Failed to build RiderLink plugin for UE_5.5 Rider 2024.3.4

Hello, 

Thank you for contacting Rider support. That looks weird.

First, I suggest trying the following steps:

• Close Rider;
• Clear everything from the /Users⁩/⁨{User}/⁨Library/⁨Logs⁩/JetBrains/Rider2024.3 folder;
• Delete <EngineInstallPath>/Engine/Plugins/Marketplace/Developer/RiderLink;
• Delete <Game>/Plugins/Developer/RiderLink;
• Delete <Game>/: Saved/; Intermediate/; DerivedDataCache; Binaries/ folders;
• Launch Unreal Engine from Epic Games launcher and open your game project;
• From the opened Unreal Editor, select "Tools | Open Rider*";
• Check if the issue persists;

If something went wrong at this step, please let me know and share the details together with:

• Archive and share UBT logs: ~/Documents/Library/Application Support/Epic/UnrealBuildTool/;
• Screenshot that demonstrates the issue;

Then install RiderLink from File | Settings | Languages & Frameworks | Unreal Engine.

If you came to the same issue, I suggest ensuring you have MSVC 14.38 version installed (in VS installer), as UE5.5 requires that version.

Hope to hear from you soon. Have a nice day!

Hi there, thank you for your response! Yeah it wouldn't surprise me if cache is messed up somewhere. Ok, so I'm testing this on a blank UE 5.5 project now (created by c++). 

I cleared /Engine/Plugins/Marketplace/Developer/RiderLink, Plugins/Developer/RiderLink, Saved, Intermediate, DerivedDataCache, andBinaries. 

I was unable to clear /Users⁩/⁨{User}/⁨Library/⁨Logs⁩/JetBrains/Rider2024.3, because that path doesn't exist. I did manage to find C:\Users\{User}\AppData\Roaming\JetBrains\Rider2024.3, but there wasn't a logs or library folder. So I haven't done anything there.

I verified my MSVC install is valid, so I checked and it seemed right:

I also installed v14.38-17.8 every where it appeared. I know it's for different architectures, but I figured I might as well have them installed.

It reports I don't have MSVC set up:

I've tried every MSBuild version available, but none of them seem to make the error go away. Perhaps this is the underlying issue?

Hello,

Thank you for the details shared.

Please select the MSBuild that comes from Visual Studio (the one without “amd64” in its path). If that doesn't help, please show what Rider prints in Problems | Toolset, Environment after you select this MSBuild.

Apologies for the confusion made about the log folder. The proper one is %LOCALAPPDATA%\JetBrains\Rider{version}\log.

Have a nice day!

Additional note: 

Please check if setting “.NET CLI executable path” to *\UE_5.5\Engine\Binaries\ThirdParty\DotNet\8.0.300\win-x64\dotnet.exe helps.

Hi! Finally got it!

• I deleted the /log/ folder.
• I changed the paths to be the following:

• I regenerated the project files through right-clicking the .project
• I attempted to compile the code, but it gave a message in the log, “Expecting to find a type to be declared in a module rules named 'RD' in 'UE5Rules, Version=0.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null'.  This type must derive from the 'ModuleRules' type defined by UnrealBuildTool.”
• Using this, it specifically recommended to install RiderLink to Game, not Engine. (Settings > Languages & Frameworks > Unreal Engine > Install RiderLink in Game) And this time, the install worked! RiderLink installed, and I was able to enter 5.5 :)

Thank you!!

it seems .Net 9 is the default install now. As thats what shows up in Program Files/dotnet … we can install the .Net 8 SDK and such but Rider is default finding the 9 to do things with.  I installed .Net 8 manually as well as via the Visual Studio Installer but Im not sure where those are hiding… can you help? im having similar issue to above.

