Materials Pink in Game Build, not in Editor

[sonictimm]

My game graphics work fine in the Editor, but when I Build for Windows, most materials are Pink.

I am using the Universal Render Pipeline with some Post Processes.

The solution is not to convert Materials to URP, I did that a very long time ago. They are not pink in the editor.

I don’t think the PP’s are to blame either:

• I unchecked the PP component on my camera and re-built the game, still pink
• I have a build from 2023 that works, and I haven’t touched the PP’s since then.

Screenshot from a packaged build in 2023-11 showing the working PP:

Unity version 2021.3.39f1

Editor Console when I do a Clean Build:

Rebuild Runtime Animator State SFX Values for: <b>35 Animators</b> - <b>2 Behaviours</b> | <b>Operation Completed!</b>
UnityEngine.Debug:Log (object)
AlmenaraGames.Tools.MLPASAnimatorSFXController:UpdateValues (bool) (at Assets/MLPAS/Animator/Editor/MLPASAnimatorSFXController.cs:150)
AlmenaraGames.Tools.MLPASAnimatorPreProcess:OnPreprocessBuild (UnityEditor.Build.Reporting.BuildReport) (at Assets/MLPAS/Animator/Editor/MLPASAnimatorPreProcess.cs:15)
UnityEditor.GenericMenu:CatchMenu (object,string[],int)

Assets\EnvironmentPacks\Broccoli\Catalog\SproutCatalog.cs(74,8): warning CS0414: The field 'SproutCatalog.isPackLoaded' is assigned but its value is never used

Assets\EnvironmentPacks\BroccoliExamples\Scripts\SceneDescriptor.cs(49,16): warning CS0414: The field 'SceneDescriptor.lastSaved' is assigned but its value is never used

Assets\EnvironmentPacks\Broccoli\Builder\BillboardBuilder.cs(129,29): warning CS0414: The field 'BillboardBuilder._qualityRP' is assigned but its value is never used

Assets\EnvironmentPacks\Broccoli\Builder\BillboardBuilder.cs(39,7): warning CS0414: The field 'BillboardBuilder.paddingPixels' is assigned but its value is never used

Assets\EnvironmentPacks\Broccoli\Factory\TreeFactory.cs(248,7): warning CS0414: The field 'TreeFactory._instanceId' is assigned but its value is never used

Assets\MLPAS\Scripts\MultiAudioSource.cs(539,14): warning CS0414: The field 'MultiAudioSource.usingShape' is assigned but its value is never used

Shader warning in 'Hidden/Universal Render Pipeline/StencilDeferred': implicit truncation of vector type at line 187 (on d3d11)

Compiling Subshader: 0, Pass: Deferred Directional Light (Lit), Fragment program with _DEFERRED_FIRST_LIGHT _DEFERRED_MAIN_LIGHT _DEFERRED_MIXED_LIGHTING _DEFERRED_STENCIL _DIRECTIONAL _LIGHT_COOKIES _LIT
Platform defines: SHADER_API_DESKTOP UNITY_COLORSPACE_GAMMA UNITY_ENABLE_DETAIL_NORMALMAP UNITY_ENABLE_REFLECTION_BUFFERS UNITY_LIGHTMAP_RGBM_ENCODING UNITY_LIGHT_PROBE_PROXY_VOLUME UNITY_PBS_USE_BRDF1 UNITY_SPECCUBE_BLENDING UNITY_SPECCUBE_BOX_PROJECTION UNITY_USE_DITHER_MASK_FOR_ALPHABLENDED_SHADOWS
Disabled keywords: LIGHTMAP_SHADOW_MIXING SHADER_API_GLES30 SHADOWS_SHADOWMASK UNITY_ASTC_NORMALMAP_ENCODING UNITY_ENABLE_NATIVE_SHADOW_LOOKUPS UNITY_FRAMEBUFFER_FETCH_AVAILABLE UNITY_HALF_PRECISION_FRAGMENT_SHADER_REGISTERS UNITY_HARDWARE_TIER1 UNITY_HARDWARE_TIER2 UNITY_HARDWARE_TIER3 UNITY_LIGHTMAP_DLDR_ENCODING UNITY_LIGHTMAP_FULL_HDR UNITY_METAL_SHADOWS_USE_POINT_FILTERING UNITY_NO_DXT5nm UNITY_NO_FULL_STANDARD_SHADER UNITY_NO_SCREENSPACE_SHADOWS UNITY_PBS_USE_BRDF2 UNITY_PBS_USE_BRDF3 UNITY_PRETRANSFORM_TO_DISPLAY_ORIENTATION UNITY_UNIFIED_SHADER_PRECISION_MODEL UNITY_VIRTUAL_TEXTURING _ADDITIONAL_LIGHT_SHADOWS _GBUFFER_NORMALS_OCT _LIGHT_LAYERS _MAIN_LIGHT_SHADOWS _MAIN_LIGHT_SHADOWS_CASCADE _MAIN_LIGHT_SHADOWS_SCREEN _RENDER_PASS_ENABLED _SCREEN_SPACE_OCCLUSION _SHADOWS_SOFT

