Problem with projectlauncher on MW5 Mercs UE4 editor

Hi, i want to learn the basics of game modding and thought I’d start with a very basic mod to replace a story character portrait. I was able to import the new portrait and assign the portrait reference to it but when it came to using project launcher it is all going wrong and I have no idea why. I actually tried using projectlauncher with no mod loaded at all and it’s still throwing this error so I think it’s something wrong with the editor itself or something I haven’t done that i need to…

I followed the instructions here:
Guide: How to package and install mods with the current editor : r/Mechwarrior5Mods (reddit.com)

But when I click launch I get the following error:

Running AutomationTool…
Parsing command line: -ScriptsForProject=F:/games/MechWarrior5Editor/MW5Mercs/MW5Mercs.uproject BuildCookRun -project=F:/games/MechWarrior5Editor/MW5Mercs/MW5Mercs.uproject -noP4 -clientconfig=Development -serverconfig=Development -nocompile -nocompileeditor -installed -ue4exe=F:\games\MechWarrior5Editor\Engine\Binaries\Win64\UE4Editor-Cmd.exe -utf8output -platform=Win64 -targetplatform=Win64 -build -cook -map= -unversionedcookedcontent -iterate -compressed -stage -deploy -cmdline=" -Messaging" -device=WindowsNoEditor@XXXXX -addcmdline="-SessionId=EAAA159645B0D41E4CA6D5BFB536BECF -SessionOwner=‘xxxxxx’ -SessionName=‘XXXXX’ " -run
Setting up ProjectParams for F:\games\MechWarrior5Editor\MW5Mercs\MW5Mercs.uproject
MW5Mercs.uproject requires a temporary target.cs to be generated (PythonScriptPlugin plugin is enabled)
********** BUILD COMMAND STARTED **********
Running: F:\games\MechWarrior5Editor\Engine\Binaries\DotNET\UnrealBuildTool.exe UnrealPak Win64 Development -Project=F:\games\MechWarrior5Editor\MW5Mercs\MW5Mercs.uproject F:\games\MechWarrior5Editor\MW5Mercs\MW5Mercs.uproject -NoUBTMakefiles -Manifest=F:\games\MechWarrior5Editor\Engine\Intermediate\Build\Manifest.xml -NoHotReload -log=“F:\games\MechWarrior5Editor\Engine\Programs\AutomationTool\Saved\Logs\UBT-UnrealPak-Win64-Development.txt”
ERROR: Unhandled exception: System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
at UnrealBuildTool.RulesAssembly.CreateTargetRules(String TargetName, UnrealTargetPlatform Platform, UnrealTargetConfiguration Configuration, String Architecture, FileReference ProjectFile, CommandLineArguments Arguments)
at UnrealBuildTool.RulesAssembly.CreateTargetRules(String TargetName, UnrealTargetPlatform Platform, UnrealTargetConfiguration Configuration, String Architecture, FileReference ProjectFile, CommandLineArguments Arguments)
at UnrealBuildTool.RulesAssembly.CreateTargetRules(String TargetName, UnrealTargetPlatform Platform, UnrealTargetConfiguration Configuration, String Architecture, FileReference ProjectFile, CommandLineArguments Arguments)
at UnrealBuildTool.UEBuildTarget.Create(TargetDescriptor Descriptor, Boolean bSkipRulesCompile, Boolean bUsePrecompiled)
at UnrealBuildTool.BuildMode.CreateMakefile(BuildConfiguration BuildConfiguration, TargetDescriptor TargetDescriptor, ISourceFileWorkingSet WorkingSet)
at UnrealBuildTool.BuildMode.Build(List`1 TargetDescriptors, BuildConfiguration BuildConfiguration, ISourceFileWorkingSet WorkingSet, BuildOptions Options, FileReference WriteOutdatedActionsFile, Boolean bSkipPreBuildTargets)
at UnrealBuildTool.BuildMode.Execute(CommandLineArguments Arguments)
at UnrealBuildTool.UnrealBuildTool.Main(String ArgumentsArray)
Took 0.2672304s to run UnrealBuildTool.exe, ExitCode=6
UnrealBuildTool failed. See log for more details. (F:\games\MechWarrior5Editor\Engine\Programs\AutomationTool\Saved\Logs\UBT-UnrealPak-Win64-Development.txt)
AutomationTool exiting with ExitCode=6 (6)
BUILD FAILED

It’s the same whether I have changed something or whether i load it fresh with no mod project at all (completely deleted from the folder).

Any ideas?

Thanks,