Running AutomationTool...
Using bundled DotNet SDK version: 8.0.300
Starting AutomationTool...
Parsing command line: BuildPlugin -Unversioned -Plugin=C:\Users\tobikoPC\AppData\Local\Temp\UnrealLink\Terajah\RiderLink.uplugin -Package=C:\Users\tobikoPC\AppData\Local\Temp\UnrealLink\Xogaxad
Initializing script modules...
Total script module initialization time: 0.09 s.
Using C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Community\MSBuild\Current\Bin\MSBuild.exe
Executing commands...
Copying 414 file(s) using max 64 thread(s)
Reading plugin from C:\Users\tobikoPC\AppData\Local\Temp\UnrealLink\Xogaxad\HostProject\Plugins\RiderLink\RiderLink.uplugin...
Building plugin for host platforms: Win64
Running: C:\Program Files\Epic Games\UE_5.5\Engine\Binaries\ThirdParty\DotNet\8.0.300\win-x64\dotnet.exe "C:\Program Files\Epic Games\UE_5.5\Engine\Binaries\DotNET\UnrealBuildTool\UnrealBuildTool.dll" UnrealEditor Win64 Development -Project="C:\Users\tobikoPC\AppData\Local\Temp\UnrealLink\Xogaxad\HostProject\HostProject.uproject" -plugin="C:\Users\tobikoPC\AppData\Local\Temp\UnrealLink\Xogaxad\HostProject\Plugins\RiderLink\RiderLink.uplugin" -noubtmakefiles -manifest="C:\Users\tobikoPC\AppData\Local\Temp\UnrealLink\Xogaxad\HostProject\Saved\Manifest-UnrealEditor-Win64-Development.xml" -nohotreload -log="C:\Users\tobikoPC\AppData\Roaming\Unreal Engine\AutomationTool\Logs\C+Program+Files+Epic+Games+UE_5.5\UBA-UnrealEditor-Win64-Development.txt"
Log file: C:\Users\tobikoPC\AppData\Roaming\Unreal Engine\AutomationTool\Logs\C+Program+Files+Epic+Games+UE_5.5\UBA-UnrealEditor-Win64-Development.txt
Total execution time: 2.48 seconds
Unhandled exception: ArgumentNullException: Value cannot be null. (Parameter 'element')
  at System.ArgumentNullException.Throw(String paramName)
  at System.Attribute.GetCustomAttributes(MemberInfo element, Type attributeType, Boolean inherit)
  at System.Reflection.CustomAttributeExtensions.GetCustomAttributes[T](MemberInfo element)
  at UnrealBuildTool.ModuleRules.IsValidForTarget(Type moduleType, ReadOnlyTargetRules targetRules, String& invalidReason) in C:\Program Files\Epic Games\UE_5.5\Engine\Source\Programs\UnrealBuildTool\Configuration\ModuleRules.cs:line 1680
  at UnrealBuildTool.UEBuildTarget.AddAllValidModulesToTarget(ILogger Logger) in C:\Program Files\Epic Games\UE_5.5\Engine\Source\Programs\UnrealBuildTool\Configuration\UEBuildTarget.cs:line 4266
  at UnrealBuildTool.UEBuildTarget.PreBuildSetup(ILogger Logger) in C:\Program Files\Epic Games\UE_5.5\Engine\Source\Programs\UnrealBuildTool\Configuration\UEBuildTarget.cs:line 3720
  at UnrealBuildTool.UEBuildTarget.Create(TargetDescriptor Descriptor, Boolean bSkipRulesCompile, Boolean bForceRulesCompile, Boolean bUsePrecompiled, UnrealIntermediateEnvironment IntermediateEnvironment, ILogger Logger) in C:\Program Files\Epic Games\UE_5.5\Engine\Source\Programs\UnrealBuildTool\Configuration\UEBuildTarget.cs:line 1390
  at UnrealBuildTool.UEBuildTarget.Create(TargetDescriptor Descriptor, BuildConfiguration BuildConfiguration, ILogger Logger) in C:\Program Files\Epic Games\UE_5.5\Engine\Source\Programs\UnrealBuildTool\Configuration\UEBuildTarget.cs:line 1220
  at UnrealBuildTool.BuildMode.CreateMakefileAsync(BuildConfiguration BuildConfiguration, TargetDescriptor TargetDescriptor, ISourceFileWorkingSet WorkingSet, ILogger Logger) in C:\Program Files\Epic Games\UE_5.5\Engine\Source\Programs\UnrealBuildTool\Modes\BuildMode.cs:line 1144
  at UnrealBuildTool.BuildMode.BuildAsync(List`1 TargetDescriptors, BuildConfiguration BuildConfiguration, ISourceFileWorkingSet WorkingSet, BuildOptions Options, FileReference WriteOutdatedActionsFile, ILogger Logger, Boolean bSkipPreBuildTargets, String ActionTypeFilter) in C:\Program Files\Epic Games\UE_5.5\Engine\Source\Programs\UnrealBuildTool\Modes\BuildMode.cs:line 402
  at UnrealBuildTool.BuildMode.ExecuteAsync(CommandLineArguments Arguments, ILogger Logger) in C:\Program Files\Epic Games\UE_5.5\Engine\Source\Programs\UnrealBuildTool\Modes\BuildMode.cs:line 257
  at UnrealBuildTool.UnrealBuildTool.Main(String[] ArgumentsArray) in C:\Program Files\Epic Games\UE_5.5\Engine\Source\Programs\UnrealBuildTool\UnrealBuildTool.cs:line 687
Took 2.56s to run dotnet.exe, ExitCode=6
UnrealBuildTool failed. See log for more details. (C:\Users\tobikoPC\AppData\Roaming\Unreal Engine\AutomationTool\Logs\C+Program+Files+Epic+Games+UE_5.5\UBA-UnrealEditor-Win64-Development.txt)
AutomationTool executed for 0h 0m 10s
AutomationTool exiting with ExitCode=6 (6)
BUILD FAILED
Failed to build RiderLink plugin for C:\Program Files\Epic Games\UE_5.5
Failed to build RiderLink plugin

