The volatility of C++ in UE

Development Programming & Scripting C++
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I have programmed assembler for 6502, 68000, went on to c++ and have worked with C#/Net now for 20+ years. I am back to the passion of game dev and I just want some input from those of you who are much more experienced in the environment of UE.
I know everything about the greater things in UE, mastering everything from creating materials and shaders, through translating animation rigs, doing advanced C++ and blueprints. But am I alone thinking that something is SERIOUSLY flawed in the integration with UE and Visual Studio?

I have have never in my career spent so much time in “recovery” because of manual interference in a specific file. Everything has to be UE-style when working with C+±files apparantely. Why is this? It is so time-consuming

AI has its explanations, but I would like to hear comments from you, real people working in this environment daily. Am I doing something fundamentally wrong hitting these annoyances?

I do understand the concept of how to work from UE with C++, but sometimes it truly conflicts with how I would normally quick-fix something

Any tips and hints to make the C+±experience less painful in UE would be much appreciated.

I will give a quick question as example: I have a class which I just need to change type on a variable. In VS I do this, and then UE wont even open my project, because I worked this out outside of its “realms”. The solution given by AI is to delete folders x, y, z, rebuild and hope for the best. That is not a solid reliable way of handling source. So why hasn’t Epic managed to keep up to modern ways of handling sourcecode?

Apart from this really annoying thing, just loving UE 5.8 of course

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havent had this problem ever but i did switch to Rider this year and that likely intergrates a bit better

you might need a redirector to the new variable type?

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UE surely has a ton of quirks

Everything has to be UE-style when working with C+±files apparantely. Why is this? It is so time-consuming

Given amout of custom tooling ue have - you just have to accept it’s not a c++, it’s a c++/ue, a flavour of language that has it’s own pros and cons compared to regular c++.
And of course you may use a nearly-regular c++ in any part that isn’t directly exposed to blueprints.

I have a class which I just need to change type on a variable. In VS I do this, and then UE wont even open my project, because I worked this out outside of its “realms”. The solution given by AI is to delete folders x, y, z, rebuild and hope for the best.

Can’t say what gone wrong here, but even when usually changing type\names of bp-exposed variables may lead to troubles, it’s never the level of “editor won’t even open”. As long as you rebuild your project - all should be fine.
I’d mention “beware of hot-reload”, but it’s just a matter of understanding - as long as you aware of limitations it works perfectly.
As for “delete binaries//intermediate//saved folders” - that’s quite a standard way to “surely remove all build artifacts and have a clean rebuild”. Nowadays it’s rarely needed, but still worth keeping in mind

hope this clarify something. have a nice day