Build Award-Winning Experiences With Unreal Engine and Perforce
Perforce Helix Core provides global development and design teams a version control foundation for creating without limits. Helix Core’s unrivaled ability to handle the expanding size and complexity of today’s projects makes it particularly valuable for teams using Unreal Engine.
Epic uses Perforce Helix Core (also known as P4V) as their primary version control. Unreal Engine's workflows are specifically tailored to work with Helix Core, making it particularly advantageous for large development teams. This integration enables several key features of Unreal Engine that are exclusively supported through P4V, including:
- Horde
- Unreal Game Sync
- Robomerge
What Helix Visual Client (P4V) Does
Helix Visual Client (P4V) is a desktop application that works on Linux, Mac, and Windows. It gives you access to all your versioned files in Helix Core. And it complements the Unreal Editor’s built-in integration with Helix Core.
Helix Visual Client offers an intuitive and customizable graphical user interface with professional-level capabilities. It enables you to:
- Check files in and out of Helix Core.
- Compare different versions of files.
- Work with Perforce streams to visually manage your development workflow for trouble-free branching and merging and more.
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Key Unreal Integrations With Helix Core
Unreal Editor
Unreal Editor has an easy-to-use, and seamless integration to Perforce Helix Core. So, users developing their latest real-time project never have to leave the comfort of their familiar environment.
The Unreal integration is built and maintained by Epic. (Epic uses Helix Core for their own development. And they encourage third-party developers using Unreal Engine to use Helix Core).
Depending on your project, your team may be made up of developers, artists, designers, virtual effects specialists, and more. The result will be the need to bring together a variety of assets made in different tools from Epic, Microsoft, and Perforce across the lifecycle of your projects. The Helix Core platform’s integrated suite of tools, along with key integrations by Epic and Perforce, enable your team to work together efficiently to ensure deadlines are met.
Unreal Game Sync
Unreal Game Sync, or UGS, is a tool built by Epic and used by developers to sync their Helix Core Workspace with a project's stream containing all of the necessary custom binary files pre-compiled and ready to use. This removes the need for individual users to compile and build the engine and provides a graphical front-end to sync the latest project files from the Helix Core depot.
Related Resource: Working with Custom Unreal Engine Builds & Unreal Game Sync
Horde
Horde is a set of services built by Epic to support workflows for developing Fortnite, Unreal Engine, and more. Some of Horde’s key features include:
- Build Automation (CI/CD): This is a system built to streamline the development process, specifically for teams working with large Perforce repositories.
- Test Automation: A tool designed to query automation results across streams and projects.
- Remote execution: The ability to offload compute work to other systems.
Robomerge
Robomerge is a tool designed to automatically merge between branches and is widely used at Epic Games for developing UE5 projects and Fortnite. It enables teams to continuously merge per changelist and to resolve conflicts quickly.
Related Resource: Merging and Collaborating with Unreal Engine
Microsoft Visual Studio
Microsoft Visual Studio is the most popular IDE for game developers working with Unreal Engine. Epic and Perforce plugins coexist, providing seamless integration for developers working with Visual Studio.
Helix Plugin for Visual Studio (P4VS) seamlessly embeds Helix Core enterprise-class version control features within the familiar UI. Without ever having to leave the Visual Studio IDE, developers can sync, add, edit, revert, diff, review file history, manage changelists, perform code reviews, and more.
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Windows File Explorer
Getting some users, such as technical artists or designers, to use version control can be a challenge.
Helix Plugin for File Explorer (P4EXP) is an ideal way to bring non-developers the benefits of version control — without requiring them to learn Helix Core. They’ll get easy access to Helix Core functions from the standard Windows 10 File Explorer context (right-click) menu. This makes functions like check-in/check-out a breeze.
Drop and Drag Version Control for Creatives
Helix Sync is part of our Helix Core platform for digital creation, which we built to give creative teams must-have tools that work together. Just drag and drop files into Helix Sync to version any asset, whether that’s an FBX file for your film or 3D game art.
To version in seconds with Helix Sync, first you’ll need Helix Core. From there, downloading fast, no code version control is easy and free. Teams with big visions use it and love it.
The Power of Perforce and Unreal Engine Across Industries
Unreal Engine and Perforce have been widely adopted across a wide range of industries—including gaming, media and entertainment, automotive, and education—to create innovative 3D projects.
Below, we’ve compiled case studies showcasing how leaders are leveraging Perforce and Unreal Engine to pioneer cutting-edge game technology.