# ... but it was never saved as an export **URL:** \ **Category:** Debugging, Optimization, & Profiling\ **Tags:** Cooking, UE4-21, unreal-engine, question\ **Created:** [March 20, 2019, 8:17am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/but-it-was-never-saved-as-an-export/445626 "2019-03-20T08:17:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![anonymous\_user\_b3437a7a1](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@anonymous\_user\_b3437a7a1](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/anonymous_user_b3437a7a1)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2019, 8:17am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/but-it-was-never-saved-as-an-export/445626/1 "2019-03-20T08:17:39Z")
So I’ve recently upgraded from 4.18 to 4.21, and now my cook step consistely says literally every single assent was not saved as an export, for example: ``` LogInit: Display: LogSavePackage: Warning: /Game/Developers//GunTagDev/GunTag_Test imported Serialize:/Game/_GAMEPLAY/GENERIC/GunTag/GunTag_TeamPedastal_BP.GunTag_TeamPedastal_BP_C:Box_GEN_VARIABLE, but it was never saved as an export. ``` This of course results in 100k warnings in the cook and is effectively making it impossible to find “real” cook warnings. What does this message mean, and how can I get rid of it? ---
**Author:** ![anonymous\_user\_b3437a7a1](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@anonymous\_user\_b3437a7a1](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/anonymous_user_b3437a7a1)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2019, 12:01am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/but-it-was-never-saved-as-an-export/445626/2 "2019-03-21T00:01:12Z")
I will note that no, opening the asset in question (i.e. `GunTag_TeamPedastal_BP` in this case) and saving it again does _not_ fix the warning. Ugh. ---
**Author:** ![Shy\_Snake\_Games](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@Shy\_Snake\_Games](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/Shy_Snake_Games)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2019, 6:24pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/but-it-was-never-saved-as-an-export/445626/3 "2019-09-16T18:24:09Z")
Were you ever able to find a solution? ---
**Author:** ![anonymous\_user\_b3437a7a1](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@anonymous\_user\_b3437a7a1](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/anonymous_user_b3437a7a1)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2019, 10:39pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/but-it-was-never-saved-as-an-export/445626/4 "2019-09-17T22:39:10Z")
Sadly no. Effectively, I just have to ignore the results of a clean cook. Doing iterative may sometimes reduce the count of warnings, but if I resave anything it comes back until the next iterative cook. :shrug: ---
**Author:** ![Shy\_Snake\_Games](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@Shy\_Snake\_Games](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/Shy_Snake_Games)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2019, 11:28pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/but-it-was-never-saved-as-an-export/445626/5 "2019-09-19T23:28:35Z")
Thanks for your reply. If we figure something out on our end, I’ll update this thread. ---
**Author:** ![xRENEGATx](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@xRENEGATx](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/xRENEGATx)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2019, 9:42pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/but-it-was-never-saved-as-an-export/445626/6 "2019-09-26T21:42:27Z")
Check your black list for package. Maybe you forbade some folders for package. ---
**Author:** ![unit23](https://d1ap1mz92jnks1.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.unrealengine.com/unit23/32/1146013_2.png) [@unit23](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/unit23)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2020, 2:04pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/but-it-was-never-saved-as-an-export/445626/7 "2020-05-07T14:04:41Z")
4.24.3, having this for a few assets, including maps. ``` UATHelper: Packaging (Windows (64-bit)): LogSavePackage: Warning: /Game/Run/Components/Spawn_System/Blueprints/Character/BP_Respawn_Point imported Serialize:/Engine/EditorMaterials/TargetIconSpawn, but it was never saved as an export. PackagingResults: Warning: /Game/Run/Components/Spawn_System/Blueprints/Character/BP_Respawn_Point imported Serialize:/Engine/EditorMaterials/TargetIconSpawn, but it was never saved as an export. ``` ---
**Author:** ![ATrustedDoctor](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@ATrustedDoctor](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/ATrustedDoctor)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2021, 10:41pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/but-it-was-never-saved-as-an-export/445626/8 "2021-06-30T22:41:52Z")
Old post but pujtting this here incase someone needs in, ![342885-xshtcie.png](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/6/f/8/6f895b9fcfc8e890a624967b1e04d82c3943cc1c.png) Turn This Of inside Project settings ---
**Author:** ![VIPER\_137](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@VIPER\_137](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/VIPER_137)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2021, 2:56am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/but-it-was-never-saved-as-an-export/445626/9 "2021-08-19T02:56:47Z")
Thanks, that fixed it for me, good thinking ---
**Author:** ![lehuan5062](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@lehuan5062](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/lehuan5062)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2022, 2:10pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/but-it-was-never-saved-as-an-export/445626/10 "2022-02-04T14:10:08Z")
Oh no, page doesn’t exist. Can you post the solution again please? ---
