Unity5 project does not build for PC Standalone, on Windows with external Visual Studio version (2017)

Question

Although it's only remotely related to programming, here it goes:

Since last week, I've been playing with Unity (5.6.0f3 Community x64) on Win 10 (x64) - using Visual Studio (2017 Community) as attached editor, as Unity "requires" -, and started with the [Unity]: Tutorials (first of them). For a few days everything went just fine, but then, building for PC Standalone target, stopped working. Googleing and checking the forums, didn't help finding information about this exact behavior:

As seen on the Build Settings dialog (moved to the right), there are no (Target Platform or Architecture) combo-boxes allowing to specify build parameters. Errors are on the left side.

Notes (about the current behavior):

• First guess was that the tutorial project became somehow messed up, so I created a new one from scratch (a dummy / simple one containing one Sphere having attached a Rigidbody and a C# script that applies forces based on user input), but it behaves the same (this is the project build output in the above image)
• WebGL build runs just fine (loads in browser); this is the workaround currently used, but it takes ages to complete
• Playing (obviously) also works (needless to say that things are OK in VStudio, no complains from csc), !!!but!!! after trying (and failing) to build, Playing no longer works (reloading the project is the only way to fix it)

To rule out any possible doubts, here's a DownloadAssistant screenshot:

Everything is checked, there are 2 items (not very relevant to this case) that are not showing (because the window is not sizeable), but they are checked (and installed).

Background info:

• When first installing Unity, there was no VStudio 2017 version present on the computer, so it (Community Edition) was installed as part of Unity install process (I remember (at least) one VStudio related combo-box in the Assistant)
• Then, a VStudio patch was available; when preparing to install it, I realized that VStudio was installed on the default path (on %SYSTEMDRIVE%), which doesn't work for me, since it's a large product, so:
  • Uninstalled it
  • Reinstalled it (directly from [VisualStudio]: Visual Studio Downloads) on a different drive (and yes, I am aware that changing the install path, still installs a pretty big part like Windows SDK on %SYSTEMDRIVE%)
  • Since I thought that the above 2 steps would break the link between Unity and the new VStudio, I also reinstalled Unity. This time, there were no VStudio related check-boxes in the Assistant (seems normal to check if any piece of software that it needs to install, isn't already installed ¹). Later on, I also found a persistent (meaning that it's not wiped out at Unity uninstall time) RegValue (HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Unity Technologies\Installer\Select_VisualStudio) with a value of 0 (as opposed to a bunch of other values under the same key with values of 1)
• After that, I reinstalled Unity several times, including reboots (not required) between uninstall / install, but no result (I also took a long shot of enabling the RegVaue above before starting Assistant)

A little debugging revealed that when trying to build (PC Standalone), Unity does something like this (don't mind the paths, it's how they're on my machine), that can be reproduced from cmdline:

build_win.bat:

"E:\Install\x64\Unity\5.6.0f3\Editor\Data\MonoBleedingEdge\bin\mono.exe" "E:\Install\x64\Unity\5.6.0f3\Editor\Data\MonoBleedingEdge\lib\mono\4.5\mcs.exe" "@args-win.txt"

args_win.txt:

