Every time I open a project it says "made with a different engine version" whether that's true or not. Tried to open copy, got an error log. Barely understand it

Development Programming & Scripting
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1

Log started at 03/07/2026 17:15:49 (2026-03-08T00:15:49Z)
Resolved project argument C:/Users/delet/Documents/Unreal Projects/CPPtut 5.7/CPPtut.uproject to C:\Users\delet\Documents\Unreal Projects\CPPtut 5.7\CPPtut.uproject
No config file at C:\ProgramData\Unreal Engine\UnrealBuildTool\BuildConfiguration.xml
No config file at C:\Users\delet\AppData\Local\Unreal Engine\UnrealBuildTool\BuildConfiguration.xml
No config file at C:\Users\delet\Documents\Unreal Engine\UnrealBuildTool\BuildConfiguration.xml
Configuration will be read from:
C:\Users\delet\AppData\Roaming\Unreal Engine\UnrealBuildTool\BuildConfiguration.xml
Reading configuration file from cache (C:\Users\delet\Documents\Unreal Projects\CPPtut 5.7\Intermediate\Build\XmlConfigCache.bin): C:\Users\delet\AppData\Roaming\Unreal Engine\UnrealBuildTool\BuildConfiguration.xml
Reading configuration file from cache (C:\Users\delet\Documents\Unreal Projects\CPPtut 5.7\Intermediate\Build\XmlConfigCache.bin): C:\Users\delet\Documents\Unreal Projects\CPPtut 5.7\Saved\UnrealBuildTool\BuildConfiguration.xml
Reading configuration file from cache (C:\Users\delet\Documents\Unreal Projects\CPPtut 5.7\Intermediate\Build\XmlConfigCache.bin): C:\Users\delet\AppData\Local\UnrealEngine\Intermediate\Build\UnrealBuildTool.Env.BuildConfiguration.xml
Setting temp directory to ‘C:\Users\delet\AppData\Local\Temp\UnrealBuildTool\9de8e132’
Registering build platform: UnrealBuildTool.AndroidPlatformFactory
Registering build platform: UnrealBuildTool.IOSPlatformFactory
Registering build platform: UnrealBuildTool.LinuxPlatformFactory
Registering build platform: UnrealBuildTool.MacPlatformFactory
Registering build platform: UnrealBuildTool.TVOSPlatformFactory
Registering build platform: UnrealBuildTool.WindowsPlatformFactory
Found Windows 10 SDK root at C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10 (1)
Found Windows 10 SDK root at C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10 (2)
Found Windows 10 SDK version 10.0.22621.0 at C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10
Found Universal CRT version 10.0.22621.0 at C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10
Found Windows 10 SDK version 10.0.26100.0 at C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10
Found Universal CRT version 10.0.26100.0 at C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10
Win64 Installed SDK(s): MinVersion_Sdk=10.0.19041.0, MaxVersion_Sdk=10.9.99999.0, CurrentVersion_Sdk=10.0.22621.0, Version_AutoSdk=10.0.22621.0, CurrentVersion_AutoSdk=
Registering build platform: Win64 - buildable: True
Registering build platform: UnrealBuildTool.VisionOSPlatformFactory
Command line: “C:\Program Files\Epic Games\UE_5.7\Engine\Binaries\DotNET\UnrealBuildTool\UnrealBuildTool.dll” Development Win64 “-Project=C:/Users/delet/Documents/Unreal Projects/CPPtut 5.7/CPPtut.uproject” -TargetType=Editor -Progress -NoEngineChanges -NoHotReloadFromIDE
Log file: C:\Users\delet\AppData\Local\UnrealBuildTool\Log.txt
Deleting old log file: C:\Users\delet\AppData\Local\UnrealBuildTool\Log-backup-2025.04.16-20.56.07.txt

