Why am I seeing ghosts? (UE5 bug or is it me?)

So I’ve been developing using the VR Template for a few weeks now and have moved on from it a bit and even have a few decent VR demos up and running out of UE5 that I upload through the MQDH (Meta Quest Developer Hub). However, there is one odd issue I keep running into and I’m not sure if it’s me, UE5, or MQDH.

When I go to install an APK via the MQDH, I’ll sometimes get what I can only describe as “ghosts” - things will be there that have been deleted long ago. When I go into the editor, more often than not they are nowhere to be found.

For example, in one training simulator I had some chainlink fencing outside of a warehouse, which I later deleted in lieu of another fence. That was last week, and suddenly I can see it appear in the demo I just published - even though it’s been long deleted and not in UE5, I still see it on the Quest 2 headset when I go to try it out.

This is now creating a bigger issue, as I decided to opt out of using a Pawn so I could enable more free movement, and I have my character all set up and ready to go, everything looks good, everything’s fine on my computer, and then I publish and install - and things change. When I try out the demo, it resorts back to the Pawn - which is deleted. The new character is there, and mirrors my movements and everything, but I am stuck in the Pawn. I look back at UE5, there is no Pawn there. The entire Pawn is deleted from the Content Browser, there are no references, yet I’m still playing as the Pawn.

That is why I’m referring to these as “ghosts” - they were once there, removed from the world, and are now reappearing without any trace.

The only thing that helps me get around this is to package up the project into a folder, and then reopen it from there. Then, when I go and open up the copy of the project, I’ll see that the objects/ghosts that were deleted days before are suddenly there, and so is all the stuff I’ve added since. However, that doesn’t always work. Sometimes the ghosts don’t appear at all but will then randomly reappear later on.

Am I doing something wrong? Is this a bug/glitch? Have you experienced this and have a better workaround?

I appreciate any information!

Hey there @Spencer.AMD! That definitely doesn’t sound intended. Are you building over previous builds? This can sometimes be an unintended effect of overwriting the old builds. If it’s still occurring without overwriting, back up the Intermediate and Saved folders in your project, move/delete them and let them repopulate, then fresh rebuild and check for the ghosts.