bevyengine/bevy · error · DeserializeMetaError

Failed to deserialize asset meta: {0:?}

Error message

Failed to deserialize asset meta: {0:?}

What it means

DeserializeMetaError::DeserializeMeta: the .meta file for the asset could not be deserialized into the full AssetMeta structure — malformed/missing fields, wrong schema version, or incompatible custom meta. The raw error/serde output is included in the message.

Source

Thrown at crates/bevy_asset/src/loader.rs:367

    ///
    /// [#18291]: https://github.com/bevyengine/bevy/issues/18291
    #[error("Requested to load an asset path ({0:?}) with a subasset, but this is unsupported. See issue #18291")]
    RequestedSubasset(AssetPath<'static>),
    /// A general [`AssetLoadError`] for an asset dependency.
    #[error("Failed to load dependency {dependency:?} {error}")]
    LoadError {
        /// Which dependency failed.
        dependency: AssetPath<'static>,
        /// The original error for that dependency.
        error: Box<AssetLoadError>,
    },
}

/// An error that occurs while deserializing [`AssetMeta`].
#[derive(Error, Debug, Clone, PartialEq, Eq)]
pub enum DeserializeMetaError {
    /// Failed to deserialize the asset metadata.
    #[error("Failed to deserialize asset meta: {0:?}")]
    DeserializeSettings(#[from] SpannedError),
    /// Failed to deserialize the minimal asset metadata.
    #[error("Failed to deserialize minimal asset meta: {0:?}")]
    DeserializeMinimal(SpannedError),
}

/// A context that provides access to assets in [`AssetLoader`]s, tracks dependencies, and collects asset load state.
///
/// Any asset state accessed by [`LoadContext`] will be tracked and stored for use in dependency events and asset preprocessing.
pub struct LoadContext<'a> {
    pub(crate) asset_server: &'a AssetServer,
    /// Specifies whether dependencies that are loaded deferred should be loaded.
    ///
    /// This allows us to skip loads for cases where we're never going to use the asset and we just
    /// need the dependency information, for example during asset processing.
    pub(crate) should_load_dependencies: bool,
    populate_hashes: bool,
    asset_path: AssetPath<'static>,

View on GitHub (pinned to 396ca72708)

Solutions

1. Check the .meta file contents for syntax errors and schema mismatches
2. Regenerate or delete the .meta file so bevy recreates it with the current schema
3. Update asset processing code/meta version after upgrading bevy

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at crates/bevy_asset/src/loader.rs:367 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of bevyengine/bevy@396ca72708 (2026-08-20). Data as JSON: /api/errors/6f93e3ab5b8b670b. Report an issue: GitHub.