I’m using Unity 2020.2.6f1 and HDRP. My project does not use any baked lighting or GI, I’m solely relying on realtime lights. However, I’m always seeing my editor doing some activity around GI, more specifically around Enlighten. Both in editor and in a built project, I’m always seeing this output in the log file:
This even happens if my build runs in headless mode (“Server Build” option).
Unity also creates a ton of empty GiCache folders in my AppData folder. Editor log provides this output: Created GICache directory at C:/Users/Name/AppData/LocalLow/Unity/Caches/GiCache. Took: 0.014s, timestamps: [41.900 - 41.914]
I’m also seeing quite some outputs like this in the editor log lately: [00:49:11] Enlighten: Finished 2 Bake Ambient Probe jobs (0.00s execute, 0.00s integrate, 2.66s wallclock)
Since 2020.2.4f1 (I guess) I’m also seeing a progress bar “GlobalIllumination: Preprocessing” everytime I recompile scripts (for example) in the lower right corner of the editor. Sometimes it disappears after a brief moment, sometimes it only disappears as soon as I move my cursor over it.
Is there a way to get rid of Enlighten for good? This really drives me nuts 
I don’t need Enlighten or any baked lighting or GI for my project. I appreciate any help!
Probably not. This has been going on for a long time, I just gave up and decided that some workers are going to spawn (although those are probably too many in your case).
Hey! I remember us fixing an issue similar to the one you’ve described, albeit it in server builds: Unity Issue Tracker - Worker threads for Enlighten are set up when launching a Server Build
We have also another bug fix on track, which will remove unnecessary Enlighten.BakeManager updates during runtime: Unity Issue Tracker - EnlightenRuntimeManager.PostUpdate takes time when realtime GI is disabled
GI cache and ambient probe systems are an integral part of the editor which cannot be as easily removed.
Regarding the worker thread issue; could you please submit a bug report so that we could investigate? Thanks.
Thanks @AcidArrow and @kristijonas_unity for your responses! I will prepare a bug report about the worker thread issue (which happens both in regular builds as well as in server builds)
As a workaround you can try removing Enlighten from the render pipeline here, while waiting for us to fix the bug you reported Graphics/com.unity.render-pipelines.high-definition/Runtime/RenderPipeline/HDRenderPipeline.cs at b13eee4f19ac8bb30f41b78cba41b71cd401828f · Unity-Technologies/Graphics · GitHub
lightmapBakeTypes = LightmapBakeType.Baked | LightmapBakeType.Mixed,
…
enlighten = false
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