Skipping C:\Program Files\Epic Games\UE_5.7\Engine\Intermediate\Build\BuildRules\UE5Rules.dll: File is installed
Skipping C:\Program Files\Epic Games\UE_5.7\Engine\Intermediate\Build\BuildRules\UE5ProgramRules.dll: File is installed
Found VisualStudio2022 installation: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Community (Product=Microsoft.VisualStudio.Product.Community, Version=17.14.36930.0)
Found Visual Studio toolchain: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Community\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.38.33130 (Family=14.38.33130, FamilyRank=1, Version=14.38.33145, HostArchitecture=x64, ReleaseChannel=Latest, Architecture=x64, Error=False, Redist=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Community\VC\Redist\MSVC\14.38.33130)
Found Visual Studio toolchain: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Community\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.44.35207 (Family=14.44.35207, FamilyRank=0, Version=14.44.35222, HostArchitecture=x64, ReleaseChannel=Latest, Architecture=x64, Error=False, Redist=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Community\VC\Redist\MSVC\14.44.35112)
Creating makefile for CPPtutEditor (no existing makefile)
Building UnrealEditor - CPPtutEditor - Win64 - Development
Expecting to find a type to be declared in a module rules named ‘VisualStudioTools’ in ‘UE5Rules, Version=0.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null’. This type must derive from the ‘ModuleRules’ type defined by UnrealBuildTool.
CompilationResultException: Expecting to find a type to be declared in a module rules named ‘VisualStudioTools’ in ‘UE5Rules, Version=0.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null’. This type must derive from the ‘ModuleRules’ type defined by UnrealBuildTool.
at UnrealBuildTool.RulesAssembly.CreateModuleRules(String ModuleName, ReadOnlyTargetRules Target, String ReferenceChain, ILogger Logger)
at UnrealBuildTool.RulesAssembly.CreateModuleRules(String ModuleName, ReadOnlyTargetRules Target, String ReferenceChain, ILogger Logger)
at UnrealBuildTool.RulesAssembly.CreateModuleRules(String ModuleName, ReadOnlyTargetRules Target, String ReferenceChain, ILogger Logger)
at UnrealBuildTool.UEBuildTarget.CreateModuleRulesAndSetDefaults(String ModuleName, String ReferenceChain, ILogger Logger)
at UnrealBuildTool.UEBuildTarget.FindOrCreateModuleByName(String ModuleName, String ReferenceChain, ILogger Logger)
at UnrealBuildTool.UEBuildTarget.FindOrCreateCppModuleByName(String ModuleName, String ReferenceChain, ILogger Logger)
at UnrealBuildTool.UEBuildTarget.AddPlugin(PluginReferenceDescriptor Reference, String ReferenceChain, String ExcludeFolders, Dictionary2 NameToInstance, Dictionary2 NameToInfos, ILogger Logger)
at UnrealBuildTool.UEBuildTarget.SetupPlugins(ILogger Logger)
at UnrealBuildTool.UEBuildTarget.PreBuildSetup(ILogger Logger)
at UnrealBuildTool.UEBuildTarget.Create(TargetDescriptor Descriptor, Boolean bSkipRulesCompile, Boolean bForceRulesCompile, Boolean bUsePrecompiled, UnrealIntermediateEnvironment IntermediateEnvironment, ILogger Logger)
at UnrealBuildTool.UEBuildTarget.Create(TargetDescriptor Descriptor, BuildConfiguration BuildConfiguration, ILogger Logger)
at UnrealBuildTool.BuildMode.CreateMakefileAsync(BuildConfiguration BuildConfiguration, TargetDescriptor TargetDescriptor, ISourceFileWorkingSet WorkingSet, ILogger Logger)
at UnrealBuildTool.BuildMode.BuildAsync(List`1 TargetDescriptors, BuildConfiguration BuildConfiguration, ISourceFileWorkingSet WorkingSet, BuildOptions Options, FileReference WriteOutdatedActionsFile, ILogger Logger, Boolean bSkipPreBuildTargets, String ActionTypeFilter)
at UnrealBuildTool.BuildMode.ExecuteAsync(CommandLineArguments Arguments, ILogger Logger)
at UnrealBuildTool.UnrealBuildTool.Main(String ArgumentsArray)
WriteFileIfChanged() wrote 0 changed files of 1 requested writes.

