Moving the project

Archived Forums Questions & Answers
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I tried to transfer all files to another computer just by copying the project folder. Scripts are broken, materials are broken, nothing works. Tried to delete the project on second computer, made a unity package consisting all the files from the first one. Nothing. Other project was trasnferred without any losses, just by copying the folder. Unity version on both computers are the same. What do i have to do?

I think I had this problem before, now that I think about it. The problem was with the metadata or something to that effect. Try opening it on the other computer again and just save the scene and refresh the assets. (I'm sorry, but I forgot what I did to fix it when this happened to me.)

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5 Answers

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Although this is an old question, it still comes up first when searching for “unity moving project”, and I think it deserves a working answer for the people who land here in the future.

To copy / move a Unity project:

  1. Enable Version Control Meta Files in Editor Settings
  2. This will add a .meta file for each file and folder in your project.
  3. When copying, do not copy the Library folder or the Temp folder (if at all exists).
  4. In most normal circumstances, you only need to copy the Assets and ProjectSettings folders.
  5. After copying and opening in Unity, it will automatically generate the Library folder based on your meta files.

2 years and a month later I landed here :) This is exactly what I needed, good job man

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sir i would like to ask.. what is the reason for excluding the library and temp folder if its exist? do you mean that if 1 of them exist both folder should not be coppied.? or if they all exist only 1 of them should i copy..

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Unity will regenerate the Library and Temp folders automatically, so it's a waste to copy them. In the case of the original poster, it sounds like a lot of import information may have been broken. Omitting the Library and Temp folders also allows Unity to reimport everything to fix up all the metadata. In addition, if you're working with multiple people, each person's version of the project may have different, local content in the Library and Temp folders. You don't want to copy this to other people's versions, and you certainly don't want to commit it to a shared repository.

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what happens if you sort of kind of accidentally uhhhhh forget to do the .meta file thing

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Does this work between different OS i.e Windows to Mac and vice versa

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5

If this is a one-time thing, the safest method is to export the project as a package. Then reimport it into a new project on the other computer. Unity takes care of all the links and meta data.

If you’re going to do it frequently, consider using a version control system. I use git. It’s a little complicated, but it works well for me. Subversion is perhaps simpler and also free (open source).

Right - exporting the project as a package did it well for me.

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Given DannyB's and Fallen117's thread above, I should add that exporting as a package doesn't export custom project settings (input, physics layers, etc.). If you need to also transfer the project settings, use DannyB's method.

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Well im trying to match it with my Git but not sure exacly how.. 1) my thinking process would be just get a git propulsotory directory 2) setup the project there 3) get/push/commit/clone to update it is that proper way

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Ok yeah, I've put it on my plane object and I want it so that if the player is close to the plane they can press E to get in. So then, where in the script would I put if__ bool planeenter = true? And then using that boolean I could check if they are close enough or not.

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6

As of 29/3/2020 this didn’t work for me, as a branch new user to Unity.

I had to include the library folder too, otherwise none of my objects would appear. Only directional light and camera were present in the scene. I did have the version control on, and could see the .meta files. Plus I tried copying with hidden files displayed, but it made no difference.

Thought I’d share for anyone else having the same issue.

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Copying the project folder is correct. Copy the entire thing, don’t try to leave anything out. If you did that, then maybe it’s a file permissions error…zip the project folder, copy over the zip file, unzip on second computer.

Didn't work. Again the same.

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Just copying the folder doesn't always work. If your OS is hiding system files, then the .meta files don't get copied.

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You need to copy the Library/ folder along with Assets/, so that the asset database can be reconstructed. Or if you have the pro version, enable the generation of .meta files.

buttons on Canvas dont appear if I copy them and open them on the other computer

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