-debug
-target:library
-nowarn:0169
-langversion:4
-out:Temp/Assembly-CSharp.dll
-unsafe
-optimize
-r:E:/Install/x64/Unity/5.6.0f3/Editor/Data/UnityExtensions/Unity/GUISystem/Standalone/UnityEngine.UI.dll
-r:E:/Install/x64/Unity/5.6.0f3/Editor/Data/UnityExtensions/Unity/Networking/Standalone/UnityEngine.Networking.dll
-r:E:/Install/x64/Unity/5.6.0f3/Editor/Data/UnityExtensions/Unity/UnityAnalytics/UnityEngine.Analytics.dll
-define:UNITY_5_3_OR_NEWER
-define:UNITY_5_4_OR_NEWER
-define:UNITY_5_5_OR_NEWER
-define:UNITY_5_6_OR_NEWER
-define:UNITY_5_6_0
-define:UNITY_5_6
-define:UNITY_5
-define:UNITY_ANALYTICS
-define:ENABLE_AUDIO
-define:ENABLE_CACHING
-define:ENABLE_CLOTH
-define:ENABLE_DUCK_TYPING
-define:ENABLE_GENERICS
-define:ENABLE_PVR_GI
-define:ENABLE_MICROPHONE
-define:ENABLE_MULTIPLE_DISPLAYS
-define:ENABLE_PHYSICS
-define:ENABLE_RUNTIME_NAVMESH_BUILDING
-define:ENABLE_SPRITERENDERER_FLIPPING
-define:ENABLE_SPRITES
-define:ENABLE_TERRAIN
-define:ENABLE_RAKNET
-define:ENABLE_UNET
-define:ENABLE_LZMA
-define:ENABLE_UNITYEVENTS
-define:ENABLE_WEBCAM
-define:ENABLE_WWW
-define:ENABLE_CLOUD_SERVICES_COLLAB
-define:ENABLE_CLOUD_SERVICES_ADS
-define:ENABLE_CLOUD_HUB
-define:ENABLE_CLOUD_PROJECT_ID
-define:ENABLE_CLOUD_SERVICES_UNET
-define:ENABLE_CLOUD_SERVICES_BUILD
-define:ENABLE_CLOUD_LICENSE
-define:ENABLE_EDITOR_METRICS
-define:ENABLE_EDITOR_METRICS_CACHING
-define:ENABLE_NATIVE_ARRAY
-define:INCLUDE_DYNAMIC_GI
-define:INCLUDE_GI
-define:PLATFORM_SUPPORTS_MONO
-define:RENDER_SOFTWARE_CURSOR
-define:INCLUDE_PUBNUB
-define:ENABLE_PLAYMODE_TESTS_RUNNER
-define:ENABLE_SCRIPTING_NEW_CSHARP_COMPILER
-define:ENABLE_VIDEO
-define:UNITY_STANDALONE_WIN
-define:UNITY_STANDALONE
-define:ENABLE_SUBSTANCE
-define:ENABLE_RUNTIME_GI
-define:ENABLE_MOVIES
-define:ENABLE_NETWORK
-define:ENABLE_CRUNCH_TEXTURE_COMPRESSION
-define:ENABLE_UNITYWEBREQUEST
-define:ENABLE_CLOUD_SERVICES
-define:ENABLE_CLOUD_SERVICES_ANALYTICS
-define:ENABLE_CLOUD_SERVICES_PURCHASING
-define:ENABLE_CLOUD_SERVICES_CRASH_REPORTING
-define:ENABLE_EVENT_QUEUE
-define:ENABLE_CLUSTERINPUT
-define:ENABLE_VR
-define:ENABLE_WEBSOCKET_HOST
-define:ENABLE_MONO
-define:NET_2_0_SUBSET
Assets/_Scripts/x.cs
-r:E:\Install\x64\Unity\5.6.0f3\Editor\Data\Mono\lib\mono\unity\System.Runtime.Serialization.dll
-r:E:\Install\x64\Unity\5.6.0f3\Editor\Data\Mono\lib\mono\unity\System.Xml.Linq.dll
-r:E:\Install\x64\Unity\5.6.0f3\Editor\Data\Mono\lib\mono\unity\UnityScript.dll
-r:E:\Install\x64\Unity\5.6.0f3\Editor\Data\Mono\lib\mono\unity\UnityScript.Lang.dll
-r:E:\Install\x64\Unity\5.6.0f3\Editor\Data\Mono\lib\mono\unity\Boo.Lang.dll
-sdk:unity

args_win.txt is a copy of one of the ${PROJECT_ROOT}\Temp\UnityTempFile-*s (I'm going to refer to such a file as utfile), more precisely of the one that gets created when starting the build. The funky thing is that it's created from another (one of the 10+ identical created at project load time) utfile by (didn't do a through check, maybe there are additional lines as well) striping (and shuffling (amestecating)) some lines.

The obvious one (don't even have to check the source utfile) is: -r:E:/Install/x64/Unity/5.6.0f3/Editor/Data/Managed/UnityEngine.dll, which inserted in the above file, works perfectly. But I don't know how to instruct Unity not to strip it.