Result: Failed (RulesError)
Total execution time: 0.90 seconds

As far as I can tell something in the 5.7\Engine\Intermediate\Build\BuildRules folder is wrong, and probably UE5Rules.dll, and this might be because I uninstalled and reinstalled the engine multiple times trying to fix stuff, but I’m new to this. I don’t know what the actual problem is exactly or how to find it and the dll file is just machine code.

2

Iirc “made with different engine version” has nothing to do with this log. It’s only about that the id of engine in your *.uproject file is not equal to id of engine you actually open the project with.

For the record, the list of actually installed engines in the system you may find in regedit → HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Epic Games\Unreal Engine\Builds

The *.uproject version may be detected by opening it with text editor - the "EngineAssociation": "5.3" line

And for particular engine installation you may get id in … well, i’m not 100% sure, but in my current one it’s a content of Engine\Build\InstalledBuild.txt file

So for the starters you may try to figure out why those two id does not match.
For example it may be a literally what the error says, or id of engines among your team are not synchronized\fixed so everyone is pushing *.uproject into VCS with its own id

1 Like
3

First off, thank you, because I wasn’t getting any responses on any forums for a while and I didn’t know anything about the registry editor so that seems significant. Could the same issues you’re describing explain why there are no recognized engine versions in the Epic launcher, and why I’m pretty sure I was able to make one copy of a project that ran, but then had to keep making copies every time I opened it again? I think I might’ve just ruined everything for myself because I don’t think I did a full proper uninstall through the launcher or whatever installer app would do that, so now it’s scraping fragmented pieces of functionality together or getting confused between data from older versions of the engines. But it does have an OS\Program Files\ Epic Games\ UE_5.7 folder, and I’m pretty sure that at least that was self contained with only content for the 5.7 engine

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My storage is at absolutely 0 again despite me deleting a lot of things frequently and not making anything new as far as I know, so I don’t know if it only did a partial install that I mistook for a full install and is somehow still downloading more stuff, but this would have to be over a long time since I called for the download. I’m inclined to try to delete any folders with the words Unreal or Epic on them and try again from scratch, but I have no idea how to do that without digging myself a bigger hole now.

5

disclaimer: those answers are based on my research of this topic like a 5 years ago, so i barely remember anything or may remember incorrectly

This one i’ve seen. Afaik launcher also looks at this registry path for installed engines, but only recognize them if ids are in the set of particular ones. So launcher will never see customized engines (or engines that don’t even have registry entry at all).
I guess that if you have a local copy of the launcher’s engine, they you may manually make an entry at given path and launcher should be able see it. The only question about format of the key: for custom engines it may be literally any string, but launcher’s iirc a following format like 5.3

Unfortunately, i’ve never seen this one. And by your descriptions i don’t have even guesses about the possible reasons

To my understanding, the only things that matter for all of this:

  1. launcher being properly installed
    (it’s only problem on fresh machines, so this should not be your problem. Nevertheless, if someone else will be looking for solution, it’s: Epic Games\Launcher\Engine\Binaries\Win64\UnrealVersionSelector.exe -fileassociations)

  2. *.uproject must be launched with Epic Games\Launcher\Engine\Binaries\Win64\UnrealVersionSelector.exe, not directly Engine\Binaries\UnrealEditor.exe
    (it’s not entirely wrong to launch with editor directly, but then you launching any project with a fixed editor version. So if you project was made on other version - you will still be forcing the one you using and it may not work correctly. So default version selector for picking version automatically is better)

  3. You must have a valid registry entry for *.uproject file you trying to open.

So what i mean is: you may delete or copy engines however you want, as long as you keep the registry entries correct. So it should not be the problem.

offtop: for that i can recommed “tree size free” program that can help see the size of your folders

Tbh that’s a good approach. Just try to fix that registry to best of your abiltiies before doing that. Chances are low, but they are here.

As about “how”, that’s would be a good question to direct to a llm chat bot. even this forum has one, it may or may not help.

1 Like
6

Well it’s all pretty overwhelming but I’ll keep at it and maybe figure something out later. I’m not too tied to these projects if worse comes to worst. I appreciate the guidance