Unreal Engine Derived Data Cache Builder

BuildDDC.bat

:: Copyright (c) Solessfir under MIT license

:: Builds the Derived Data Cache (DDC) for an Unreal Engine project
:: Place this file in your project's root directory and run it

@echo off
setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion
title Build Derived Data Cache

:: Define Colors
:DefineColors
for /F "tokens=1,2 delims=#" %%a in ('"prompt #$H#$E# & echo on & for %%b in (1) do rem"') do (
  set "ESC=%%b"
)
set "Colors_Red=!ESC![91m"
set "Colors_Green=!ESC![92m"
set "Colors_White=!ESC![97m"
set "Colors_Reset=!ESC![0m"

:: Configuration
set "RootDirectory=%~dp0"
set "RootDirectory=%RootDirectory:~0,-1%"

:: 1. Locate Project
if exist "%RootDirectory%\*.uproject" (
    set "ProjectDir=%RootDirectory%"
) else if exist "%RootDirectory%\..\*.uproject" (
    set "ProjectDir=%RootDirectory%\.."
) else (
    echo %Colors_Red%Error: No .uproject file found.%Colors_Reset%
    goto :ExitWithPause
)
pushd "%ProjectDir%"
for %%i in ("*.uproject") do set "UprojectFile=%%~fi" & set "ProjectName=%%~ni"

:: 2. Extract Engine Association
set "RawVersion="
for /f "tokens=2 delims=:" %%a in ('findstr /i "EngineAssociation" "%UprojectFile%"') do set "RawVersion=%%a"

:: Clean string (remove quotes, spaces, braces, AND COMMAS)
if defined RawVersion (
    set "RawVersion=!RawVersion:"=!"
    set "RawVersion=!RawVersion:,=!"
    set "RawVersion=!RawVersion: =!"
    set "RawVersion=!RawVersion:{=!"
    set "RawVersion=!RawVersion:}=!"
)

:: 3. Determine Engine Path
set "EngineDir="

:: A. Check Standard Installation (HKLM)
reg query "HKLM\SOFTWARE\EpicGames\Unreal Engine\%RawVersion%" /v "InstalledDirectory" >nul 2>&1
if !errorlevel! equ 0 (
    for /f "skip=2 tokens=2*" %%a in ('reg query "HKLM\SOFTWARE\EpicGames\Unreal Engine\%RawVersion%" /v "InstalledDirectory"') do set "EngineDir=%%b"
)

:: B. Check Custom/Source Build Registration (HKCU - matches GUIDs)
if not defined EngineDir (
    reg query "HKCU\Software\Epic Games\Unreal Engine\Builds" /v "{%RawVersion%}" >nul 2>&1
    if !errorlevel! equ 0 (
        for /f "skip=2 tokens=2*" %%a in ('reg query "HKCU\Software\Epic Games\Unreal Engine\Builds" /v "{%RawVersion%}"') do set "EngineDir=%%b"
    )
)

:: C. Check Relative Path (Assuming Project is inside/next to Engine root)
if not defined EngineDir (
    if exist "%ProjectDir%\..\Engine\Binaries" set "EngineDir=%ProjectDir%\..\Engine"
)

if not defined EngineDir (
    echo %Colors_Red%Error: Could not locate Unreal Engine installation for: %RawVersion%%Colors_Reset%
    goto :ExitWithPause
)

:: 4. Locate Editor CMD Executable (UE5 or UE4)
set "EditorCmd=%EngineDir%\Engine\Binaries\Win64\UnrealEditor-Cmd.exe"
if not exist "!EditorCmd!" (
    set "EditorCmd=%EngineDir%\Engine\Binaries\Win64\UE4Editor-Cmd.exe"
)

if not exist "!EditorCmd!" (
    echo %Colors_Red%Error: Editor executable not found at:%Colors_Reset%
    echo %EngineDir%\Engine\Binaries\Win64\
    goto :ExitWithPause
)

:: 5. Execute DDC Build
cls
echo %Colors_Green%:: Building Derived Data Cache ::%Colors_Reset%
echo Project: %Colors_White%%ProjectName%%Colors_Reset%
echo Engine:  %Colors_White%%RawVersion%%Colors_Reset%
echo Path:    %Colors_White%!EditorCmd!%Colors_Reset%
echo.

call "!EditorCmd!" "%UprojectFile%" -run=DerivedDataCache -fill -DDC=CreatePak -ProjectOnly

echo.
if !errorlevel! neq 0 (
    echo %Colors_Red%DDC Build Failed. Check the log above.%Colors_Reset%
) else (
    echo %Colors_Green%DDC Build Completed Successfully.%Colors_Reset%
)

:ExitWithPause
popd
pause
exit /b