Other facts (more or less relevant):

• There are several other VStudio versions installed (2010, 2013, 2015), and more VCRedists, but I seriously doubt that any of this would make a difference, since VStudio is only used for editing (e.g. launched by Unity when dblclicking a script)
• My computer also "suffers" from [BT]: Has your Windows 10 Start menu stopped working? How to fix it (I restart it ~once a week; after ~3-4 days the problem reappears), but this is happening for weeks before installing Unity

Possible solutions:

• Uninstall Unity and VStudio, and restore the original setup (if it still works) - not desirable
• Get an answer (here or on Unity forums, where I'm going to post the same question right away), and hopefully get to the bottom of it
• Start the painful process of debugging/monitoring ([MS.Docs]: Process Monitor (ProcMon) is an excellent tool) also, might involve disassembling UnityDownloadAssistant-5.6.0f3.exe, but there are no guarantees that it would yield a (favorable) result. Anyway, I think there is a (hidden for now) link between:
  • VStudio check-box not being present in Assistant, when VStudio already installed
  • Lack of the build parameters combo-boxes for PC Standalone
  • Stripping the UnityEngine.dll dependency when building
• A possible work plan / algorithm for fixing this would be (just theory):
  • Debugging the Assistant and identifying the resource (registry value, file, ...) queried for VStudio installation status
  • Tweak that resource to make Assistant "think" that VStudio is not installed; that would trigger the VStudio installer (and also make Assistant "mark" that this installation as suitable for PC Standalone builds), which would detect a previous installation (of course before this, the resource (if the same) needs to be untweaked) and would fail (another long shot here would be that Assistant doesn't check the return codes)
  • Let Assistant finish and hopefully everything will be fine

Any ideas are welcome.

Side note ¹ (not related to question): While uninstalling/installing Unity, I noticed smth; if it's Community Edition specific, I can (sort of) understand it, but if not, then it's a quite lame bug / behavior:

• Have Unity installed (fully as above)
• Run the Assistant and don't change anything from previous installation (the parent RegKey of the RegValue that I mentioned above, makes sure of that by default). It will:
  • Download (and overwrite ???) any sub pkg (e.g. UnitySetup-Linux-Support-for-Editor-5.6.0f3.exe, FacebookGamesArcade.msi, ...); for me it was ~3GB+ (even if the files were already there)
  • Run every specified("checked") pkg / file
  • Remove (UnitySetup64.exe) any existing installation before installing (???)

Solution 1

Long story

Apparently, there wasn't an easy fix (or at least I couldn't find any), so I started the "extremely challenging" process of uninstalling / reinstalling Unity and VStudio (with restarts after uninstall - to make sure that there are no "hidden" operations left hanging).

I started by looking at what the Assistant does under the hood, by specifying a custom download path, as in the image below:

Note: The installation paths are a little bit different from the ones in the question because I changed them (since I had to reinstall the products why not make some use of it?), but those changes are not relevant.

In the specified folder there were a bunch(~3GB+) of downloaded files (executables), and a batch script that is the command line equivalent of the Assistant.

install.bat:

REM Run this script to automatically install or reinstall all packages,
REM as it's performed by the Unity Download Assistant.
REM Needs to be run with superuser permissions.

