Actor instance FComponentReference to other actor instance gets nulled on other actor recompile

An editable FComponentReference property on an actor instance can be used to reference another actor's component in the scene. In 4.27 and earlier versions these references were retained when the other actor's class is recompiled. Since UE 5.0 and onward that's no longer the case: the reference is lost when the referenced actor's blueprint class is recompiled.

Reproducable in UE versions 5.0 - 5.4:

• Create a class BP_Actor with a ComponentReference variable
• Create a class BP_OtherActor
• Place an instance of both actors in the map
• Make BP_Actor's ComponentReference point to one of the other actor's components
• Recompile BP_OtherActor
• Observe: the ComponentReference value is cleared (Referenced Actor == null)
• Expected: the ComponentReference value is retained after recompiling BP_OtherActor

• • Note: In 4.27 the expected behavior works