I Thought My Level Was Gone — Until This Worked

I tried everything Unreal suggested. Nothing worked. I almost gave up on moving the level.

This post is part of my daily learning journey in game development.

I’m sharing what I learn each day — the basics, the confusion, and the real progress — from the perspective of a beginner.

On Day 45 of my game development journey, I tried to move a level between Unreal Engine projects and learned why it’s harder than it sounds.

What I tried / learned today

I learned that moving a level between Unreal projects can be tricky.

I first tried Migrate. It failed.

Then I tried drag and drop between projects. That failed too.

Inside the Content Browser, I tried:

• Update References
• Validate Assets

Still, the level didn’t appear. I honestly thought moving a level wasn’t possible.

As a last option, I copied the level files directly using File Explorer and pasted them into the Content folder of the new project. After reopening Unreal, the level still didn’t show.

Then I right-clicked the Content folder and selected Validate Assets. Finally, the level appeared in the project. I also learned that plugins used in the old project must be enabled again in the new project, or the level may stay hidden.

What confused me

I was confused about:

• Why Migrate didn’t work
• Why drag and drop failed
• Why Unreal didn’t detect copied files
• Why Validate Assets fixed it in the end
• Why missing plugins caused issues

It felt unpredictable and frustrating.

What worked or finally clicked

I understood that:

• Unreal sometimes needs asset validation to detect files
• Manual file copy can work as a last option
• Missing plugins can completely break levels
• Unreal hides assets when dependencies are missing

Once the required plugins were enabled and assets were validated, everything made sense.

One lesson for beginners

• Migration is best, but not perfect
• Manual copy can save a project
• Always paste into the Content folder
• Enable required plugins in the new project
• Use Validate Assets if files don’t appear

Slow progress — but I’m building a strong foundation.

If you’re also learning game development,

what was the first thing that confused you when you started?

See you in the next post 🎮🚀