"UnitySetup64.exe" -UI=reduced /D=e:\Install\x64\Unity\Community\5.6.0f3
"UnityDocumentationSetup.exe" /S /D=e:\Install\x64\Unity\Community\5.6.0f3
"UnityStandardAssetsSetup.exe" /S /D=e:\Install\x64\Unity\Community\5.6.0f3
"UnityExampleProjectSetup.exe" /S
"vs_Community.exe" --productId "Microsoft.VisualStudio.Product.Community" --add "Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.ManagedGame" --campaign "Unity3d_Unity" --passive
msiexec.exe /i "FacebookGamesArcade.msi" /qr LAUNCHEXE=FALSE
"UnitySetup-Android-Support-for-Editor-5.6.0f3.exe" /S /D=e:\Install\x64\Unity\Community\5.6.0f3
"UnitySetup-iOS-Support-for-Editor-5.6.0f3.exe" /S /D=e:\Install\x64\Unity\Community\5.6.0f3
"UnitySetup-AppleTV-Support-for-Editor-5.6.0f3.exe" /S /D=e:\Install\x64\Unity\Community\5.6.0f3
"UnitySetup-Linux-Support-for-Editor-5.6.0f3.exe" /S /D=e:\Install\x64\Unity\Community\5.6.0f3
"UnitySetup-Mac-Support-for-Editor-5.6.0f3.exe" /S /D=e:\Install\x64\Unity\Community\5.6.0f3
"UnitySetup-Metro-Support-for-Editor-5.6.0f3.exe" /S /D=e:\Install\x64\Unity\Community\5.6.0f3
"UnitySetup-UWP-IL2CPP-Support-for-Editor-5.6.0f3.exe" /S /D=e:\Install\x64\Unity\Community\5.6.0f3
"UnitySetup-Samsung-TV-Support-for-Editor-5.6.0f3.exe" /S /D=e:\Install\x64\Unity\Community\5.6.0f3
"UnitySetup-Tizen-Support-for-Editor-5.6.0f3.exe" /S /D=e:\Install\x64\Unity\Community\5.6.0f3
"UnitySetup-WebGL-Support-for-Editor-5.6.0f3.exe" /S /D=e:\Install\x64\Unity\Community\5.6.0f3
"UnitySetup-Facebook-Games-Support-for-Editor-5.6.0f3.exe" /S /D=e:\Install\x64\Unity\Community\5.6.0f3

The one that caught my eye was the VStudio related one:

"vs_Community.exe" --productId "Microsoft.VisualStudio.Product.Community" --add "Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.ManagedGame" --campaign "Unity3d_Unity" --passive

As (some of) the launcher arguments didn't say much to me, I looked them up: [MS.Docs]: Use command-line parameters to install Visual Studio 2017. So, I launched it by command line (without --passive tho get a chance of looking what features are selected), and I thought I've got it: the Game development with Unity was selected as in the image below (before, when I was installing VStudio "normally", I didn't check that box):

But the behavior was the same !!!

Notes:

• If you choose to install this option (and also install Unity yourself), make sure to uncheck Unity editor, to avoid installing it twice
• As I later found out (by reinstalling, of course), checking / unchecking Game development with Unity has absolutely no impact
• Also, the fact that VStudio wasn't installed on its default path (at some point I became paranoid and thought that there might be some VStudio hardcoded paths in Unity files) was not the cause

The next step that I did, was to recreate the initial scenario (where it used to work):

• Install VStudio with "my" initial options (e.g. Game development with Unity unchecked)
• Install Unity with default options - deleting its RegKey (that I mentioned in the question) prior to installation

and it worked !!!

Then I knew that one of the Unity components is screwing around with my settings, so on top of the basic installation (the contents of the install.bat til vs_Community.exe) I started installing all the other options, one by one, and after each component install check whether I am able to do a PC Standalone build, and ...

Short story

It turns out that Facebook Gameroom Build Support (as showing in the Assistant) was the root of all my problems. So, another clean install of (both VStudio and) Unity (without the Facebook build support) works like a charm.

Now, the investigation is only half way done, I still need to find out why does this happen, but I'm going to stop here. If in the future, I'll need to build for Facebook, then I'll have to figure it out and make it work, but for now I won't.
Note that for my (noobish) purpose, Standalone (PC since currently I'm on Win) builds are enough (and maybe WebGL as well to test from browser), but I installed all the others in case I want to play around with them.

Solution 2

The problem seems introduced when adding Facebook Gameroom build support and is not yet fixed as of 2017.3.1f.

Workaround:

1. Go to Unity folder (C:\Program Files\Unity on Windows x64)
2. Move Unity/Editor/Data/PlaybackEngines/Facebook to the Unity folder, so now you have Editor and Facebook next to each other

By @jura_z at https://forum.unity.com/threads/installing-facebook-gameroom-build-support-gives-loads-of-errors-when-building-to-windows-standalone.489495/