Can I use UnrealEngine with C++ on Mac without Xcode

Question

I am new to Unreal Engine as well as game development. I am using mac (since this laptop is not my personal usage, I have a limitation of using any application on AppStore) and can't install Xcode.

I'm interested in building Unreal, but whenever I open a .uproject, I got this error that says

SomeGame could not be compiled. Try rebuilding from source manually.

I also tried create a new project inside Unreal with C++ and got this error messages

An error occurred while trying to generate project files.
Running Mono...

Found mono via known Mono.framework path
Running installed mono, version:  Mono JIT compiler version 6.8.0.123 (2019-10/1d0d939dc30 Thu Mar 12 23:19:08 EDT 2020)
/Users/Shared/Epic Games/UE_4.22/Engine /Users/Shared/Epic Games/UE_4.22/Engine/Binaries/Mac
Discovering modules, targets and source code for project...
Triggered an exception while looking for SDK directory in Xcode.app
System.IO.DirectoryNotFoundException: Could not find a part of the path '/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs'.
  at System.IO.Enumeration.FileSystemEnumerator`1[TResult].CreateDirectoryHandle (System.String path, System.Boolean ignoreNotFound) [0x00032] in <f9d1b832704f410aa8ec771f4fe80552>:0 
  at System.IO.Enumeration.FileSystemEnumerator`1[TResult]..ctor (System.String directory, System.IO.EnumerationOptions options) [0x00048] in <f9d1b832704f410aa8ec771f4fe80552>:0 
  at System.IO.Enumeration.FileSystemEnumerable`1+DelegateEnumerator[TResult]..ctor (System.IO.Enumeration.FileSystemEnumerable`1[TResult] enumerable) [0x00000] in <f9d1b832704f410aa8ec771f4fe80552>:0 
  at System.IO.Enumeration.FileSystemEnumerable`1[TResult]..ctor (System.String directory, System.IO.Enumeration.FileSystemEnumerable`1+FindTransform[TResult] transform, System.IO.EnumerationOptions options) [0x00042] in <f9d1b832704f410aa8ec771f4fe80552>:0 
  at System.IO.Enumeration.FileSystemEnumerableFactory.UserDirectories (System.String directory, System.String expression, System.IO.EnumerationOptions options) [0x00014] in <f9d1b832704f410aa8ec771f4fe80552>:0 
  at System.IO.Directory.InternalEnumeratePaths (System.String path, System.String searchPattern, System.IO.SearchTarget searchTarget, System.IO.EnumerationOptions options) [0x00045] in <f9d1b832704f410aa8ec771f4fe80552>:0 
  at System.IO.Directory.GetDirectories (System.String path, System.String searchPattern, System.IO.EnumerationOptions enumerationOptions) [0x00000] in <f9d1b832704f410aa8ec771f4fe80552>:0 
  at System.IO.Directory.GetDirectories (System.String path) [0x0000b] in <f9d1b832704f410aa8ec771f4fe80552>:0 
  at UnrealBuildTool.AppleToolChainSettings.SelectSDK (System.String BaseSDKDir, System.String OSPrefix, System.String& PlatformSDKVersion, System.Boolean bVerbose) [0x00018] in <82101b97204c4edeb4347f6c33d7ef62>:0
ERROR: Invalid SDK MacOSX.sdk, not found in /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs

I already install CLion as well as Visual Code with running g++/gcc on my terminal. I also install Mono https://www.mono-project.com/. I also tried installing Command Line Tools from https://developer.apple.com/download/more/

Nothing works out for me, now I'm start to doubt that I can do any Unreal development without Xcode, is it true? And if not, can someone help me how to do it?

Thanks.

Answer 1

Building from source requires Visual Studio (on Win) or XCode (on MacOS), there's no practical way around it. UE is a huge piece of software. I presume it's technically possible to recreate the entire project in another IDE and build it successfully, but in practice - definitely not possible. Swap your dev machine for something you can use, development of any kind requires admin access and being able to install all sorts of stuff.

edit: here's a guide for setting it up with VS Code https://medium.com/techiepedia/setting-up-unreal-engine-m1-macbook-for-c-game-development-eb40c12237d1

Probably doesn't solve your particular problem (still need to install VS code etc.), here for reference.