Details
Lets get Unreal Engine 5 early access working and lets resolve some potential missing .NET library issues.
First be sure to download the Unreal Engine 5 early access from the Epic Games launcher under the UE5 tab. Once installed and running. We'll create a simple C++ First Person Shooter to ensure everything is working. We'll create an FPS with C++ and raytracing enabled and name our project ue5test.
If you are missing certain .NET libraries UE5 will help lead you to what you need.
They first library you may need is an updated .NET 5.0 Core runtime. Copy and paste and url given into your web browser.
https://aka.ms/dotnet-core-applaunch?missing_runtime=true&arch=x64&rid=win10-x64
Also be sure to verify you have the latest version of Visual Studio 2019. The community edition works with Unreal Engine and is free for everyone.
Select the latest version available and save it. Then lets get that installed. Once installed close out of UE5 and any other programs and restart Unreal Engine.
Again, we'll create the same sample ue5test project with C++. This time you may need the latest Microsoft NetCore App. Again copy the link provided and download the desktop app version suitable for your machine.
https://aka.ms/dotnet-core-applaunch?framework=Microsoft.NETCore.App&framework_version=3.1.0&arch=x64&rid=win10-x64
After downloading be sure to install the .NET library once installed we'll close down all running applications and relaunch UE5.
Once UE5 project browser is running again. Lets create our sample FPS project with C++ and name it ue5test.
Visual Studio should now be able to properly build the source code for the project and automatically launch both the Unreal Engine editor and the Visual Studio C++ code project.
Lets give our new project a quick play test to ensure everything is working properly. We can now also bring the windows side by side and dig into the C++ code for our new project.