I used UnrealEngine.gitignore from github)
• Git init + commit for setup (just for fallbacks)
• Start the project -> Works
• Add the plugin
• Start the project again to get dependencies -> Works
• Commit all added files
• Use git clean -xdf or simply clone to another folder to simulate clean checkout
• Open the project -> Missing libaries -> Build -> Failes

Info

• Used the latest release (v0.11.0 for UE4.21)
  • and (obviously) UE4.21.0

What am I doing wrong?

[getnamo]

See https://github.com/getnamo/tensorflow-ue4-examples which uses git submodules for each plugin and git lfs for binary files which makes the initial pull faster.

If you're not familiar with submodules see https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2/Git-Tools-Submodules and https://blog.github.com/2016-02-01-working-with-submodules/ for a primer. Github desktop client supports submodules so you can skip some of the git commands.

[codewing]

Thanks for the reply! I've removed the plugin files and added them as a submodule. But I'm still facing the problem that ue4 doesnt open because of the missing plugins.

Unfortunately I cannot release it to the public in the current state due to the exercise restrictions of my university thus I only invited you personally to the repository. But we can still discuss the issue here if anyone faces the same issue. But I was able to reproduce problem with the steps described in my first post.

[codewing]

If i create a new project - add the plugin to it - restart it to make it download the binaries - and then copy the binaries to my other project with the freshly cloned project it works again. This is my temporary fix.

[getnamo]

That's the correct way, git shouldn't store binaries so if it's a blueprint project you need to download them from releases and drag and drop over.

Normally if you're using git, the project would support C++ and it would recompile the plugins when you compile the project and generate the binaries whenever you need to e.g. on an engine update.

[codewing]

Ah okay, but I am wondering why it doesnt download the dependencies on its own like it does like the time I initially added it. Because creating another project for the binaries seems kind of weird to me. But anyway thanks for the help!