(UE5.6) I found out why the new Project Launcher UI can’t build a project into .exe

Development Programming & Scripting
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If you try to build a project in the new Project Launcher UI in UE5.6 with the configuration:
“Shipping / Pak files / Compress Pak files / Cook content / your maps / Build the game / Archive build”,

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you will get an error within the first few seconds.

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I’ve been trying to figure out the reason for days. And I finally solved it!

Open Platforms → Legacy Project Launcher.

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Find the profile you created in the new UI and click on its settings. What do we see here?

The answer is simple: in the new UI, the Package section is missing, and by default, it’s set to “Do not package”. This completely breaks the build process! Set it to “Package & store locally”, and you will now be able to build your project both from the old UI and the new UI.

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Epic really needs to improve the new Project Launcher UI. This is terrible! It’s a nightmare! The absence of a whole section will break builds for many developers. I hope my post helps anyone who ran into this issue.

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Thank you so much for the fix! I had the same exact issue, but simply setting it to ‘Package & store locally’ wasn’t enough—I also had to compile it through the Legacy Project Launcher, not the new one.

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