Troubleshooting

intermediate troubleshooting

Volumetric Fog & Mist 2 (URP) · Troubleshooting & FAQ

Solutions to the most common issues when using Volumetric Fog & Mist 2 with the Universal Render Pipeline.

Common Issues

SymptomCauseSolution
No fog visible Depth Texture not enabled in URP Asset Enable Depth Texture in the URP Asset. Check both Project Settings > Graphics and Project Settings > Quality — each quality level may use a different URP Asset.
Fog visible in Editor but not in build Build platform uses a different URP Asset without Depth Texture, or shader variants are stripped Enable Depth Texture in the URP Asset assigned to the target platform. See Shader Stripping below.
Shadows not visible on fog Shadow Distance too short or Transparent Receive Shadows disabled In the URP Asset, increase Shadow Distance and enable Transparent Receive Shadows in the Renderer Data.
Visible noise / banding High jittering/dithering or low sample count Reduce Jittering and Dithering values, or enable Blur in the Volumetric Fog Manager.
Fog renders on top of UI canvas Canvas using non-Overlay render mode Increase the Order In Layer value on the Canvas component (e.g., set to 1).
Fog on top of ocean / transparent objects Transparent objects do not write to depth buffer Configure the Depth Pre-Pass in Volumetric Fog Manager. Set transparent layers in the Transparent Objects section. See Transparency Support.
Terrain Fit ignores water Water shader does not write to depth buffer Use Terrain Fit Min Altitude to match water level, or add an invisible opaque plane on a separate layer included in Terrain Fit Layer Mask.
Inverted / flipped depth URP bug when HDR is OFF, MSAA is x1, and Render Scale is 1 Enable HDR, MSAA, or change Render Scale. Alternatively, enable Flip Depth Texture in Volumetric Fog Manager.
Fog incorrect in VR Inverted matrices bug in some URP versions Enable Alternate WS Reconstruction in Volumetric Fog Manager > Shader Options.
Shadows missing in WebGL WebGL shader loop limitations Enable Force WebGL Compatibility in Volumetric Fog Manager.
Shader errors in build (works in Editor) Strict Shader Variant Matching enabled Disable Strict Shader Variant Matching in Player Settings > Configuration.
Shadows broken with Umbra Soft Shadows Render Pass Event conflict Change the Volumetric Fog 2 render feature event from Before Rendering Transparents to Before Rendering Post Processing.
Fog incorrect over tessellated ocean Depth pre-pass uses optimized depth-only shader that skips tessellation Disable Use Optimized Depth-Only Shader in the Depth PrePass Render Feature.

Shader Variant Stripping

Some fog features use shader_feature pragmas, which means Unity only includes their shader code if the feature is active in a scene at build time. If you enable features at runtime (e.g., fog of war via script), the variants may be stripped.

Affected Features

PragmaFeature
VF2_DISTANCEStarting Distance
VF2_VOIDSFog Voids
VF2_FOWFog of War
VF2_SURFACETerrain Fit
VF2_DEPTH_GRADIENTDepth Gradient
VF2_HEIGHT_GRADIENTHeight Gradient
VF2_LIGHT_COOKIELight Cookie

Solutions

  1. Replace shader_feature with a constant define — e.g., change #pragma shader_feature_local_fragment VF2_FOW to #define VF2_FOW 1.
  2. Add a dummy fog volume in the scene with the required feature enabled so Unity detects and preserves the variant.
  3. Replace with multi_compile — e.g., #pragma multi_compile_local_fragment _ VF2_FOW (note the required underscore before the keyword).

Slow Shader Compilation

The first compilation can be slow due to the number of shader features. To speed it up:

  • Remove unused multi_compile pragma lines from the shader file.
  • Use Shader Control (available on the Asset Store) to disable unused keywords.

Still Stuck?

Post your question on the Kronnect Support — the team typically responds within 24 hours.

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