precompiling plugins with building them in the empty host project first (UBT with project) then directly the plugin (UBT with uplugin) this ensures all the damn files necessary for precompiled plugins to work as expected. I don't know what Epic is doing with plugins distributed on Fab, but I'm 100% sure they do more magic than UAT BuildPlugin.

Author: microdee

src/Nuke.Unreal/Plugins/UnrealPlugin.cs

@@ -439,7 +439,7 @@ private bool InjectBinaryPlumbing(PluginDescriptor descriptor, out PluginDescrip
 
         if (!pretend && options.UPluginAssociateEngineVersion)
         {
-            descriptor = descriptor with { EngineVersion = Unreal.Version(build).VersionMinor };
+            descriptor = descriptor with { EngineVersion = Unreal.Version(build).VersionMinor + ".0" };
             Unreal.WriteJson(descriptor, outUPlugin);
         }
 
@@ -607,31 +607,53 @@ public AbsolutePath BuildPlugin(
             try
             {
                 UbtConfig Common(UbtConfig _) => _
-                    .Project(shortHostProjectDir / "HostProject.uproject")
-                    // .Plugin(shortPluginDir / PluginPath.Name) // this just breaks plugin distribution
-                    // .NoUBTMakefiles()
                     .NoHotReload()
-                    .Apply(ubtConfig)
                     .Apply(build.UbtGlobal)
+                    .Apply(ubtConfig)
+                ;
+                UbtConfig CommonProject(UbtConfig _) => _
+                    .Project(shortHostProjectDir / "HostProject.uproject")
+                    .Apply(Common)
+                ;
+                UbtConfig CommonPlugin(UbtConfig _) => _
+                    .Plugin(shortPluginDir / PluginPath.Name)
+                    .Apply(Common)
                 ;
 
                 foreach(var platform in platforms)
                 {
-                    Log.Information("Building UnrealGame binaries for {0} @ {1}", Name, platform);
+                    Log.Information("Building UnrealGame binaries from UProject for {0} @ {1}", Name, platform);
+                    Unreal.BuildTool(build, _ => _
+                        .Target("UnrealGame", platform,
+                        [
+                            UnrealConfig.Development,
+                            UnrealConfig.Shipping
+                        ])
+                        .Apply(CommonProject)
+                    )("");
+                    if (platform.IsDevelopment)
+                    {
+                        Log.Information("Building UnrealEditor binaries for UProject {0} @ {1}", Name, platform);
+                        Unreal.BuildTool(build, _ => _
+                            .Target("UnrealEditor", platform, [UnrealConfig.Development])
+                            .Apply(CommonProject)
+                        )("");
+                    }
+                    Log.Information("Building UnrealGame binaries from UPlugin for {0} @ {1}", Name, platform);
                     Unreal.BuildTool(build, _ => _
                         .Target("UnrealGame", platform,
                         [
                             UnrealConfig.Development,
                             UnrealConfig.Shipping
                         ])
-                        .Apply(Common)
+                        .Apply(CommonPlugin)
                     )("");
                     if (platform.IsDevelopment)
                     {
-                        Log.Information("Building UnrealEditor binaries for {0} @ {1}", Name, platform);
+                        Log.Information("Building UnrealEditor binaries for UPlugin {0} @ {1}", Name, platform);
                         Unreal.BuildTool(build, _ => _
                             .Target("UnrealEditor", platform, [UnrealConfig.Development])
-                            .Apply(Common)
+                            .Apply(CommonPlugin)
                         )("");
                     }
                 }