URP vs Built-In vs HDRP

[Polysquid]

Hey all!

We have been creating asset store content for almost 10 years now and for most of our asset packs, we use URP now. So the question is simple and it would help us out on future products and understanding what unity users actually use for game making.

Do you guys still use Built-in or use URP instead?
Also, does anyone use HDRP anymore? It seems that it was a bit popular few years back but now not so much.

Would appreciate if someone actually comments on this. Thanks!

[SunnySunshine]

A year old but relevant:

Adoption Rate for URP/HDRP of projects

Yes, we have analytics that actively tracks the adoption of SRPs in the editor. The method we use considers projects that are actively in development and build for runtime. This ensures we avoid data bias as some projects start in the editor for testing/learning etc., and do not necessarily have a long-term purpose. The adoption rates also differ from LTS to LTS. Generally, adoption is growing in favor of SRPs in the newer versions, and typically, most new productions start with SRPs nowadays. …

Currently using BIRP but will migrate to URP later this year.

[Andy-Touch]

My studio uses Built-In for the following reasons:

• Tons of content, knowledge, tutorials and assets available for it
• We like easier to write shaders (Mix of custom written and Amplify Shader Editor)
• Surface Shaders
• We like fast shader compilation and build times (Especially compared to when using URP/HDRP)
• All the effects we want to achieve are possible to get with BIRP
• Burnt by URP in the past so not the fondest experience.

If we were to move to SRP we would probably go with URP for platform support; however it would be a case of only moving if we absolutely had to or if URP magically gave us something we couldn’t do in Built-In in a new feature.

HDRP is a no-go for us as it instantly locks out mobile and Switch support (I know its possible but we want performance better than like 5fps) and is also pretty dense & bloated. Also it influences an art direction (realistic rendering) that is different than what we desire so we wouldn’t benefit from it’s pros.

If the day ever comes that Unity unifies URP and HDRP into one render pipeline then would be curious about porting to that; but that reality seems like many years away still and our project is shipping before that (And we are likely to use a different engine for next project but will evaluate Unifed Render Pipeline progress then and see how it compares with UE and Godot )

[Ryiah]

From the GDC 2024 Unity 6 event (Unity 6 and Beyond starting at 6:06):

[kdgalla]

So far I’ve only seriously used Built-in, but I’ve recently been hacking around with the SRPs for fear of being blind-sided when the built-in is eventually dropped.

HDRP is too much trouble for me. URP you don’t really gain anything over built-in, but I feel like it’s probably just on the verge of catching-up and passing built-in for being useful.

[Polysquid]

@Andy-Touch

My studio uses Built-In for the following reasons:

• Tons of content, knowledge, tutorials and assets available for it
• We like easier to write shaders (Mix of custom written and Amplify Shader Editor)
• Surface Shaders
• We like fast shader compilation and build times (Especially compared to when using URP/HDRP)
• All the effects we want to achieve are possible to get with BIRP
• Burnt by URP in the past so not the fondest experience.

If we were to move to SRP we would probably go with URP for platform support; however it would be a case of only moving if we absolutely had to or if URP magically gave us something we couldn’t do in Built-In in a new feature.

HDRP is a no-go for us as it instantly locks out mobile and Switch support (I know its possible but we want performance better than like 5fps) and is also pretty dense & bloated. Also it influences an art direction (realistic rendering) that is different than what we desire so we wouldn’t benefit from it’s pros.

If the day ever comes that Unity unifies URP and HDRP into one render pipeline then would be curious about porting to that; but that reality seems like many years away still and our project is shipping before that (And we are likely to use a different engine for next project but will evaluate Unifed Render Pipeline progress then and see how it compares with UE and Godot )

Thanks for the solid response. Are you developing stylized games or realistic ones? I am asking because from our experience, built-in does not look good for realistic ones unless you heavily modify it.

[Polysquid]

@Ryiah

From the GDC 2024 Unity 6 event (Unity 6 and Beyond starting at 6:06):

oh ok, this is interesting! I did not know that HDRP is almost 1/3 of the market. Would be interesting to see what kind of projects uses HDRP and what uses URP.

I found this:

Some other games using HDRP:

• Sons of the Forest (small team <15 and crazy amazing result!).
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eL48xUnGrAM

• Road 96: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1466640/Road_96/

• Metal Hellsinger: http://store.steampowered.com/app/1061910

• Slime Rancher 2: http://store.steampowered.com/app/1657630

• Construction Simulator: http://store.steampowered.com/app/1273400

• I am Fish: http://store.steampowered.com/app/1472560

[Andy-Touch]

@Polysquid

Thanks for the solid response. Are you developing stylized games or realistic ones? I am asking because from our experience, built-in does not look good for realistic ones unless you heavily modify it.

Stylized; somewhere inbetween Zelda Wind Waker and The Sims.

