As the title says, just purchased the indie license recently hoping to use my own tools inside UE4. But UE4 gives me this error whenever I try to load a .hdalc in the editor

Houdini License issue - (Cornice_Sweeper_2) : (Finished Instantiation with Errors: HAPI Error: Limited commercial (Indie) assets not allowed with commercial licenses.)

It seems UE4 is using a commercial license and does not pick up the indie license, I've tried to remove licenses from the license administrator but no success on it. Tried reinstalling Houdini and no success. The only thing that seems to be working is uusing 'Houdini Session Sync' but I don't think this is the way to go. I believe UE4 is not using Houdini Engine Indie.

Hi CGToast,

Are you by chance using Houdini Engine For Unreal/Unity along with Houdini Engine? There is a known bug when both of these license types are installed. We are currently working on a fix for this issue.

Cheers,

I had the same problem and just fixed it. For me it was using the "Houdini Engine for Unity/Unreal" instead of the "Houdini Engine Indie" license.
I checked my licenses on the website: https://www.sidefx.com/services/licenses/ [www.sidefx.com] and saw that this was the case.
I ran License Administrator on my machine and went to File/ Install Licenses...
Then I set the quantity for "Houdini Engine Indie" to 1 and hit install.
I don't know if it will make a difference but I then returned the "Houdini Engine for Unity/Unreal" license because I don't need it and I was worried about a compatibility issue between the two licenses for houdini engine being active. This is the problem mattw mentioned.
I restarted Unreal and it seems to have been fixed.

Hi I have the same issue.

Houdini License issue - (A1_2) : (Finished Instantiation with Errors: HAPI Error: Limited commercial (Indie) assets not allowed with commercial licenses.).

I purchased Houdini Indie Licence, Installed all the licences.
Plugin Works for all but HDALC assets.
I still have Houdini Engine for Unreal/Unity installed.

Do I have to return any licence?

If you have indie you can run the Houdini Engine with those assets with the Houdini Indie license. You need to remove the Houdini Engine for Unity/Unreal because that is for commercial pipelines.

If you want to set up a second computer to use your digital assets, you can use the FREE Houdini Engine Indie to handle .hiplc files.

rmagee
You need to remove the Houdini Engine for Unity/Unreal because that is for commercial pipelines.

Er - these licenses are not returnable using the sidefx server, and I've zipped the keys from C:\Windows\keys as a precaution.

Fast forward to 2025, and I am having the same problem. Unreal will only acquire a license for "Houdini Engine for Unity/Unreal" and cannot see the "Houdini Engine Indie" license I so desperately need it to use with .hdalc assets.

I have seen commenters saying that they have only managed this workflow with Unreal Engine 5.0, which is before the Houdini Engine for Unity/Unreal plugin was released, I think? In any case this would require me to downgrade Houdini to a version which has a Houdini Engine with plugins for UE 5.0

I have Unreal 5.5.2 and Houdini (Indie) 20.5.550.0

All I need is to get my Indie .hdalc assets into UE - so how can I force Houdini Engine in UE to acquire the Houdini Indie license?

Hi, I'm getting the same issue and have tried removing the Houdini Engine from the manager menu.
I get the message:
Houdini Licence issue:
Finished Instantiation with Errors: HAPI Error: Limited commercial (Indie) assets not allowed with commercial licences.

I'm on Houdini 20.5.487 and using Unreal 5.5, so I'm wondering if it's an issue with the unreal version above 5.3. Although I thought Houdini Engine is still available for Indie users.

Is there a way to check what's causing this issue?

mitchellsaunders
Hi, I'm getting the same issue and have tried removing the Houdini Engine from the manager menu.

This isn't something you can change in Unreal - you need to go to the Houdini License Administrator - If you have Houdini Engine for Unreal/Unity installed then that is causing the conflict. You need to get rid of that license. Install your Indie license locally and don't use the Login Licensing which will bring back the Houdini Engine for Unity/Unreal license.

That worked, thank you!