Transferring a UE5.7 project from Windows 11 to MacOS Tahoe

Development Platform & Builds
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Hey everyone,

For reasons I recently had to transfer my Windows UE5.7 project to my MacBook Air to package a build. It was a trial, but I did get it working, and I wanted to share my notes in-case anyone else was attempting this.

I’ll state, my project is tiny and not graphic or processing intensive, which is why I was able to get away with packaging and running the build on a MacBook Air.

1 Download and install UE on your Mac

  • Make sure it’s the same version that you’re using on Windows.
  • I installed it in the Applications folder.

2 Download the right version of Xcode

  • At the time of writing, if you go to the App store and download Xcode, the version is not compatible with 5.7. There’s info here on which is the preferred version of Xcode for UE development.
  • Specifically for 5.7 on MacOS Tahoe 26.6.2, I downloaded Xcode 26.1.1 from here.
  • And here’s something that tripped me up (I’m pretty new to macs), once you download Xcode make sure to move the application from Downloads into the Applications folder!
  • A little hazy in my notes here, but I believe you then need to open Xcode to complete a sign up.

3 Create and open a test project

  • From the launcher, create a new test project (I used the 3rd person template) and open it. It’s much easier to solve any initial engine config on a mac created project.
  • Again, my notes are hazier on this stage but I remember there were useful error messages that popped up if anything wasn’t quite right, and I know I could run about in PIE before I went further.

4 Copy across your project

  • A note to make things easier for later, I’d recommend setting up your project so it doesn’t load into a map when you first open the editor.
  • I zipped up the whole project directory in Windows, and copied it across to my MacBook.
  • Then, once auto-unzipped on Mac, I deleted out the Binaries, Intermediate, and Saved folders.

5 Generate project files

  • Open up the Terminal.
  • In Finder, navigate to where you stored the Engine files and go to UE5.7 > Engine > Build > BatchFiles > Mac and drag and drop the GenerateProjectFiles.sh into the Terminal to create a path file. Then type:
  • -project=
  • Then navigate to your unzipped build and drag and drop the Uproject into the Terminal, again creating a path file. Then add:
  • -game
  • The whole command should look similar to:
  • /Applications/UE_5.7/Engine/Build/BatchFiles/Mac/GenerateProjectFiles.sh -project=/Documents/Unreal\ Projects/MyProject/MyProject.uproject -game
  • Then press enter to run. It’ll log it’s progress and tell you if it succeeded, and in the same place as the Uproject there should be a new file of MyProject(Mac).xcworkspace if it’s worked.

Troubleshooting:

  • If you see “error=86, Bad CPU type”, type the following command into the terminal
    • softwareupdate --install-rosetta
  • Then try running the initial path file command again.

6 Opening the project

  • Double click the Uproject to open it.
  • When it pops up saying about “missing modules”, press rebuild. Once rebuilt, the project should open automatically.

7 Packaging

The following are fixes for errors I ran into during the packaging stage for a mac build.

  • If on opening the packaged project you get an error about missing SM5, In Project Settings > Platforms > Mac, check "Mac Metal Desktop Rendering (SM5, Metal 2.4+…).
  • I don’t have notes for what the error was, but I did set Project Settings > Packaging, uncheck “Use Io Store”.
  • If during packaging you get a repeated warning which includes “generate204?” (something about a timeout error), add the following to the bottom of MyProject > Config > DefaultEditor.ini:
    • [ConsoleVariables]
      HomeScreen.EnableHomeScreen=0

And specifically if you’re doing this on a MacBook Air, don’t let it overheat. I made the mistake as I was working through the packaging fixes of letting it get too hot, which slowed everything down. At the end of the day of trying to get it to work, it was taking over 45 minutes to package. The next morning when it had cooled down, it was taking under 10 minutes.

I hope this is of use! I’m afraid I can’t offer help beyond this, but good luck if you’re going through the same process.