Shader warning in 'Hidden/Universal Render Pipeline/StencilDeferred': implicit truncation of vector type at line 232 (on d3d11)

Compiling Subshader: 0, Pass: Deferred Punctual Light (Lit), Fragment program with _DEFERRED_STENCIL _LIGHT_COOKIES _LIT _POINT _RENDER_PASS_ENABLED
Platform defines: SHADER_API_DESKTOP UNITY_COLORSPACE_GAMMA UNITY_ENABLE_DETAIL_NORMALMAP UNITY_ENABLE_REFLECTION_BUFFERS UNITY_LIGHTMAP_RGBM_ENCODING UNITY_LIGHT_PROBE_PROXY_VOLUME UNITY_PBS_USE_BRDF1 UNITY_SPECCUBE_BLENDING UNITY_SPECCUBE_BOX_PROJECTION UNITY_USE_DITHER_MASK_FOR_ALPHABLENDED_SHADOWS
Disabled keywords: LIGHTMAP_SHADOW_MIXING SHADER_API_GLES30 SHADOWS_SHADOWMASK UNITY_ASTC_NORMALMAP_ENCODING UNITY_ENABLE_NATIVE_SHADOW_LOOKUPS UNITY_FRAMEBUFFER_FETCH_AVAILABLE UNITY_HALF_PRECISION_FRAGMENT_SHADER_REGISTERS UNITY_HARDWARE_TIER1 UNITY_HARDWARE_TIER2 UNITY_HARDWARE_TIER3 UNITY_LIGHTMAP_DLDR_ENCODING UNITY_LIGHTMAP_FULL_HDR UNITY_METAL_SHADOWS_USE_POINT_FILTERING UNITY_NO_DXT5nm UNITY_NO_FULL_STANDARD_SHADER UNITY_NO_SCREENSPACE_SHADOWS UNITY_PBS_USE_BRDF2 UNITY_PBS_USE_BRDF3 UNITY_PRETRANSFORM_TO_DISPLAY_ORIENTATION UNITY_UNIFIED_SHADER_PRECISION_MODEL UNITY_VIRTUAL_TEXTURING _ADDITIONAL_LIGHT_SHADOWS _DEFERRED_MIXED_LIGHTING _GBUFFER_NORMALS_OCT _LIGHT_LAYERS _SCREEN_SPACE_OCCLUSION _SHADOWS_SOFT _SPOT

Shader warning in 'Hidden/Universal Render Pipeline/Terrain/Lit (Add Pass)': Unrecognized #pragma instancing_options directive: norenderinglayer at line 80

Shader warning in 'Hidden/Universal Render Pipeline/Terrain/Lit (Add Pass)': Unrecognized #pragma instancing_options directive: norenderinglayer at line 127

Shader warning in 'Hidden/Universal Render Pipeline/Terrain/Lit (Base Pass)': Unrecognized #pragma instancing_options directive: norenderinglayer at line 60

Shader warning in 'Hidden/Universal Render Pipeline/Terrain/Lit (Base Pass)': Unrecognized #pragma instancing_options directive: norenderinglayer at line 135

Shader warning in 'Hidden/PostProcessing/Uber': Unrecognized renderer for #pragma exclude_renderers: webgpu at line 278

Shader warning in 'Hidden/PostProcessing/Uber': Unrecognized renderer for #pragma only_renderers: webgpu at line 293

Shader warning in 'EasyRoads3D/ER Blend UV4': Ignoring duplicate keyword line '#pragma multi_compile_fog __ FOG_LINEAR FOG_EXP FOG_EXP2'

Shader warning in 'Universal Render Pipeline/Terrain/Lit': Unrecognized #pragma instancing_options directive: norenderinglayer at line 89

Shader warning in 'Universal Render Pipeline/Terrain/Lit': Unrecognized #pragma instancing_options directive: norenderinglayer at line 167

Shader warning in 'Hidden/PostProcessing/FinalPass': Unrecognized renderer for #pragma exclude_renderers: webgpu at line 102

Shader warning in 'Hidden/PostProcessing/FinalPass': Unrecognized renderer for #pragma exclude_renderers: webgpu at line 118

Shader warning in 'Hidden/PostProcessing/FinalPass': Unrecognized renderer for #pragma only_renderers: webgpu at line 150

STRIPPING: Shader Graphs/Spectator (ShadowCaster pass) (Vertex) - Remaining shader variants = 4/4 = 100% - Total = 12610/59926 = 21.04262%
UnityEditor.GenericMenu:CatchMenu (object,string[],int)

