Great question! You're right that version compatibility is important here. Let me clarify the situation.
There are three versions to keep in mind:
- The Godot editor version (e.g., 4.6.1, 4.6.2)
- The spine-godot runtime version (e.g., 4.2, 4.3)
- The Spine editor version (e.g., 4.2, 4.3)
The key rule is that the major.minor version of your spine-godot runtime must match the major.minor version of the Spine editor you exported your skeleton data from. That's why you're seeing the error Skeleton version 4.2.43 does not match runtime version 4.3 — your skeleton was exported with Spine 4.2, but the export templates you downloaded are for runtime 4.3.
You have two options:
Option 1 — Stay on Spine 4.2 (less work):
You need to find export templates built for the spine-godot 4.2 runtime paired with your Godot editor version. Unfortunately, older pre-built binaries may not always be available for download. If they are not listed on the spine-godot downloads page, you would need to build them from source using the 4.2 branch of the spine-runtimes repository.
Option 2 — Upgrade to Spine 4.3 (more work, but future-proof):
As described in the spine-godot update guide, the steps are:
- Download the latest pre-built Godot editor binaries for the Spine Runtimes version you want.
- Download the latest pre-built Godot export template binaries.
- Open the Godot editor and install the export templates via
Editor > Manage export templates... > Install from file, selecting the .tpz file you downloaded.
- Re-export your Spine projects using the Spine 4.3 editor, then replace your old exported files in your Godot project to trigger a re-import.
The code-breaking changes you noticed when upgrading likely come from the Spine 4.3 runtime API differences. It's worth checking the changelog to see exactly what changed and what needs to be updated in your project.
