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

While this is only remotely related to programming, here it goes:

Since last week I have been playing with Unity (5.6.0f3 Community x64) on Win 10 (x64) - using Visual Studio (2017 Community ) as the attached editor as Unity requires - and started with [Unity]: Tutorials (first from them). For several days everything went fine, but then, the PC build of Standalone target stopped working. Searching and checking the forums failed to find information about this behavior:

As you can see from the Build Options dialog box (shifted to the right), there are no combo boxes (Target Platform or Architecture) to allow you to specify build options. Errors on the left side.

Notes (about current behavior):

• At first the tutorial project was supposed to have messed up somehow, so I created a new one from scratch (empty / simple, containing one sphere to which a Rigidbody is attached and a C # script that applies forces based on user input), but it behaves like the same (this is the build output of the project in the image above)
• The WebGL assembly works fine (loads in the browser); this is a workaround currently used but takes years to complete
• The game (obviously) also works (it goes without saying that everything is fine in VStudio, no complaints from csc) !!! but !!! after trying (and unsuccessful) build, the game no longer works (restarting the project is the only way to fix this)

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

Everything is checked, there are 2 items (not very local for this case) that are not displayed (because the window is not sized), but they are checked (and installed ).

Background information :

• When installing Unity for the first time, there was no VStudio 2017 on the machine, so it (Community Edition) was installed as part of the Unity installation process (I remember (at least) one combo box related to VStudio in Assistant)
• Then the VStudio patch was available; While preparing to install, I realized that VStudio was installed in the default path (at% SYSTEMDRIVE%), which doesn't work for me as it's a big product, so:
  • Deleted it
  • Reinstalled it (straight from [VisualStudio]: Visual Studio Downloads ) on a different drive (and yes, I know that changing the install path still installs quite a bit, like the Windows SDK, to% SYSTEMDRIVE%)
  • Since I thought the above 2 steps would break the communication between Unity and the new VStudio, I also reinstalled Unity. There were no VStudio related checkboxes in the Assistant this time (it seems normal to check if any software that needs to be installed is installed ¹ ). Later I also discovered a constant (i.e. not erasable during Unity uninstall) RegValue (HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ SOFTWARE \ Unity Technologies \ Installer \ Select_VisualStudio) with a value of 0 (as opposed to many other values ​​in the same key with values ​​of 1)
• After that I reinstalled Unity several times, including reboots (optional) between uninstall / install, but to no avail (I also took a long shot of enabling RegVaue above before running Assistant)

A little debugging showed that when trying to build (PC Standalone) Unity does something like this (ignore the paths as they are 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 will call this utfile), more precisely the one that is created when the assembly is run. The most interesting thing is that it was created from another (one of 10+ identical ones created during project load) file (no end-to-end check, maybe there are additional lines) interleaving (and amestecating) multiple lines.

The obvious (don't even need to check the original utfile): -r:E: /Install/x64/Unity/5.6.0f3/Editor/Data/Managed/UnityEngine.dll

which is inserted into the above file works fine. But I don't know how to instruct Unity not to strip it.

Other facts (more or less significant):

• Several other versions of VStudio installed (2010, 2013, 2015) and more VCRedists, but I seriously doubt any of this will matter since VStudio is only used for editing (for example, Unity starts when a script is clicked)
• My computer is also "suffering" from [BT]: has the Windows 10 Start menu stopped working? How to fix this (I reboot ~ once a week; 3-4 days later the problem appears again) but it happens weeks before installing Unity

Possible solutions :

• Remove Unity and VStudio and restore the original setting (if still working) - not desirable
• Get the answer (here or on the Unity forums, where I'm going to post the same question right away) and hopefully get to the bottom of it.
• Run the painful debugging / monitoring process ( [MS.Docs]: Process Monitor (ProcMon) is also a great tool), may include disassembling UnityDownloadAssistant-5.6.0f3.exe, but there is no guarantee it will produce a (favorable) result. Anyway, I think there is a (so far hidden) connection between:
  • VStudio checkbox is missing in Assistant when VStudio is already installed
  • Lack of combo boxes of build parameters for PC Standalone
  • Removing UnityEngine.dll Dependency on Build
• A possible work plan / algorithm to fix this would be (theory only):
  • Debug the helper and determine the resource (registry value, file, ...) requested for the VStudio installation status
  • Configure this resource to make the Assistant think that VStudio is not installed; this will call the VStudio installer (and also make the assistant "mark" that this installation is suitable for stand-alone PC builds), which will detect a previous installation (of course, before that the resource (if the same one) should not be configured) and fails (another long option - helper doesn't check return codes)
  • Let the assistant finish and hope everything will be fine

Any ideas are appreciated.

Note ¹ (not relevant to the question): I noticed something while uninstalling / installing Unity; if it's Community Edition specific, I can (sort of) figure it out, but if not, then this is a pretty gross error / behavior:

• Install Unity (completely as above)
• Launch the Assistant and don't change anything from the previous installation (the parent RegKey of the RegValue I mentioned above checks this by default). Will be:
  • Download (and overwrite ???) any subpackaged program (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 each specified ("checked") file / file
  • Remove (UnitySetup64.exe) any existing installation before installing (???)