[kdgalla]

@Andy-Touch

My studio uses Built-In for the following reasons:

• Tons of content, knowledge, tutorials and assets available for it
• We like easier to write shaders (Mix of custom written and Amplify Shader Editor)
• Surface Shaders
• We like fast shader compilation and build times (Especially compared to when using URP/HDRP)
• All the effects we want to achieve are possible to get with BIRP
• Burnt by URP in the past so not the fondest experience.

I agree with all of these, but my biggest sticking point with URP is that there’s no good way to create a shader graph with a custom light model at the moment. I would like that to be fully supported before I attempt to port over my big project.

[Polysquid]

@kdgalla

I agree with all of these, but my biggest sticking point with URP is that there’s no good way to create a shader graph with a custom light model at the moment. I would like that to be fully supported before I attempt to port over my big project.

Yeah, this is true!
We have been experimenting in past with both of them, built-in ar URP and shadergraph is really important for us.

[Andy-Touch]

@kdgalla

I agree with all of these, but my biggest sticking point with URP is that there’s no good way to create a shader graph with a custom light model at the moment. I would like that to be fully supported before I attempt to port over my big project.

Oh, this too! Our project has custom lighting which is super easy to implement via surface shader or Amplify. URP and HDRP make it 10 times harder to do.

[sacb0y]

@Andy-Touch

Oh, this too! Our project has custom lighting which is super easy to implement via surface shader or Amplify. URP and HDRP make it 10 times harder to do.

Eh it’s not any harder in Amplify for URP than it is in built-in imo. I converted my shaders when I moved from built in no problem like 4 years ago?

At the very least it’s easy to just check out existing shader functions and work from that. I’m sure more talented people could do it much easier, I just tinker enough to get what I want.

I haven’t tried this with shader graph (yet) though, just amplify.

As for me the mobile version of my project would have been canceled if not for URP. I do want to use HDRP, but at the moment mobile and WebGL are too important. So I might dabble in a side project.

@kdgalla

So far I’ve only seriously used Built-in, but I’ve recently been hacking around with the SRPs for fear of being blind-sided when the built-in is eventually dropped.

HDRP is too much trouble for me. URP you don’t really gain anything over built-in, but I feel like it’s probably just on the verge of catching-up and passing built-in for being useful.

You get performance with a lot less work and asset management. Thats the main reason I switched. Built-in can match URP performance if you do a ton of stuff that can make the project hard to maintain and build on. But for something like mine doing that stuff just wasn’t viable.

Also lighting tends to look better imo.

[kdgalla]

@sacb0y

Eh it’s not any harder in Amplify for URP than it is in built-in imo.

Using Amplify is cheating, so that doesn’t count!

[Polysquid]

Ok, my conclusion from all of this is that every pipeline is used and works well if the platform/project allows it to. I guess the only one that receives less love is HDRP

In past we created our bigger asset packs on HDRP and URP, skipping built in. We might need to revisit some of them and make them available on built in also.
I would love to do all 3, but unity has the crappy 6GB restriction, that kind of sucks for bigger packs and we cannot fit 3 pipelines in one submission.

[Ryiah]

@Polysquid

Ok, my conclusion from all of this is that every pipeline is used and works well if the platform/project allows it to. I guess the only one that receives less love is HDRP

Only if we’re including that built-in has a ton of existing content. I think if we disregard that it’s built-in that receives the least as there are a fair number of new assets that support one or both of the SRPs but have no support for the built-in one.

I immediately spotted three new assets in the shaders section that are only URP.

https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/vfx/shaders/infinitystylizedwater-282596
https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/vfx/shaders/tasty-grass-shader-urp-3d-vr-279246
https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/vfx/shaders/fullscreen-camera-effects/screen-space-god-rays-urp-2d-3d-vr-272250

[kdgalla]

@Polysquid

In past we created our bigger asset packs on HDRP and URP, skipping built in. We might need to revisit some of them and make them available on built in also.

For me, personally, I prefer to see 3D mesh assets for built-in. Unity provides an easy way to automatically convert the built-in “standard” shader to URP lit and HDRP lit, so if an asset uses the standard shader then it’s like the asset is automatically compatible with all three renderers and I can use it in whichever I choose.

On the other hand, if it’s for HDRP or URP only, then it’s not easy for me to convert the included materials to the other renderers. I could understand an asset targeting HDRP only, though, because then the artist can make use of the advanced surface features not available in the other renderers.

Edit: BTW, it appears now with Unity’s Shader Graph tool you can write a shader that’s automagically compatible with all three renders. You only need to select all three renders as “active targets” and not use any of the fragment properties that are exclusive HDRP.

[sacb0y]

Also it is worth keeping in mind from Unity 6 forward URP and HDRP are default.

[Polysquid]

@sacb0y

Also it is worth keeping in mind from Unity 6 forward URP and HDRP are default.

What happens to built in? Are they cutting it off?

[sacb0y]

@Polysquid

What happens to built in? Are they cutting it off?

Still there just bottom of the list, and needs an extra download.

[Polysquid]

Can someone share a good way how to convert from URP to Built-in? I know that you can convert from built in to any other pipeline with just few clicks, but how can you backwards engineer it?

Perhaps someone can share how he/she does it?