diff --git a/mc-manager/BUILD.py b/mc-manager/BUILD.py
index 5b0c0d2..088e0b8 100644
--- a/mc-manager/BUILD.py
+++ b/mc-manager/BUILD.py
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 #!/usr/bin/python3
 
-import os
+import os, datetime
 
 RIDS = [
     "linux-x64",
@@ -11,11 +11,26 @@ RIDS = [
     "win-arm64"
 ]
 
+def get_timestamp():
+    # Yep. We're emulating a bug where our autogenerated timestamps do not have leading zeros
+    # even though it would be semantically correct to prepend them.
+    # This has been a bug since the software was created and now we need to keep it,
+    # lest we break any end user's automatic updating script.
+    now = datetime.datetime.now(datetime.timezone.utc)
+
+    year = now.strftime("%Y")
+    month_day = int(now.strftime("%m%d"))
+    hour_min = int(now.strftime("%H%M"))
+
+    return f"{year}.{month_day}.{hour_min}"
+
+CURRENT_TIMESTAMP = get_timestamp()
+
 for rid in RIDS:
     target_os, arch = rid.split("-")
 
     print(f"=> BUILDING: {rid}")
-    ret = os.system(rf"dotnet publish --sc true --os {target_os} --arch {arch} -o ./pub/{rid}")
+    ret = os.system(rf"dotnet publish --sc true --os {target_os} --arch {arch} -p:Version={CURRENT_TIMESTAMP} -o ./pub/{rid}")
     if ret != 0:
         raise OSError("Build error")
     
diff --git a/mc-manager/mc-manager.csproj b/mc-manager/mc-manager.csproj
index 06adf4b..0a58984 100644
--- a/mc-manager/mc-manager.csproj
+++ b/mc-manager/mc-manager.csproj
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
     <ImplicitUsings>enable</ImplicitUsings>
     <Nullable>enable</Nullable>
 
-    <AssemblyVersion>$([System.DateTime]::UtcNow.ToString("yyyy.MMdd.HHmm"))</AssemblyVersion>
+    <Version Condition="'$(Version)' == ''">$([System.DateTime]::UtcNow.ToString("yyyy.MMdd.HHmm"))</Version>
   </PropertyGroup>
 
   <ItemGroup>