Standalone: Pack command inserts empty manifest.json

[noghiri]

Platform:

Windows 10 Pro build 19042 x64
Mason 1.0.4

Summary:

When running mason pack, the manifest.json placed in mod.zip is empty and does not have the contents of the manifest.json inside the project folder.
Expected behavior: The manifest.json inside the mod.zip should match the manifest.json inside the project folder.

Steps to reproduce:

1. Set up project folder as in image.
   
2. Insert contents of manifest.json, like so:

  "name": "BB_ModulAR18",
  "version_number": "1.0.0",
  "website_url": "",
  "description": "Adds an AR-18.",
  "dependencies": [
    "WFIOST-H3VRUtilities-8.0.3"
  ]
}

3. Set up config.yaml thusly, according to the documentation:

directories:
  bepinex: C:\Users\<USERNAME>\AppData\Roaming\r2modmanPlus-local\H3VR\profiles\testing_modul\BepInEx
  managed: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\H3VR\h3vr_Data\Managed
...

4. Set up project.yaml like so (yes, I'm aware my dependencies aren't set up right but it runs and it shouldn't impact this bug):

version: 1
dependencies:
  hard:
    h3vr.otherloader: 1.0.0
assets:
  runtime:
    nested:
    - assets:
      - path: any_modular18-core
        plugin: h3vr.otherloader
        loader: item_unordered
    
...

5. Add icon.png, README.md, and the virtualobject in resources like normal.
6. Open command line at project root, and run mason pack, which provides this output:

PS D:\unitymodding\STAGING\noghiri-BB_ModulAR18> mason pack
Parsed commandline arguments
Parsed config
Constructed compiler
warning at manifest.json(0,0): [C10] The author of the mod was infered by the directory name. Consider adding an 'author' property.
Compiled noghiri-BB_ModulAR18-1.0.0 with 1 warnings
Creating package
Added bootstrap DLL
Added minified manifest
Added Thunderstore-required files
Added resources
Created package
Acquired output file
Wrote content to disk

7. Open resulting mod.zip in 7zip, and open the manifest.json to read the version in the zip file:
   

Notably, the README.md is perfectly fine, it's been added correctly to the zip file. It's not a big deal to simply work around, but really doesn't conform to the behavior I'd expect from the standalone compiler.

[noghiri]

Update: Bug persists with the following manifest.json, which includes an Author field and thus doesn't trigger missing author-related code:

{
  "name": "BB_ModulAR18",
  "author": "noghiri",
  "version_number": "1.0.2",
  "website_url": "",
  "description": "Adds an AR-18.",
  "dependencies": [
    "WFIOST-H3VRUtilities-8.6.2",
	"devyndamonster-OtherLoader-1.1.1"
  ]
}