Windows UE5.6 → Mac via Git/GitHub - Content Browser Empty

Development Getting Started & Setup
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1

I am working on a group project using GitHub to share Unreal Engine 5.6 Blueprint project between Windows PC (where project was created) and MacBook (M1) teammates.

Problems

  1. Successfully pulled project repo on MacBook
  2. Confirmed Content/dynamic/ contains .uasset + .uexp files
  3. Generated Xcode project files and built successfully in Xcode
  4. Content Browser remains EMPTY when opening .uproject on Mac

What I have tried:

  • Verified on another Windows PC: git pull works and project opens
  • Verified .gitignore is standard UE5 template (attached below)
  • rm -rf Binaries/ Intermediate/ Saved/ DerivedDataCache/
  • Generated Xcode project: GenerateProjectFiles.sh -project=“…”
  • Full Xcode build (MyProjectEditor > My Mac > Build ✓)
  • Content Browser settings: Show Engine/Plugin/Developer Content ALL enabled
  • Right-click Content/: Refresh / Fix Up Redirectors / Validate Assets
  • Window → Developer Tools → Asset Audit → Full scan

Any Unreal/Git experts who can help?

Current .gitignore and .uproject files

.uproject file:

{
  "FileVersion": 3,
  "EngineAssociation": "5.6",
  "Plugins": [{"Name": "ModelingToolsEditorMode", "Enabled": true}]
}

.gitignore:

# Visual Studio 2015 user specific files
.vs/

# Compiled Object files
*.slo
*.lo
*.o
*.obj

# Precompiled Headers
*.gch
*.pch

# Compiled Dynamic libraries
*.so
*.dylib
*.dll

# Fortran module files
*.mod

# Compiled Static libraries
*.lai
*.la
*.a
*.lib

# Executables
*.exe
*.out
*.app
*.ipa

# These project files can be generated by the engine
*.sln
*.suo
*.opensdf
*.sdf
*.VC.db
*.VC.opendb

# Precompiled Assets
SourceArt/**/*.png
SourceArt/**/*.tga

# Binary Files
Binaries/*
Plugins/**/Binaries/*

# Builds
Build/*

# Whitelist PakBlacklist-<BuildConfiguration>.txt files
!Build/*/
Build/*/**
!Build/*/PakBlacklist*.txt

# Don't ignore icon files in Build
!Build/**/*.ico

# Configuration files generated by the Editor
Saved/*

# Compiled source files for the engine to use
Intermediate/*
Plugins/**/Intermediate/*

# Cache files for the editor to use
DerivedDataCache/*
2

It turned out to be related to Git LFS. Unreal assets (.uasset, .uexp, etc.) are stored via LFS, so even though the files existed locally, they weren’t fully downloaded.

Running “git lfs pull“ command will fix it. The missing level showed up in Unreal’s Content Browser.

3

Hey,

you ran into a very common issue with Git LFS. You need to make sure to properly install Git LFS on each machine that is using the project and run git lfs install in the project.

You can also use e.g. Anchorpoint, which takes care of all that and is free to use with Unreal projects on GitHub.

4

Thanks a lot! I’ll take a look at Anchorpoint :+1: