Main UEFN Project lost locally but island still live - Is recovery possible?

ETN_LinA · November 7, 2025, 9:41pm

Summary

Hello, I urgently need assistance. One of my main published UEFN islands used for revenue has suddenly corrupted locally. The main .uefnproject file is now only 13KB and the map UMAP cannot be opened anymore.

The island is still LIVE and playable inside Fortnite, but I cannot open or restore it inside UEFN anymore. This is a critical revenue impact for me.

I need access to an older cloud revision / restore of the project from Epic side (the same version that is currently live / published).

Can you please escalate this to the UEFN technical team for “Lost Project State Recovery”?

Island name: VIBEPLACE
Owner codenamed account: etnlina

This is not a normal support question. This is a live revenue island and the local project got corrupted.

I need the UEFN cloud state that matches the current published version restored or provided.

Please select what you are reporting on:

Unreal Editor for Fortnite

What Type of Bug are you experiencing?

Other

Steps to Reproduce

Work normally on a UEFN project (Project Name: VIBEPLACE)
2. At some point, the project folder was on OneDrive (I later disabled OneDrive)
3. After restarting PC + UEFN, my .uefnproject file suddenly became 13 KB
4. When trying to open the project again inside UEFN, I get plugin duplicate error / project cannot be loaded
5. I can still PLAY the island in Fortnite and the island is still LIVE, but I cannot open the project file anymore locally because it is now corrupted

Expected Result

UEFN should load my project locally and the .uefnproject file should not randomly become 13 KB corrupted.
I should be able to continue editing my published island.

Observed Result

The .uefnproject file is now only 13 KB and cannot be opened.
I receive plugin duplicate errors and UEFN will not load the project at all.
My island still exists online and is playable in Fortnite, but I cannot access or open the project locally to update it anymore.

Platform(s)

PC/ Windows

Island Code

0225-5155-8759

Additional Notes

I cannot find a valid autosave with a working .umap either.
Is there any way you can recover / restore the most recent version of my island from Epic’s side since it is currently still published and playable in Fortnite?

ETN_LinA · November 13, 2025, 6:47am

Update:

It has now been 5 days and I still haven’t received any reply or instructions.

This island is my main project and also my main revenue source in UEFN. I urgently need to recover it because I announced a winter update for my players and the island is still live in Fortnite, just not accessible in UEFN.

If you need my island code, last publish version, or logs, please tell me and I will provide them immediately.

I really need help with this as soon as possible. Thank you.

Flak · November 26, 2025, 4:37pm

@ETN_LinA are you using URC?

ETN_LinA · November 27, 2025, 8:55pm

Yes, I am using URC. My last check-in was shortly before the issue happened, but UEFN shows it as 2024. Something is wrong with the URC history. Please help me restore the latest version of my map.

Flak · January 7, 2026, 9:56pm

Is this still happening @ETN_LinA?

ETN_LinA · January 23, 2026, 3:55am

Yes, the issue is still happening and the project appears to be completely overwritten.

When opening the map in UEFN, all content is gone. The level is completely empty, and the project name is no longer displayed.

In addition, the older version that is still visible in URC is also empty and no longer contains the original content.

Although everything was saved and I checked in shortly before the issue occurred, I am unable to restore or create a backup because both the latest and older versions now open as empty projects.

It appears that UEFN overwrote the project state entirely. As a result, around one year of work is missing.

I am still using URC, but there is currently no valid version available to restore. Any help recovering the last valid version of this project would be greatly appreciated.

Flak · February 9, 2026, 6:56pm

Could you confirm you don’t have two similarly named projects in the Creator Portal / UEFN Project panel to rule out that you’re opening one with no history?
Could you close UEFN, move the project folder out of your Fortnite Projects folder, sync the project from URC fresh and open it?

Bug-Reporter · February 9, 2026, 7:01pm

FORT-1012411 changed to ‘Needs More Info’. We’re missing information that would help us determine the source of the issue.

ETN_LinA · February 14, 2026, 9:01am

I can confirm that there are no duplicate or similarly named projects in my Creator Portal or UEFN Project Browser.

