[Mac] [Unreal Engine] Solution broken with error "Failed to open descriptor file..."

Hi Dmitry,

Thanks. I've tried those steps, but unfortunately get a cannot compile issue on 2) when trying to launch project via Unreal Editor: “Exorcism could not be compiled. Try rebuilding from source manually.”. 

Hello Tommy,

It is weird that a project doesn't open even outside Rider. I could mean that the issue doesn't relate to Rider.

I suggest trying the following options:

1. Delete those intermediate folders again, and copy the resulting project folder to a different path, for example `/Users/tkid/ExorcismTest1`;
2. Clone project from GitHub into different path (for example, `/Users/tkid/ExorcismTest2`) again and check, would it open. 
3. If non of above helped, looking through your recent commits might give a clue;
4. Check if you recently enabled some plugins. It might be there are plugins that are supported on Windows platform only.

By chance, is your project open source or can I get access to it (my GitHub is “dkjb634”)? I can try to reproduce the issue and take a deeper look. Also, you could archive the project folder and share the archive.

If sharing access to a project not possible, would you mind sharing your .uproject file together with full ubt log? (Log should be under this path: <YourUnrealProject>/Saved/Logs/UBT.log

Additionally, please tell me, isn't issue occur after retargetting project to new UE version?

Note: to share files, please upload it to JetBrains Upload Service (https://uploads.jetbrains.com/) and let me know the Upload ID.

Have a nice day!

Ah, I made a dumb mistake. I looked through my commits and realized I updated the Rider uplugin version on Windows and this is what broke it for mac. I reverted the version change.

Thank you for your help Dmitry! As a follow up is there a recommended .gitignore setup? I'm realizing that maybe I should be generally not syncing the Rider.uplugin file across my PC/Macbook.

Hello Tom,

Do you mean RiderLink.uplugin file? Would you mind sharing exact commit that led to this issue? Did you update Rider on Windows machine before the issue occur?

I recommend excluding RiderLink plugin from VCS.  It is only intended to Rider, but a user who pulled a project from another IDE will not get any benefit, while the plugin will be loaded. Also, RiderLink plugin can always be installed right from Rider.

Sample .gitignore for Unreal Engine project can be found in internet. For example, you can use this one.

Have a nice day!

#################################
# Unreal Engine Generated Files #
#################################
/[Bb]uild
/[Bb]uilds
/Binaries
/DerivedDataCache
/Intermediate
/Saved

#################################
# Visual Studio Generated Files #
#################################
# Cache Directory
.vs

#################################
#            Rider              #
#################################
# IDE files
.idea
# RiderLink plugin
**/RiderLink

# User Specific Files
*.rsuser
*.suo
*.user
*.userosscache
*.sln.docstates
# CPP Cache Files
*.VC.db
*.opendb
*.opensdf
*.sdf
# Solution Files
*.sln
# VSCode Cache Directory
.vscode
# VSCode History Files
**/.history

#################################
# Miscellaneous Generated Files #
#################################
# ADD AS NEED BE

This seems to be happening again and I have no idea why. I noticed that when deleting the uplugin file, Rider now generates the uplugin file in the engine directory instead of the project file, ie: /Users/Shared/Epic Games/UE_5.4/Engine/Plugins/Marketplace/Developer/RiderLink. 

I uploaded my old uplugin file, and the new one and the bad commit, but now I'm not sure the commit is the issue because this is happening again even after deleting the RiderLink/ directory and regenerating it. 

Upload id: 2024_07_08_mSvsiXzS7qkrXj522Wg1Jg (files: RiderLinkOld.uplugin and 2 more)

Also here is my uproject file if that helps: Upload id: 2024_07_08_cKcqWNoUno1KhqZbkxKwTQ (file: Exorcism.uproject)

A couple other things I tried

1) Re-installing Rider.

2) In Settings > Language and Framework > Unreal Engine, changing rider link installation location to be at project level instead of engine level.  

Hello Tommy,

I am sorry to know that the issue reoccur. Thank you for the details shared.

Would you mind following these steps?

• Ensure Rider version is same across your Windows and Mac machines. You can check the version via (Help | About, or JetBrains Rider (next to the Apple menu in the top-left corner of screen) | About JetBrains Rider ). If versions are different, align it by updating the older version;
• Ensure RiderLink is excluded from your VCS:
  • Ensure <UEInstallPath>/Engine/Plugins/Marketplace/Developer/RiderLink is not under VCS control;
  • Ensure <Game>/Plugins/Developer/RiderLink s not under VCS controlt;
• Close Rider and delete <UEInstallPath>/Engine/Plugins/Marketplace/Developer/RiderLink and <Game>/Plugins/Developer/RiderLink;
• Verify the project opens in Unreal Editor;
• Open project in Rider and install RiderLink (Settings | Languages & Frameworks | Unreal Engine);

Meanwhile, I would appreciate if you could tell me additional details about the case as I still can't reproduce it:

• Am I right assuming you have only game project commited to VCS? (don't you commit the whole engine?);
• Do you commit these folders? (/Binaries, /DerivedDataCache, /Intermediate, /Saved);
• The scenario when the issue occurs:
  • What Rider versions do you have at the moment of issue occurance;
  • What steps do you follow. Is it “Commit on Windows”→"Pull on Mac"=>issue occur or am I missing something?
  • Issue only affects Mac, right? When you can't build project on Mac, you have no issue on Windows, do you?

Thank you in advance and have a nice day!

Hi Dmitry,

1) I'm away from my Desktop right now but I'm sure there is some version difference. I think this should not be an issue with RiderLink not in VCS though?

2) Yes, RiderLink is definitely not excluded from VCS now. Here is my gitignore to confirm: Upload id: 2024_07_10_YQnD7RZW4ybnuaKFVW7v6z (file: .gitignore). 

3) I've re-deleted from both Engine..RiderLink/ and Project…RiderLink/ again to make sure both are deleted, and manually reinstalled them from “Settings & Frameworks > Unreal Engine”. 

4) Yes, I have only committed the project, not the engine. My engine version is 5.4.1. 

5) No, /Binaries, /DerivedDataCache, /Intermediate, /Saved are excluded. 

6) Rider version is 2024.1.4

7) I commit and pull both ways, from both my Windows Desktop and Mac. It depends on whether I am working on my project from home or away, but I actively develop on both machines. 

8) Yes, the issue only occurs on Mac. 

I realized something though – from poking around I realized my build configuration at some point was switched to to the “Game” target instead of “Editor”. I've always left this on Editor but it must have gotten switched back at some point.  Switching this back to Editor removes the error I'm having – it only occurs for the “game” target. On Windows I can pick the “Game” target and not have this issue, so I've realized now this is a Mac-only game target only issue. 

After discovering this, I think this is now longer a serious issue for me because I am only really needing to launch the Unreal Editor at this point and don't really care about running the game binary. I think when I need this down the line the Unreal Editor provides the functionality outside of Rider to package the game into a binary. I'm still happy to provide more details if you'd like them but I'm fine with calling this resolved from my end since I don't need to use the “game” build config.  

Hi Dmitry – yes after packaging the game then running the Game target from Rider works!