STRIPPING: Shader Graphs/Spectator (ShadowCaster pass) (Fragment) - Remaining shader variants = 2/2 = 100% - Total = 12612/59928 = 21.04525%
UnityEditor.GenericMenu:CatchMenu (object,string[],int)

STRIPPING: Shader Graphs/Spectator (Meta pass) (Vertex) - Remaining shader variants = 1/1 = 100% - Total = 12613/59933 = 21.04517%
UnityEditor.GenericMenu:CatchMenu (object,string[],int)

STRIPPING: Shader Graphs/Spectator (Meta pass) (Fragment) - Remaining shader variants = 1/1 = 100% - Total = 12614/59934 = 21.04648%
UnityEditor.GenericMenu:CatchMenu (object,string[],int)

STRIPPING: Shader Graphs/Spectator (ShadowCaster pass) (Vertex) - Remaining shader variants = 4/4 = 100% - Total = 12618/59955 = 21.04578%
UnityEditor.GenericMenu:CatchMenu (object,string[],int)

STRIPPING: Shader Graphs/Spectator (ShadowCaster pass) (Fragment) - Remaining shader variants = 2/2 = 100% - Total = 12620/59957 = 21.04842%
UnityEditor.GenericMenu:CatchMenu (object,string[],int)

STRIPPING: Shader Graphs/Spectator (Meta pass) (Vertex) - Remaining shader variants = 1/1 = 100% - Total = 12621/59962 = 21.04833%
UnityEditor.GenericMenu:CatchMenu (object,string[],int)

STRIPPING: Shader Graphs/Spectator (Meta pass) (Fragment) - Remaining shader variants = 1/1 = 100% - Total = 12622/59963 = 21.04965%
UnityEditor.GenericMenu:CatchMenu (object,string[],int)

Shader warning in 'Shader Graphs/Spectator': 'UnityMetaVertexPosition': implicit truncation of vector type at /Perforce/DBB_01/Library/PackageCache/com.unity.render-pipelines.universal@12.1.15/Editor/ShaderGraph/Includes/Varyings.hlsl(131) (on d3d11)

Compiling Subshader: 0, Pass: Meta, Vertex program with <no keywords>
Platform defines: SHADER_API_DESKTOP UNITY_COLORSPACE_GAMMA UNITY_ENABLE_DETAIL_NORMALMAP UNITY_ENABLE_REFLECTION_BUFFERS UNITY_LIGHTMAP_RGBM_ENCODING UNITY_LIGHT_PROBE_PROXY_VOLUME UNITY_PASS_META UNITY_PBS_USE_BRDF1 UNITY_SPECCUBE_BLENDING UNITY_SPECCUBE_BOX_PROJECTION UNITY_USE_DITHER_MASK_FOR_ALPHABLENDED_SHADOWS
Disabled keywords: EDITOR_VISUALIZATION SHADER_API_GLES30 UNITY_ASTC_NORMALMAP_ENCODING UNITY_ENABLE_NATIVE_SHADOW_LOOKUPS UNITY_FRAMEBUFFER_FETCH_AVAILABLE UNITY_HALF_PRECISION_FRAGMENT_SHADER_REGISTERS UNITY_HARDWARE_TIER1 UNITY_HARDWARE_TIER2 UNITY_HARDWARE_TIER3 UNITY_LIGHTMAP_DLDR_ENCODING UNITY_LIGHTMAP_FULL_HDR UNITY_METAL_SHADOWS_USE_POINT_FILTERING UNITY_NO_DXT5nm UNITY_NO_FULL_STANDARD_SHADER UNITY_NO_SCREENSPACE_SHADOWS UNITY_PBS_USE_BRDF2 UNITY_PBS_USE_BRDF3 UNITY_PRETRANSFORM_TO_DISPLAY_ORIENTATION UNITY_UNIFIED_SHADER_PRECISION_MODEL UNITY_VIRTUAL_TEXTURING

Build completed with a result of 'Succeeded' in 162 seconds (162061 ms)
UnityEditor.GenericMenu:CatchMenu (object,string[],int)

[TheHartPony]

My first guess is you might be using different quality settings for the editor and build. I.e. the Windows build might not even have a renderer pipeline asset attached to it which would cause everything to become pink.

[sonictimm]

THANK YOU a thousand times!

That was it, I wouldn’t have thought to look under “Quality”

Even when I opened the menu, I didn’t realize that this part was a quality selector.

Soon enough I realized that by clicking the different Quality levels (not the checkboxes) I could adjust the settings for each one.

(Explaining here for others because I don’t think the Quality Selection UI is intuitive at all)

Using that let me repro the bug in the Editor, and once I set the Render Pipeline Asset in each one it worked in builds.