IDEA 2016.3 compile error, please help!

I have similar problem after updating to idea version 2016.3 from 12.1.3.

I have the same problem only my java 1.6. 

the fast solution what fixed my problem is found here - https://youtrack.jetbrains.com/issue/IDEA-163321

I added line
-Dcompiler.process.jdk=<path-to-jdk7-home>
to the file 
idea.exe.vmoptions

and got message on make - 'Information:Using javac 1.7.0_45 to compile java sources' 

Hi, today I just updated my IntelliJ to 2016.3 and having the same issue, and old legacy JDK1.6 code, that it's configured to use java 1.6 but it's compiling with Java 1.8.

IntelliJ IDEA 2016.3
Build #IU-163.7743.44, built on November 17, 2016

@Gar97172 see one post above yours for the workaround.

the workaround that set -Dcompiler.process.jdk=<path-to-jdk7-home> it works for me ^-^.

the error I encountered was introduced by a maven dependency, which use lomobk 0.12.0 as a dependency. 

java.lang.RuntimeException: java.lang.ExceptionInInitializerError
 at com.sun.tools.javac.main.Main.compile(Main.java:553)
 at com.sun.tools.javac.api.JavacTaskImpl.doCall(JavacTaskImpl.java:129)
 at com.sun.tools.javac.api.JavacTaskImpl.call(JavacTaskImpl.java:138)
 at org.jetbrains.jps.javac.JavacMain.compile(JavacMain.java:180)
 at org.jetbrains.jps.incremental.java.JavaBuilder.compileJava(JavaBuilder.java:445)
 at org.jetbrains.jps.incremental.java.JavaBuilder.compile(JavaBuilder.java:302)
 at org.jetbrains.jps.incremental.java.JavaBuilder.doBuild(JavaBuilder.java:208)
 at org.jetbrains.jps.incremental.java.JavaBuilder.build(JavaBuilder.java:170)
 at org.jetbrains.jps.incremental.IncProjectBuilder.runModuleLevelBuilders(IncProjectBuilder.java:1275)
 at org.jetbrains.jps.incremental.IncProjectBuilder.runBuildersForChunk(IncProjectBuilder.java:949)
 at org.jetbrains.jps.incremental.IncProjectBuilder.buildTargetsChunk(IncProjectBuilder.java:1021)
 at org.jetbrains.jps.incremental.IncProjectBuilder.buildChunkIfAffected(IncProjectBuilder.java:908)
 at org.jetbrains.jps.incremental.IncProjectBuilder.buildChunks(IncProjectBuilder.java:734)
 at org.jetbrains.jps.incremental.IncProjectBuilder.runBuild(IncProjectBuilder.java:387)
 at org.jetbrains.jps.incremental.IncProjectBuilder.build(IncProjectBuilder.java:195)
 at org.jetbrains.jps.cmdline.BuildRunner.runBuild(BuildRunner.java:138)
 at org.jetbrains.jps.cmdline.BuildSession.runBuild(BuildSession.java:295)
 at org.jetbrains.jps.cmdline.BuildSession.run(BuildSession.java:125)
 at org.jetbrains.jps.cmdline.BuildMain$MyMessageHandler$1.run(BuildMain.java:238)
 at org.jetbrains.jps.service.impl.SharedThreadPoolImpl$1.run(SharedThreadPoolImpl.java:44)
 at java.util.concurrent.Executors$RunnableAdapter.call(Executors.java:511)
 at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:266)
 at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1142)
 at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:617)
 at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:745)
Caused by: java.lang.ExceptionInInitializerError
 at lombok.javac.handlers.HandleGetter.<clinit>(HandleGetter.java:294)
 at java.lang.Class.forName0(Native Method)
 at java.lang.Class.forName(Class.java:348)
 at lombok.core.SpiLoadUtil$1$1.next(SpiLoadUtil.java:111)
 at lombok.javac.HandlerLibrary.loadAnnotationHandlers(HandlerLibrary.java:167)
 at lombok.javac.HandlerLibrary.load(HandlerLibrary.java:152)
 at lombok.javac.JavacTransformer.<init>(JavacTransformer.java:43)
 at lombok.javac.apt.Processor.init(Processor.java:86)
 at lombok.core.AnnotationProcessor$JavacDescriptor.want(AnnotationProcessor.java:89)
 at lombok.core.AnnotationProcessor.init(AnnotationProcessor.java:143)
 at com.sun.tools.javac.processing.JavacProcessingEnvironment$ProcessorState.<init>(JavacProcessingEnvironment.java:500)
 at com.sun.tools.javac.processing.JavacProcessingEnvironment$DiscoveredProcessors$ProcessorStateIterator.next(JavacProcessingEnvironment.java:597)
 at com.sun.tools.javac.processing.JavacProcessingEnvironment.discoverAndRunProcs(JavacProcessingEnvironment.java:690)
 at com.sun.tools.javac.processing.JavacProcessingEnvironment.access$1800(JavacProcessingEnvironment.java:91)
 at com.sun.tools.javac.processing.JavacProcessingEnvironment$Round.run(JavacProcessingEnvironment.java:1035)
 at com.sun.tools.javac.processing.JavacProcessingEnvironment.doProcessing(JavacProcessingEnvironment.java:1176)
 at com.sun.tools.javac.main.JavaCompiler.processAnnotations(JavaCompiler.java:1170)
 at com.sun.tools.javac.main.JavaCompiler.compile(JavaCompiler.java:856)
 at com.sun.tools.javac.main.Main.compile(Main.java:523)
 ... 24 more
Caused by: java.lang.RuntimeException: java.lang.NoSuchFieldException: NE
 at lombok.javac.Javac.getCtcInt(Javac.java:137)
 at lombok.javac.Javac.<clinit>(Javac.java:115)
 ... 43 more
Caused by: java.lang.NoSuchFieldException: NE
 at java.lang.Class.getField(Class.java:1703)
 at lombok.javac.Javac.getCtcInt(Javac.java:135)
 ... 44 more

My project can builded successfully while the build process use javac 1.7.0.80. But I dont want to upgrade my project to jdk8 right now, because upgrading my dependency will take a lot of efforts which I cant afford now

So just set the vm option is fine for me

Thanks @Serge Baranov! for your help, but I work on multiple projects, some in java 6 and other in Java 8.  I had to get back to 2016.2.5 in the meantime until the next release.

Thanks again.

Same issue.  I don't know why they don't have tests to ensure that the write compiler is picked when settings are changed to a lower JDK since not all features are 100% forward compatible.  Seems https://youtrack.jetbrains.com/issue/IDEA-163321 is tracking the fix however so fingers crossed I'll be able to upgrade to 2017.1 or 2016.4.  I'm going to have to rollback to 2016.2 as well since I have a multitude of projects in differing versions and one at least is not forward compatible with javac 1.8*.

Alexis, the fix is already in 2016.1.3 RC that you can get at https://confluence.jetbrains.com/display/IDEADEV/IDEA+2016.3+EAP.