**Author:** ![Oatssss](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@Oatssss](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/Oatssss)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2022, 4:19pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/but-it-was-never-saved-as-an-export/445626/11 "2022-02-10T16:19:05Z")
Just hit this too, please repost solution! ---
**Author:** ![lehuan5062](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@lehuan5062](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/lehuan5062)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2022, 1:02am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/but-it-was-never-saved-as-an-export/445626/12 "2022-02-11T01:02:45Z")
I think I unchecked the “exclude editor content” in project launcher and project settings and it worked. ---
**Author:** ![YogevNa](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@YogevNa](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/YogevNa)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2022, 12:00am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/but-it-was-never-saved-as-an-export/445626/13 "2022-12-02T00:00:14Z")
This worked for me > [lehuan5062](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/lehuan5062) > I think I unchecked the “exclude editor content” in project launcher and project settings and it worked. ---
**Author:** ![morbal](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@morbal](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/morbal)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2023, 8:57pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/but-it-was-never-saved-as-an-export/445626/14 "2023-05-26T20:57:56Z")
sorry for necroing a question from 4 years ago but let this be here for anyone who might come across this in future in my case the warning was made by assets which had a really long file path. reducing file path ( either by reducing number of character in their name or moving them higher in folder hierarchy) solved the problem ---
**Author:** ![coasterinc](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@coasterinc](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/coasterinc)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2023, 6:09pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/but-it-was-never-saved-as-an-export/445626/15 "2023-08-15T18:09:11Z")
I was also having this issue, came across this thread hoping to find an answer but for me, i worked out that i was referencing a texture in a folder that i had told not the be cooked or looked in… so i just made a copy of the texture some where else and fixed the references and that fixed it for me… ---
**Author:** ![Roblesliemedia](https://d1ap1mz92jnks1.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.unrealengine.com/roblesliemedia/32/587970_2.png) [@Roblesliemedia](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/Roblesliemedia)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2024, 5:04pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/but-it-was-never-saved-as-an-export/445626/16 "2024-02-19T17:04:31Z")
> [@lehuan5062](#): > > I think I unchecked the “exclude editor content” in project launcher and project settings and it worked. Thank you. I needed this. ---
**Author:** ![Sketchman](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@Sketchman](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/Sketchman)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2024, 11:25pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/but-it-was-never-saved-as-an-export/445626/17 "2024-12-16T23:25:04Z")
Hoping someone can help me out. I’ve butted my head against this problem several times, and it never seems to work. I’ve tried recompiling/saving, and we already exclude editor content and the like. Hundreds to thousands of lines along the lines of ```auto [14:34:03] : [Step 4/7] LogSavePackage: Warning: /Game/Maps/ZM_Village imported Serialize:/Game/Models/ZM/Village/VillageBuilding1B.VillageBuilding1B, but it was never saved as an export. ``` I’d be surprised if it was the path length as that doesn’t seem that long, maybe 100 characters. Surely there’s some reason as to why this is happening? I think I even tried scouring some objects for circular dependencies, but that didn’t seem to affect it. ---
**Author:** ![Sketchman](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@Sketchman](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/Sketchman)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2024, 11:29pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/but-it-was-never-saved-as-an-export/445626/18 "2024-12-16T23:29:37Z")
As an aside, I’ve tried peeking around the engine files, the error is emitted in ```auto CoreUObject/Private/UObject/SavePackage.cpp" ``` And while it’s clear why the error is triggered, tracking down how the build system got to that state seems like a nightmare. Hoping someone with more familiarity with the build tools sees this. ---
**Author:** ![lehuan5062](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@lehuan5062](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/lehuan5062)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2024, 10:26am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/but-it-was-never-saved-as-an-export/445626/19 "2024-12-17T10:26:11Z")
Let’s check the actor called `VillageBuilding1B` in the `ZM_Village` level. ---
**Author:** ![Sketchman](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@Sketchman](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/Sketchman)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2024, 11:41pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/but-it-was-never-saved-as-an-export/445626/20 "2024-12-17T23:41:16Z")
Could you clarify what you mean by check?