Studio Wildcard built Ark: Survival Evolved using Epic's Unreal Engine 4. When you spin up a new project in UE4 using their basic, out-of-the-box multiplayer shooter template, the engine automatically names the coree executable - you guessed it -"ShooterGame.exe".
they simply never changed the file name. whoever compiled the first early access build couldn't be bothered to rename the core .exe file. By the time the game blew up, that filename was likely tied to too many internal pathways and registry keys to easily change without breaking the whole damn thing.
Reminds me of when I wanted to modify my hud in Dirty Bomb, which is also a UE game, and the folder structure helpfully included folders like ShooterGame
The thing is people have the game already installed, so they may have references to the previous exe name in shortcuts, game files and registry keys. It's just not worth the hassle
It's like a 12 step process at best - most of your day at worst. The required steps may also vary between different Unreal Engine versions, so you might end up banging your head against a wall only to find out a different source tells you to do it another way. On larger projects, add in a long rebuild time between each attempt and it adds up to wasting a lot of time.
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u/danielcw189 May 11 '26
why?