Installing Unreal Engine 5
Download and install UE5 via the Epic Games Launcher on Windows, macOS, or Linux. This guide covers system requirements, launcher setup, and first launch.
System Requirements
Unreal Engine 5 targets current-generation hardware. Meeting the Recommended specifications ensures you can use all UE5 features — including Nanite, Lumen with Hardware Ray Tracing, and Virtual Shadow Maps — without performance degradation in the editor.
Lumen Hardware Ray Tracing and Virtual Shadow Maps require a DX12 GPU with ray tracing support (NVIDIA RTX, AMD RX 6000+, or Intel Arc). Software fallbacks are available but reduce quality.
| Component | Minimum | Recommended |
|---|---|---|
| OS | Windows 10 64-bit (build 1903) | Windows 11 64-bit |
| CPU | Quad-core Intel or AMD, 2.5 GHz | Intel Core i9-12900K / AMD Ryzen 9 7900X or faster |
| RAM | 8 GB | 32 GB DDR5 |
| GPU | NVIDIA GTX 1080 / AMD RX 5700 (8 GB VRAM) | NVIDIA RTX 4080 / AMD RX 7900 XTX (16 GB VRAM) |
| VRAM | 8 GB | 16 GB+ |
| Storage | 100 GB HDD (engine only) | 500 GB+ NVMe SSD |
| DirectX | DirectX 11 | DirectX 12 (Feature Level 12.1) |
| Display | 1920×1080 | 2560×1440 or 4K |
Supported Development Platforms
| Platform | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Windows 10/11 x64 | Supported | Primary development platform. Full feature support. |
| macOS 13+ (Apple Silicon) | Supported | Metal rendering. Nanite and Lumen available. |
| Linux (Ubuntu 22.04+) | Supported | Vulkan rendering. Requires source build for full feature set. |
Step 1 — Install Epic Games Launcher
- Navigate to epicgames.com and click Get Epic Games to download the launcher installer.
-
Run
EpicInstaller.msi(Windows) orEpicGamesLauncher.dmg(macOS) and follow the on-screen instructions. - Sign in with your existing Epic Games account, or create a free account when prompted. Two-factor authentication is strongly recommended.
- Once signed in, click the Unreal Engine tab in the left sidebar.
Step 2 — Install Unreal Engine
- In the Launcher, click Library then click the + button next to "ENGINE VERSIONS".
- Select version 5.4.x (or the latest 5.x release) from the dropdown.
- Choose an installation path with sufficient free space (plan for at least 80–120 GB including engine content).
- Optionally, in the installer options, select additional target platforms (Android, iOS, HTML5 etc.) you intend to deploy to.
- Click Install. Download size is approximately 35–60 GB depending on selected components.
Step 3 — Set Up Visual Studio (Windows)
If you plan to write C++ code, you need Visual Studio 2022 with specific workloads. Blueprint-only projects do not require Visual Studio.
Install Visual Studio 2022 17.8+ with the following workloads: Game development with C++ and .NET desktop development.
Required VS components:
- MSVC v143 — VS 2022 C++ x64/x86 build tools (latest)
- Windows 11 SDK (10.0.22621.0 or later)
- C++ CMake tools for Windows
- C++ Clang compiler for Windows (optional but recommended)
Step 4 — Launch UE5
Click Launch on your installed engine version. The first launch compiles shader permutations for your GPU — this can take 10–30 minutes. Subsequent launches use cached shaders and open in seconds.
You now have a working Unreal Engine 5 installation. Proceed to Getting Started to create your first project.
Linux Installation
On Linux, UE5 can be installed via the Epic Games Launcher (if available for your distribution) or compiled from source. The recommended approach for production work is a source build from GitHub:
# Clone the UE5 repository (requires GitHub access linked to Epic account)
git clone -b 5.4 https://github.com/EpicGames/UnrealEngine.git
cd UnrealEngine
# Run setup script (downloads binary dependencies ~20 GB)
./Setup.sh
# Generate Makefiles
./GenerateProjectFiles.sh
# Build the editor (uses all available CPU cores)
make UE5Editor -j$(nproc)