UDK requirements

Question

(Sorry my English is not good)

I've made a small game with UDK(Unreal Development Kit)Latest Release(December 2011 UDK Beta) and used frontend for package my game; When I install the game on the user's computer(user os is winxp sp3 32bit or windows 7 sp1 32bit without .net framework) Installer program can follow the steps below:

1. install .net framework 4 full
2. run UE3Redist.exe (this program install DirectX & Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable Package (x86-x64))
3. copy require files

(I tried not installing the .net framework 4; I gives error:

*
--------------------------
TestGame.exe - .NET Framework Initialization Error
---------------------------
To run this application, you first must install one of the following versions of
the .NET Framework: v4.0.30319 Contact your application publisher for instructions
about obtaining the appropriate version of the .NET Framework.
*

why

1. why .net framework is require?
2. If I want to build my custom setup for my game ,Do I need to install the .net framework 4?(i read UDK System Requirements)

Answer 1

I made a game with UDK, and after packed with FrontEnd and installed on other computer, it required things that you have mentioned. I installed all of the things needed and afterwords uninstalled .net 4, and my game worked just fine. I presume that .net is required for some system tasks within your game, like saving/loading game data such as checkpoint, scores and similar, which I didn't have in my game. This, of course my not be the case, I will inspect more, but since my game worked, I believe that .net is something that only UDK installer requires. Will try to pack with some other installers and see what happens.

Also, I made two games with UNITY, and it didn't require any external packages.

Regards.