I know next to nothing about this. I have Unity, I’ve watched a presentation or two. I have a project that builds a world that is used as a template in AltSpaceVR. They are making major changes and there is a conversion tool which should adjust the project BUT it doesn’t work with custom shaders. The project I have (a public domain one) has what I believe are custom shaders. A few are set to LowPolyPBRShader and some are set to Autodesk Interactive. A few things are set to Standard.
I have no idea what can be done but what sorts of options would I have to switch these things to some sort of “Standard”? I could try it I suppose but there are so many options I’d probably choose the wrong one and that is too slow a process. So what happens if I change a shader? Might it render “reasonably” or everything will simply go to hell which is my guess
Before someone points it out I’d love to spend the time learning it all but the transition is happening in a few days and there simply isn’t enough time. Oh, I clicked on the shader and it opened in Visual Studio. If there are changes I could make there that would apply I could do that as well but again I have no idea what shader model target, etc. is and I don’t which of these would satisfy the new version of AltSpaceVR.
So, unfortunately, I don’t really know what it is you’re trying to do here. You have a Unity project that’s public domain? Can you share a link to it so we can take a closer look?
Why are you on a time limit with getting this done?
Thank you. I’ll try to be clearer. There are worlds in AltSpaceVR based upon Unity templates. We have such a world and use it for a weekly meeting. ASVR has announced they are switching to URP (and a few other new things) and the worlds will no longer work. There are instructions to rebuild using a newer version of Unity but there are some things that will not convert most notably custom shaders. Things become pink, I imagine because the shader used is not compatible with the new settings. We can rebuild from scratch but it was my hope that I could “dumb down” (for lack of a better term) the shaders used so they would convert.
If a shiny ball was no longer shiny that wouldn’t matter but if the ball wasn’t visible it would matter. I know it isn’t about shiny balls I’m trying to give an example
I will probably change the shader drop downs to “Standard” just to see what happens but if that will just gum everything up I could save some time if someone said “that won’t work”.
I do not know where the original project came from and it has been modified (a bit) to accommodate ASVR assets or I would happily share that information.
Yeah, it’s tough to say without seeing what the shaders or materials look like. I’ve personally not had success converting custom standard pipeline shaders into URP, but I’m also not a shader wiz. You might have more luck finding someone who can help you convert them on the Shader subforum, but you’ll have to actually post the shader code there for them to be able to help you. Just vague references isn’t enough to get anything useful in return, you know?
Knowing the function of these shaders would help, too. If it’s just a glow shader or something, you could find a replacement URP version on the Asset Store and swap it out, for example.
Thanks again. Sounds like that may need to be a project for another day. For now I’m going to try whacking at it with my software hammer and see if I can make it stop complaining It highlights one of the problems with using libraries and such one doesn’t fully understand. May be necessary in the short term but one can’t rely on it.
Is there a way to search for whether a particular shader is being used and/or change all settings of one shader to another one? I am walking down all the items in the scene looking at the shader and changing it to Standard. I don’t see anything different in the scene so maybe this works (maybe not). The problem will be if I miss one or two.
Would deleting the custom shader be smart? Would that highlight the items that now can’t find their shader?
I seriously do not have the time to understand more than I do now or can understand by reading a few paragraphs or a reply here. I’ve just changed all items named “shader” from whatever CustomLowPoly whatever it was and a few CustomFoliage whatever and a couple of others to “Standard”. Looking at the scene some things seemed to change slightly but by that I mean perhaps a bit more drab (and even that I don’t know for a fact). I’m going to try to upgrade the project now and will see if it succeeds.
Hippo’s a bit rough, but he’s not wrong here. It is tough to read someone indicating they don’t have time to learn while asking for help, as it suggests those of us offering our time to assist have lots of time we can just spend doing the things you can’t be bothered to. It’s especially tough when we ask you to share more information in order to assist and you don’t.
If this is a volunteer or hobby project, I don’t see how your tight deadline is something that warrants putting others out in lieu of trying to learn so you can fix it properly. If this is part of a job you’re being paid to do, it’s even more unreasonable to expect others to solve anything for you.
By all means, try swapping everything out with standard shaders. If they were custom to begin with, it was probably for a reason, so you’re definitely losing something. Whether that something matters to you – either for performance or aesthetics – is something only you can know since you haven’t given us anything specific to work with here.
Something has gotten lost in translation. I’m not unappreciative that should be clear. I thought I offered enough information without burdening everyone with exact numbers for everything. I’m also not what I consider Unity-savvy so I’m very likely to not use the correct wording. I am a software developer just not in VR.
I mentioned AltSpaceVR if you are familiar with it lots of questions are automatically answered, if you are not I’d have to explain it but they host VR worlds. They are making a fundamental breaking change that is going into effect next Tuesday. Our meeting world will break on that day.
I quite honestly didn’t think I was putting anyone out when I asked about locating shaders in use. I’m not asking anyone here to solve the problem. I didn’t expect a solution I was trying to explain that I’m stuck in the desert with a flat tire and no obvious way to get that tire off. “Well you should study car repair” just isn’t an option, I wish it was.
