Embedded Files
Redirecting
Despite being a game engine just as Unity is, Unreal Engine decided to ger access to files through a file path rather than a unique ID like Unity does. They aren't alone in this as Maya and Blender do the same, but it can be tricky when it comes to making the projects in all 3 softwares work. This is because when you move one of the files the software loses track of how to get them, meaning that they all becoming missing assets to the engine.
Moving a file in Unreal Engine itself means that the path can be redirected, but using file explorer to do so will not make the same redirect path available to the software, meaning a complete loss of location.
By right clicking the folder you want to fix the redirectors for in Unreal Engine, you can literally just click the button "Fix Up Redirectors". This just means that the remade paths for moved files that have been created by Unreal Engine will be set as the actual file paths for the folders, making the save more stable and fixing potential future issues when it comes to finding the files it needs.
Using one of the below softwares can create an amazing safety net for Unreal projects such as the project I'll be working on -
Anchorpoint
Perforce
Plastic SCM
Git
These softwares can be used in a way where you can always revert back to a previous version of the project where everything is working still, this stops you from losing a lot of progress on a broken save that you can't seem to find the fix for, stopping any time delays when it comes to production.
Another way to avoid issues in development with Unreal Engine is to not move folders and instead move the files inside as moving folders can create big overheads. The better way to change the location of a folder full of files is by making a new folder where you can move all of the files from the previous folder, change the redirect path and delete the old folder. This will hopefully allow me to change the locations of assets whenever I need to.
Reorganisation
Reorganising projects is best achieved by moving small files from their original places to the new place in small steps. These can then have their redirect path fixed and you can move onto more files to do the same with. This is much better than doing the reorganisation in one huge steps as it stops any issues from affecting the entirety of the project and instead ansures a system is in place where you notice any redirect issues after redirecting the first few files.
Another key part of reorganising is making sure that you don't rename an asset and make another asset in the same folder with the same name as the newly names asset used to have. This can cause an issue as Unreal Engine struggles to understand how there is a file with the same path as another file but both has different names. The best way to avoid this sort of thing causing issues is by just changing the file path of the file with the name change so that Unreal understands the name has been changed before making the asset with the new name.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the main thing to remember about the organisation of file in Unreal Engine 5 is to remember to change the file path whenever you move any files at all. This helps to avoid issues with Unreal engine actually finding the project files and in turn leads to less time spent on trivial actions such as fixing the afore mentioned search issues. For my project I'll try to ensure that anything I move is redirected as well as making sure anything I make is backed up to some sort of software such as GIT or Anchorpoint. By doing these two fairly simple things, I'm sure that I can save plenty of development time and avoid plenty of issues in the games development, keeping my stress down and more importantly keeping the project running smoothly as it can.
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