unreal engine development using vscode without vs2019, 2017 - visual-studio-code

Question

I'm wondering if I can make a C++ project in unreal engine without visual studio 2019, 2017 etc.
Currently I just use vscode. Is it necessary to install visual studio?

Answer 1

You can use visual studio code but you would need some compiler to compile your C++ project. For that the MSVC compiler that visual studio supports is often used. You can download the MSVC compiler and use visual studio code with it. when you create your project with visual studio code will generate a .vscode folder. In this folder you will have a
task.json [ for generating the build scripts you need to compile your program and create the exe files]
Launch.json [ for debugging your C++ classes]
Properties.json [ for finding the MSVC compiler ]
Unreal engine has a button in the editor that will compile your code. This equivalent to running
cd " Where you have your engine installed"
"Engine\\Build\\BatchFiles\\Build.bat" YourProjectNameEditor Win64 Development "C:\ThePathToYourProject\YourProjectName.uproject" -waitmutex
Visual studio provides other build task such as a DebugBuildGame and ShippingBuild
Visual studio code also provides these build task through task.json file, but it does not work out of the box
I ended up making a video about this and timestamped important events
https://youtu.be/fydvKedIxKk
You want to consider fixing the task.json if your want to run any build other than the editor one.