diff --git a/editor/editor_node.cpp b/editor/editor_node.cpp
index 558734d0c40..8da9ae221aa 100644
--- a/editor/editor_node.cpp
+++ b/editor/editor_node.cpp
@@ -1517,15 +1517,6 @@ void EditorNode::_save_scene(String p_file, int idx) {
 		return;
 	}
 
-	// force creation of node path cache
-	// (hacky but needed for the tree to update properly)
-	Node *dummy_scene = sdata->instance(PackedScene::GEN_EDIT_STATE_INSTANCE);
-	if (!dummy_scene) {
-		show_accept(TTR("Couldn't save scene. Likely dependencies (instances or inheritance) couldn't be satisfied."), TTR("OK"));
-		return;
-	}
-	memdelete(dummy_scene);
-
 	int flg = 0;
 	if (EditorSettings::get_singleton()->get("filesystem/on_save/compress_binary_resources")) {
 		flg |= ResourceSaver::FLAG_COMPRESS;
diff --git a/scene/resources/packed_scene.cpp b/scene/resources/packed_scene.cpp
index fd4fcff24b1..070b5e61cca 100644
--- a/scene/resources/packed_scene.cpp
+++ b/scene/resources/packed_scene.cpp
@@ -895,6 +895,13 @@ Error SceneState::pack(Node *p_scene) {
 		node_paths.write[E->get()] = scene->get_path_to(E->key());
 	}
 
+	if (Engine::get_singleton()->is_editor_hint()) {
+		// Build node path cache
+		for (Map<Node *, int>::Element *E = node_map.front(); E; E = E->next()) {
+			node_path_cache[scene->get_path_to(E->key())] = E->get();
+		}
+	}
+
 	return OK;
 }
 
@@ -929,10 +936,12 @@ Ref<SceneState> SceneState::_get_base_scene_state() const {
 }
 
 int SceneState::find_node_by_path(const NodePath &p_node) const {
+	ERR_FAIL_COND_V_MSG(node_path_cache.size() == 0, -1, "This operation requires the node cache to have been built.");
+
 	if (!node_path_cache.has(p_node)) {
 		if (_get_base_scene_state().is_valid()) {
 			int idx = _get_base_scene_state()->find_node_by_path(p_node);
-			if (idx >= 0) {
+			if (idx != -1) {
 				int rkey = _find_base_scene_node_remap_key(idx);
 				if (rkey == -1) {
 					rkey = nodes.size() + base_scene_node_remap.size();