The island is still fully published and playable in Fortnite. Multiple private versions exist in Creator Portal, and validation shows the full download size and memory usage, which confirms the full project exists server-side.

Revision Control was enabled and active during my last edit and upload. The project was working normally at that time.

After installing the recent update, I opened UEFN to make changes, and the project loaded completely empty.

The local .urc folder now shows a new timestamp (after the update), and the .umap file was overwritten and is only a few KB in size.

This appears to be a URC repository disconnect issue that occurred after the update, not a duplicate project or local folder problem.

Could you please check if the original URC repository still exists server-side and relink my project to it?

wouter · February 17, 2026, 10:31am

When did you last use the Änderungen einchecken button I see in your editor screenshot to create backups in Unreal Revision Control ?

ETN_LinA · February 18, 2026, 3:25am

Yes, I actively used the “Check In Changes” button during my last editing session before the issue occurred.

I always use “Check In Changes” every time I update and publish any of my maps. I do this consistently for all my projects.

My last check-in for this project was named either “spooky” or “halloween”, right before publishing the latest version.

Revision Control was enabled and actively used, and the project was working normally before the update.

After installing the recent update and reopening UEFN to continue working, the project loaded completely empty.

Since I manually checked in changes and named the revision, there should be a valid URC revision stored server-side before the update.

Nman_Pkr · February 18, 2026, 7:06am

Did you try clicking the drop down arrow next to revision control → open snapshot history

If you can see the URC history here you can roll back to a commit that is pre-corrupt by hovering over it and clicking the circle arrow on the right.

ETN_LinA · February 18, 2026, 9:59am

I checked the Snapshot History in Revision Control.

It only shows the “Initial Snapshot“.

None of my previous commits (including “spooky” or “halloween”) are visible.

This confirms that the project is currently linked to a new, empty URC repository instead of the original one.

wouter · February 18, 2026, 12:04pm

The repository matches the ContentService project id - did you change the project id at any point ?

ETN_LinA · February 18, 2026, 1:42pm

No, I did not change the project ID at any point.

I never duplicated the project, created a new project for this island, or manually modified any project files.

I wouldn’t even know how to change a project ID manually.

The project was always opened and edited normally through UEFN.

The issue only started immediately after installing the recent update, when the project suddenly loaded completely empty.

wouter · February 19, 2026, 3:16pm

Are you a solo developer or a part of a team where multiple people are creating snapshots?

ETN_LinA · February 19, 2026, 5:01pm

I am a solo developer. I am the only person working on this project and the only one creating snapshots or checking in changes. No one else has access to the project. The issue started immediately after the update.

ETN_LinA · February 28, 2026, 10:02pm

I investigated the project folders further and confirmed that all project data still exists locally on my PC.

The Content folder, ExternalActors, and ExternalObjects are all present and contain my assets and map data.

However, when opening the project in UEFN, only the default landscape loads, the map name shows as “Unknown”, and Revision Control shows no snapshots.

This strongly suggests that the project data is still physically present, but UEFN is not recognizing or linking it to the correct original repository after the update.

Since the island is fully playable and published in Fortnite, and all local project data still exists, this appears to be a repository or project ID linkage issue rather than missing data.

Could you please verify whether the project is currently linked to a newly initialized empty repository instead of the original one, and restore the correct linkage?

danger-dev · March 1, 2026, 1:35pm

are you sure there isn’t another umap file in your content directory, not trying to gaslight, just checking…

ETN_LinA · March 1, 2026, 8:04pm

Hi, thanks for checking.

Yes, I already verified that.

There is only one .umap file in my Content directory (VIBEPLACE.umap). I checked the entire project folder, including subfolders, and there is no duplicate or alternative level file.

The island is still fully playable and published, but locally the project opens as an empty level (“Untitled”), and Revision Control shows no previous snapshots even though I had been checking in regularly before the update.

This makes me believe the project may now be linked to a newly initialized empty repository instead of the original one associated with the published island.

Could this be a repository linkage issue after the recent UEFN update?

Thank you for your help.