Prepare your app in Unreal

Three things turn an Unreal project into something the platform can stream: the Pixel Streaming plugin, a Windows package, and a ZIP of the result. This page does all three.

Most of the elapsed time here is Unreal packaging, which runs unattended. The work you actually do takes a few minutes.

Before you begin

If you need a project to try with

Skip this if you already have one. Otherwise, in Unreal Editor create a new project, choose Third Person under Games, name it, and press Create. You get a working scene you can walk around in, which is all that is needed to see streaming work.

Choosing the Third Person template in the Unreal project browser
The Third Person template.
Naming the new Unreal project
Naming the project.

Enable Pixel Streaming

This is the plugin that lets Unreal send video and receive input over a network. Without it the packaged build runs perfectly well and cannot be streamed at all — so it is worth confirming rather than assuming.

  1. Open Edit › Plugins

    The Plugins entry in Unreal's Edit menu
    Edit › Plugins.
  2. Search for "pixel streaming" and tick it

    On UE 5.5 and later the list shows two: Pixel Streaming and Pixel Streaming 2. Either works on Eagle 3D Streaming; enable only one. Before 5.5 there is just Pixel Streaming. When you upload, the Control Panel checks the build for it and says PSX Plugin not detected if it is missing.

    Enabling the Pixel Streaming plugin in Unreal's plugin browser
    Ticking the Pixel Streaming plugin.
  3. Press Restart Now

    The plugin is not active until the editor restarts. Packaging before the restart produces a build without streaming in it, and nothing later will say why.

    Unreal prompting to restart after enabling a plugin
    Restart Now.

Package for Windows

  1. Go to Platforms › Windows › Package Project

    The Package Project option under Platforms, Windows
    Platforms › Windows.
  2. Choose an output folder

    Pick or create an empty folder. Unreal writes the whole build into it.

    Choosing the output folder for packaging
    Choosing where the package goes.
  3. Wait for packaging to finish

    Unreal shows that packaging has started, and tells you when it completes. How long depends on the size of your project and the speed of your machine; the first package of a project is much slower than later ones, because shaders are being compiled.

    Unreal reporting that packaging has completed
    Packaging complete.
You will know it worked when

The output folder contains a Windows folder holding your application's .exe alongside its data folders.

The packaged build's Windows folder, containing the executable
Inside the Windows folder.

Make the ZIP

  1. Select everything inside the Windows folder

    Selecting all files inside the packaged Windows folder
    Everything inside the Windows folder.
  2. Compress it to a ZIP

    Right-click the selection and choose Send to › Compressed (zipped) folder. ZIP is the only format the platform accepts.

    Creating a ZIP archive from the selected files
    Creating the ZIP.
You now have

A single ZIP file with your application's .exe at its top level. That is what you upload.

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