this page and the guy that posted his fix - fixed it for me… maybe someone from jetbrains can look please?

[UBT Bug] No longer able to compile plugins in standalone since 5.3 - Development / Pipeline & Plugins - Epic Developer Community Forums

Hello Tj,

Thank you for sharing the details. I am glad to hear a workaround was found! 
This is a known issue: 

• RIDER-100275 Exception while generating include data for Target:UnrealEditor, Platform: Win64, Configuration: Development [System.ArgumentNullException: Value cannot be null. (Parameter 'element')],
• https://github.com/JetBrains/UnrealLink/issues/270 .

Unfortunately, yet there is no clarity what causes this issue, we still couldn't reproduce the issue by ourselves. I shared the details from the thread you mentioned with development team. Should we have any news, we will share an update.

Have a nice day!

Thanks Dmitry ! yea i see they are hopefully looking at it.. I think someone from Jetbrains can call Unreal and get them to look too.. seems like a simple fix from what the work around poster explained to us all to try… I hope someone can make the actual fix since its been a year. I dont like having some self done patch on the UBT.dll just to make Rider work… 

I found a fix for this error 6…
So apparently people (including me) install the visualstudiotools plugin that visual studio offers when it loads the unreal project for the first time and if you install that plugin, you will always get the error 6. I don't know if combination of https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/ubt-bug-no-longer-able-to-compile-plugins-in-standalone-since-5-3/1318659/11?u=envartistrupesh plus what I did (removing the visualstudiotools plugin) fixed it but basically I uninstalled the plugin, built my engine (through jetbrains) and TADA! It installed the rider plugin no problem!

I hope this helps :)

The reason for the failed build of RiderLink. The environment is UE5.4.4. I directly replaced the RiderLink.zip in the path C:\Program Files\JetBrains\JetBrains Rider 2025.1.4\plugins\UnrealLink\EditorPlugin with an older version. Here is the download link for the older version: https://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/14989-unreallink. Then, I manually installed it in the Rider settings.

Hello Daasa,

Thank you for sharing your experience. Do I understand correct, you encountered a similar issue (RiderLink doesn't compile with error Unhandled exception: ArgumentNullException: Value cannot be null. (Parameter 'element') and fixed the issue in the way you described?

The proven to work solutions are:

• First solution: remove the VisualStudioTools plugin from the Engine;
• Second: Move the VisualStudioTools plugin to <ENGINE>/Plugins/Marketplace if you wish the plugins to work together;
• Third: workaround for the Epic Games forum;

Hope you are not affected by this issue anymore. Should you need any assistance, please tell me.

You can monitor the issue on its page: RIDER-100275 Exception while generating include data for Target:UnrealEditor, Platform: Win64, Configuration: Development [System.ArgumentNullException: Value cannot be null. (Parameter 'element')]

Have a nice day!