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Unreal Engine path

Tell uVersion where Unreal Engine is installed: automatic detection, manual entry, exactly which folder to choose, and why detection never succeeds on Linux.

uVersion needs to know where Unreal Engine is installed in order to compile your project, generate the project files, open the editor, package a build and install the plugin matching your engine version.

In most cases, nothing to do

The client reads the engine version declared in your .uproject file and finds the installation on its own:

Windows: through the registry, then through the Epic launcher inventory file. Works for a launcher install as well as an engine compiled from source.
macOS: through the standard location of Epic installs, or through the inventory file for a compiled engine.
Linux: only for an engine compiled from source.

Linux: automatic detection never succeeds for a launcher install There is no standard location on Linux, so the client has nothing to go on. The manual entry described below is the rule there, not the exception. This is not a fault of your installation.

The path that is found is saved in the .uversion/ folder of your workspace. If you later switch your project to a different engine version, detection runs again; if it fails, the path is cleared so the interface asks you for it again rather than compiling with the wrong engine.

Manual entry

1. Locate the Unreal toolbar

Open your workspace tab. The Unreal toolbar sits on the right of the Files / History / Pending tab row: a plugin status badge, a folder icon, then Open Editor, Compile, Package, Publish Build, Sync, Status and a gear menu. It only appears once a .uproject file has been found.

The Unreal action bar to the right of the tab row: the plugin status badge, a folder icon, then Open Editor, Compile, Package, Publish Build, Sync, Status and a gear menu.

2. Recognise the “missing path” state

When the path is not known, the plugin status badge turns orange and shows Set engine path instead of the plugin version number. That is the signal, and it is also the shortcut: clicking it opens the folder picker directly, without going through the menu. The plugin cannot install itself while this path is missing, since it has to match your engine version.

The Unreal toolbar with the plugin status badge in orange, carrying a warning triangle and the text Set engine path, where the plugin version number normally appears.

3. Open the gear menu

The other route, the one that shows the currently saved path: click the gear button followed by a chevron, to the right of Status (its tooltip reads More actions). Choose Set Engine Path...: the line carries a subtitle showing the path in force, or the words Not configured if there is none. It is the only place in the client that tells you what is saved.

4. Point to the folder

By either route, a folder picker opens, titled Select Unreal Engine installation folder. The exact folder to point to is described below: that is where almost every mistake is made.

Which folder to choose

Choose the engine root, the one that contains the Engine folder. For example:

C:\Program Files\Epic Games\UE_5.6
D:\EpicGames\UE_5.7
/Users/Shared/Epic Games/UE_5.6

Not Engine, and not Engine/Binaries/Win64. The criterion can be checked by eye, and that is exactly what the screenshot below shows: the folder you point to must contain an Engine folder, and that one must contain Build/BatchFiles and Binaries. If either is missing, the path is refused with a message that begins with Invalid Unreal Engine path.

The folder picker titled Select Unreal Engine installation folder, positioned on a valid engine root of the UE_5.6 kind, whose contents show the Engine folder next to FeaturePacks, Samples and Templates.

An engine compiled from source is accepted without restriction, even outside Epic's usual install locations.

Where the client asks for it

As long as the path is not set, several commands behave differently. This is useful to know, because otherwise it looks like buttons that do not respond.

Compile, Generate Project Files, Publish Editor Binaries and Open Editor open the folder picker instead of acting. Once the path is chosen, you have to click the button again to actually start the action.
Package is simply disabled, with the tooltip Set Engine Path first.
The plugin status badge turns orange and shows Set engine path: see step 2 above.
When you check in C++ code files, a banner reminds you that the path is required: a code check-in compiles before being validated.
After a clone, the message Unreal Engine not set: skipped the build indicates that the automatic compilation was skipped. Set the path, then click Compile.

Pitfalls

The path is saved per workspace, not globally

It lives in the .uversion/ folder of the workspace concerned. A second workspace will ask you for it again, even on the same machine and with the same engine. The Settings page contains nothing about this: that is normal, do not look for it there.

The Unreal panel does not appear at all

The client looks for the .uproject file at most three levels deep below the workspace root. Any lower and it does not find it, and the panel stays hidden with no message. If your project is buried deeper, the workspace root is probably the wrong choice.

The Compile button does not exist for me

It only appears for a C++ project. A pure Blueprint project has nothing to compile. Likewise, publishing editor binaries is not offered on Linux.

“Invalid Unreal Engine path”

The refusal arrives in a small system window, right after your choice. The message repeats the refused path and its reason: is not a recognizable engine install (missing Engine/Build/BatchFiles or Engine/Binaries, or path canonicalization failed). You have probably gone one level too deep: go back up to the folder that contains Engine. The same message covers the case of a path pointing to a link that does not resolve.