FAQ

No. Global Snow needs the Deferred or Deferred+ rendering path. Set it in the Universal Renderer asset used by your URP asset. Forward and Forward+ are not supported.

Global Snow & Rain 3 needs Unity 6.0 or newer with URP. It supports the Render Graph used by URP in Unity 6, with no extra configuration.

On the camera. The component needs a Camera on the same GameObject. You also need the Global Snow Render Feature in your Universal Renderer. See the Setup Guide.

No. Global Snow is a Render Feature that changes the G-buffer after your materials are drawn. It works per pixel with the depth, normals, smoothness and metallic values of the scene, so your materials and shaders stay as they are.

The shaders include the stereo rendering macros of URP. VR behavior depends on your Unity version and XR plugin, so test it on your target headset. The Same Side option of Compare is not used in VR.

Select your Universal Renderer asset, click Add Renderer Feature and select Global Snow Render Feature. If you have several quality levels, add it to the renderer of every URP asset. See the Setup Guide for details.

Check that the URP asset used in Play mode (see Project Settings > Quality) uses a deferred renderer with the Global Snow Render Feature. If the snow still flashes or disappears for a moment, disabling Accurate G-buffer normals in the URP settings may help, since toggling that setting reloads the shaders.

This error was reported in scenes where objects were not assigned to a valid layer. Make sure all objects have a valid layer, and use a layer that no object uses as the Default Exclusion Layer in the Coverage foldout.

Enable Footprints in the Footprints & Marks foldout and add the Global Snow Interaction component to the root of the character. On humanoid rigs the feet are detected from the Animator. On other rigs, Detect Feet looks for bones named foot, paw or hoof, or you can assign the foot bones by hand. See Global Snow Interaction.

Use the scripting API. FootprintAt() alternates the left and right foot on each call, and FootPlantAt() stamps the foot you choose:

GlobalSnow snow = GlobalSnow.instance;
snow.FootprintAt(position, direction);
snow.FootPlantAt(position, direction, FootSide.Left);

Yes. Assign your own sole texture in Footprints > Texture, or set footprintsSoleTexture from a script. Scale sets the size of each footprint.

Deep Marks dig into the snow layer set by Thickness, with raised rims and shadows. They work in Play mode. Surface Marks (Footprints and Collision Marks) are drawn on the snow and also work with Thickness at 0. Where there is a deep mark, it replaces the surface marks.

Set Default Size in Collision Marks, or add Global Snow Interaction to an object and set its Mark Size. From a script, pass the radius:

GlobalSnow.instance.MarkAt(position, 0.5f);

Call MarkTrail() with the previous and the current position, and EmitImpactFX() for the snow burst. Both also ripple the puddles. For Deep Marks, register the object once with AddContactSource(). See Scripting Support.

Impact FX shows in Play mode when Snow is above 0.5, and reaches full strength at Snow 1. Wet snow (Snow Wetness or rain) throws little powder and only a few bigger chunks. The object must hit snow, not standing water, in view of the camera and within 30 m. Also check that Impact FX is on in the Common options and in the Global Snow Interaction component of the object. Objects without the component do not burst snow when they hit it; from a script, call EmitImpactFX().

float amount = GlobalSnow.instance.GetSnowAmountAt(worldPosition);

It answers at once. The first call for a spot returns an estimate (0 under cover or below Minimum Altitude, the coverage mask value inside the mask, 1 otherwise) and queues a GPU read of that 1 m cell; calls in the next 1.5 s return the exact amount the snow renders. For the exact value and the standing water in one call, await GetSnowAndWaterAtPositionAsync():

SnowAndWater sw = await GlobalSnow.instance.GetSnowAndWaterAtPositionAsync(worldPosition);
// sw.snow and sw.water, 0 to 1

Use MaskPaint(), MaskClear() and MaskFillArea(). A value of 0 removes snow and 255 adds it:

GlobalSnow snow = GlobalSnow.instance;
snow.coverageMask = true;
// remove snow in a 10 m radius
snow.MaskPaint(transform.position, 0, 10f, 1f);
// remove snow over the bounds of a building
snow.MaskFillArea(buildingBounds, 0, 1f, 2f);

Exclude the object from the scene snow with the Layer Mask or the Global Snow Ignore Coverage component. Then use a material with the GlobalSnow/Moving Object Snow/Opaque shader. See Moving Objects.

Yes. The layerMask property controls which objects can receive snow. Objects on layers outside the mask get no snow. Objects on the Default layer are never excluded by the Layer Mask alone, so use Global Snow Ignore Coverage to exclude them. The separate zenithalMask controls which objects take part in the top-down capture, which decides what blocks the snow on the surfaces below.

With Use Zenithal Coverage on, roofs seen by the top-down capture keep snow, rain and puddles off what is below, and snowfall and snow dust do not fall under them. Make sure the roofs are in the Zenithal Mask, and set Cull Mode to Both Faces for single sided roofs. For areas without a roof, use the Coverage Mask or the Mask Editor to remove the snow, or place one of the hole prefabs (QuadHole and CircularHole in GlobalSnow/Runtime/Resources/GlobalSnow/Prefabs) and resize it to your building. To remove everything at once when the player goes inside, disable the Global Snow component or set the Weather sliders to 0.

Yes. The Puddles slider works on its own. Puddles form on level ground exposed to the sky, on bare ground and on the dirt revealed by marks. Rain Ripples need Rain above 0, but Contact Ripples work without rain.

Ripples only show on puddle water. Set Puddles above 0 and check that puddles are visible where the ripple happens. Contact Ripples work in Play mode. Rain Ripples also need Rain above 0. A value of 0 in either option turns those ripples off.

Puddles only form on level surfaces exposed to the sky. They do not form on slopes and walls, under roofs, on snow (only in its bare patches), or where the Coverage Mask removes the snow. With a Puddle Mask, black areas and the area outside the mask stay dry.

Rain reaches walls under small roofs only partly. The wind pushes it under the roof onto the walls that face the wind, up to 1.5 m in. Walls deeper under cover or on the side away from the wind stay drier. Raise the wind Speed or change its Direction in the Snowfall, Dust & Wind foldout. To wet the walls everywhere, rain or not, raise Wall Wetness.

Rain uses the top-down coverage capture to find what is under cover. Turn on Use Zenithal Coverage, include the roofs in the Zenithal Mask, and set Cull Mode to Both Faces for single sided roofs. Also check Snow Wetness: it applies everywhere, also under cover.

Enable Running Drops > Half Resolution. It costs about half, with softer drops. The Medium preset turns it on. If you do not need them, turn Running Drops off, as the Fastest preset does.

Yes. Wet surfaces lose their frost. The higher the Frost value, the less the rain melts it.

Start with Medium on most hardware: Normal Mapping, Coverage Quality 2, Deep Marks on and Running Drops at half resolution. Use Best for high end hardware and Fastest for low end devices. Every option stays editable after you click a preset. See Performance Tips.

Please visit the Support Center. If the issue persists, submit a reproduction project so we can investigate further and help you.