UE_QuickLaunch is a right-click Unreal Engine project creator/launcher for Windows File Explorer. Right-click on or in a folder, and quickly create a minimal unreal project (uproject) with the same name as the folder. If an unreal project file already exists, QuickLaunch just opens it.

Installation and basic usage

Download and run UE_QuickLaunch_installer.msi.  The installer, by default, installs into c:\Program Files\UE_QuickLaunch. It will ask for permissions to add the registry settings.

After successfully installing, right-clicking on a folder or an empty area within File Explorer will display it’s context menu. Select QuickLaunch Unreal Engine here to create a new project and launch Unreal Engine.

Note If you don’t see this context menu when you right-click in the folder, it may be because you’re using Windows 11. Windows 11 introduced a new right-click context menu. Click Show more options to bring up the ‘Classic’ right-click context menu.

If you wish, you can configure Windows 11 to use the ‘Classic’ or ‘Legacy’ version of the right-click context menu by following the instructions here.

If you have multiple versions of Unreal Engine installed, a dialog will pop up asking what version of Unreal to launch when creating the new project.

Clicking OK creates and launches an Unreal project based on a minimal unreal project (uproject) file. The new project will be identical to creating a new UE4 “Blank” template project from the Launcher. In UE5 there are some differences you may want to be aware of.

If you, like me, always enable the same bunch of plugins and project settings every time you start a new Unreal project, you can save some manual project initialization steps and use a QuickLaunch Template project instead.

Template project

UE_QuickLaunch v2.1 introduces the ability to use a template project rather than the default minimal unreal project. This gives you the ability to fully customize the type of project created by QuickLaunch.

To use the template feature, create a ue_quicklaunch_template folder in the UE_QuickLaunch installation directory (ie. C:\Program Files\UE_QuickLaunch). You can put anything you want into the template folder and its contents will be used to create your new project.

To created a template Unreal Project (uproject) file, copy an unreal uproject file to the root of the template folder and name it ue_quicklaunch_template.uproject. QuickLaunch will copy and rename the file to match your project’s name.

When you launch a new project with your template, the contents of the uproject file will determine which version of Unreal Engine is launched (and which plugins are enabled). If you edit the uproject file and delete the line that specifies the Unreal version, rather than launching a specific version of Unreal, you’ll be presented with the Select Unreal Engine Version dialog.

Warning Multiple Unreal Versions:

When creating or using a template project, the contents have to be compatible with the version of Unreal you’re launching. For example, you may be able to create a template map/level in UE 4.27 and successfully launch it in UE 5.3, but trying to load a UE 5.3 level asset into 4.27 will probably not work.

Unlike asset files, loading config files and (uproject) files in different versions seems relatively benign. Watch out for unusual behaviors. In my experience I’ve not seen any problems, but be aware that what a setting does in one version of Unreal may provide a different behavior in another. To be safe, generate your template project in the oldest version of Unreal that you tend to work in.

Building from source

If you choose to build this from source, everything you need is packaged up as a Microsoft Visual Studio Solution in the src folder. You’ll need the Visual Studio HeatWave extension to build the installer itself. See the additional notes in the src README.

How to use it

Normal Usage

From within File Explorer

1. create a New Folder ([CTRL+SHIFT+N]) – name the folder whatever you want your unreal project to be called.
2. double click that folder to enter the new directory.
3. right-click anywhere within that empty directory and select QuickLaunch Unreal Engine from here. If you have more than one version of Unreal installed, you will be prompted to pick which version you wish to start, and Unreal will startup with a blank level open.

No launcher. No template browser. No waiting. Just one click to sweet, sweet engine-time!

Other Usage Scenarios

• Click IN A FOLDER: You can use the right-click context menu by clicking within any folder, or by clicking on a folder – this works in file explorer and on the Windows desktop. If a project already exists within the folder, that project will be opened.
• CLICK ON A FOLDER: You can right-click and select QuickLaunch on a folder name, to create or open an unreal project without having to navigate into the folder. QuickLaunch works with the left side Navigation Pane in File Explorer, so you can click on folders that are pinned to Quick access and the recent history list without having to navigate to them.
• LAUNCH MULTIPLE PROJECTS: You can use QuickLaunch to rapidly launch multiple projects at once without having to navigate around looking for them. For example, say you have multiple projects in their own folders within a subfolder in file explorer, and you need them all open at once to compare project settings. Just right click on each folder and launch the projects without having to navigate in and out of folders within File Explorer.
• QUICKLY GRAB AN ASSET PACK: Say you see a cool asset on the unreal marketplace, and you just want to “quickly” check it out. The normal process is to add the asset to your library, navigate to the Library panel (wait for all the engine versions to get registered), launch Unreal (wait for the template browser to come up), navigate from the default template browser screen to a blank project template, select it, use the browse button to navigate to where you want to put it, choose a name – that name’s already used, or you’ve used a bad character, or etc., so you pick another. Now click launch, wait for unreal to start. Reopen Launcher and navigate back to the asset in your Library. Open the asset to install it and select your project… but, that asset pack doesn’t support the engine version you just launched, so start all over….. – With QuickLaunch, you add the asset to your library, and without navigating away from the asset, open File Explorer and launch the correct version of Unreal, import the asset, and you’re good to go. :-)

Caveats

• This is, of course, Windows only since it’s a feature of File Explorer.
• In Windows 11, the QuickLaunch menu item is found by clicking the Show more options menu. If you wish, you can manually revert your windows 11’s context menu back to the Legacy Context menu
• In Unreal 5, the default template created by QuickLaunch is configured slightly different from a Launcher based blank project. The differences are outlined below:

In the launcher based version:

• The Modeling Tools Editor Mode plugin is enabled.

• The following Project Settings are changed:

Setting	QuickLaunch Project	Launcher Blank Game
Project > Target Hardware > Optimize project settings for	“Unspecified”, “Unspecified”	“Desktop”, “Maximum”
Engine > Rendering > Global Illumination > Dynamic Global Illumination Method	“None”	“Lumen”*
Engine > Rendering > Shadows > Shadow Map Method	“Shadow Maps”	“VIrtual Shadow Maps (beta)”
Engine > Rendering > Default Settings > Extend default luminance range in Auto Exposure settings	disabled	enabled
Platforms > Windows > D3D12 Targeted Shader Formats > SM5	enabled	disabled
Platforms > Windows > D3D12 Targeted Shader Formats > SM6	disabled	enabled
Platforms > Windows Targeted RHIs > Default RHI	“Default”	“DirectX 12”

• *enabling Lumen automatically enables several settings that I’ve omitted from the above list because they match once lumen is enabled.

The QuickLauncher project ends up being a just barely lighter starting point then a default Launcher based project, but it’s pretty quick and easy to match those settings if needed.

Under the hood

At it’s core, QuickLaunch works by simply adding some registry hooks that launch a batch file which stubs in your basic project (or template) and launches Unreal.

I’ve written up a short document outlining the registry changes here.

Contributions

I’d love it if you’d contribute - or just reach out and say, “hi”! Here’s how:

• Please file an issue, or grab a fork, hack away, and create some pull requests.
• Contact me on LinkedIn
• You can also reach me on my discord server, I’m @cptvideo.

  Credits

  Copyright (c) (2023): Scott Kirvan - All rights reserved
  UE_QuickLaunch is licensed under the MIT License.

Project Link: UE_QuickLaunch
CHANGELOG
TODO