Frequently asked questions

This section answers some frequently asked questions about the Lightweight Render Pipeline (LWRP). These questions come from the General Graphics section on our forums, from the Unity Discord channel, and from our support teams.

For information about the High Definition Render Pipeline (HDRP), please see the HDRP documentation.

Can I use LWRP and HDRP at the same time?

No. They're both built with the Scriptable Render Pipeline (SRP), but their render paths and light models are different.

Can I convert from one pipeline to the other?

You can convert from the Built-in Unity render pipeline to LWRP. To do so, you'll have to re-write your Assets and redo the lighting in your game or app. You can use our upgrader to upgrade Built-in Shaders to the LWRP Shaders. For custom Shaders, you'll have to upgrade them manually.

You should not swap pipeline Assets from one pipeline to another at run time, and there's no upgrader between LWRP and HDRP.

How do I update the Lightweight Render Pipeline package?

You should update via the Package Manager. In the Unity Editor, go to Unity > Window > Package Manager, and find the Lightweight RP package.

If you’ve added SRP code or Shader Graph manually via Github, make sure to upgrade them to the same package version as LWRP in your manifest file.

Where has Dynamic Batching gone?

The Dynamic Batching checkbox has moved from the Player Settings to the Lightweight Render Pipeline Asset.

How do I enable Double Sided Global Illumination in the Editor?

In the Material Inspector, find Render Face, and select Both. This means that both sides of your geometry contribute to global illumination, because LWRP doesn’t cull either side.

Is this render pipeline usable for desktop apps and games?

Yes. The graphics quality and performance is scalable across platforms, so you can create apps for PCs and consoles as well as mobile devices.

A certain feature from the Built-in render pipeline is not supported in LWRP. Will LWRP support it?

To see which features LWRP currently supports, check the comparison table. LWRP will not support features marked as Not Supported. If the status of a feature is left blank in the table, this means that we intend to support the feature at some point.

Does LWRP support a Deferred Renderer?

Not yet. Our goal is to add support for an optimized deferred renderer in 2019.3.

Does LWRP have a public roadmap?

Yes. You can check it here. You can add suggestions as well. To do so, you’ll have to enter your email address, but you won’t have to make an account.

Will LWRP be in LTS for 2018.4?

LWRP is still in the preview state for Long Term Service (LTS) versions of 2018 releases. We are not planning to take LWRP out of preview for 2018 LTS versions. Preview packages are not stable or ready for production, so we don’t support them in LTS versions . Use 2018 versions of LWRP at your own risk.

When is LWRP coming out of preview?

LWRP will be released with 2019.1. This means we consider it stable, given the amount of features it supports, butt’s not yet feature complete. Before upgrading your project to LWRP, check our roadmap and feature comparison table between LWRP and the Built-in render pipeline.

I’ve found a bug. How do I report it?

You can open bugs by using the bug reporter system. LWRP bugs go through the same process as all other Unity bugs. You can also check the active list of bugs for LWRP in the issue tracker.

I have an existing Project. How do I convert it from the Built-in render pipeline to LWRP?

Check this upgrade guide on installing an SRP into an existing Project.

I’ve upgraded my Project from the Built-in render pipeline to LWRP, but it’s not running faster. Why?

LWRP and the Built-in render pipeline (RP) have different quality settings. While the Built-in RP configures many settings in different places like the Quality Settings, Graphics Settings, and Player Settings, all LWRP settings are stored in the LWRP Asset. The first thing to do is to check whether your LWRP Asset settings match the settings your Built-in render pipeline Project. For example, if you disabled MSAA or HDR in your Built-in render pipeline Project, make sure they are disabled in the LWRP Asset in your LWRP Project. For advice on configuring LWRP Assets, see documentation on the LWRP Asset.

Also, make sure you are doing a fair comparison in terms of renderers. For this release, LWRP only supports a forward renderer, so make sure your Built-in render pipeline Project is using the forward renderer as well.

If, after comparing the settings, you still experience worse performance with LWRP, please open a bug report and attach your Project.

LWRP doesn’t run on device X or platform Y. Is this expected?

No. Please open a bug report.

My Project takes a long time to build. Is this expected?

We are looking into how to strip Shader keywords more aggressively. You can help the Shader stripper by disabling features you don’t require for your game in the LWRP Asset. For more information on settings that affect shader variants and build time, see the shader stripping documentation.

Is post-processing supported in LWRP?

Some post-processing version 2 (PPv2) features are supported in LWRP. To see which features are supported, see comparison of features in LWRP and the Built-in render pipeline. PPv2 doesn’t support mobile VR.

We are working on many optimizations for post-processing and mobile.

I can’t set camera clear flags with LWRP. Why?

We’ve deprecated camera clear flags in LWRP. Instead, you can set the Background Type in the Camera Inspector. We’ve done this because the clear flags Depth Only and Don’t Care from the Built-in render pipeline has inherent performance pitfalls. The clear flags were used for camera stacking, where one camera depends on the results of a previous camera. This is bad for performance, as it executes culling multiple times and increases bandwidth. Bandwidth cost is especially important for mobile games.

For these reasons, we're working on a solution where you can add a render pass with custom camera matrices and FOV. This way, we can provide an optimized workflow instead of creating a Camera object. We plan to expose this custom render pass in a future LWRP package.