Terrain is entirely black in editor

Question

I don't know what caused it or when it started, but for some reason the terrain will turn black as if it were entirely unlit. This is the same if I enter play mode, however it does not affect builds.

It seems to occur whenever I go into Play mode and switch scenes via Application.LoadLevel from there. Doing so won't affect the scenes in Play mode, but once I exit the terrain turns black and stays that way until I go in game and load the scene up with the same method. Even once I do this, it still stays black if I go back to the editor.

A possibly related problem I have is that sometimes when I load the scene in the editor (but not in Play mode) or when I alt-tab and tab back in, the scene will appear darker for a short while. Clicking on it will cause it to lighten up after a short period of time. Until this happens, the problem will persist into play mode as well.

Problem & lighting settings

Answer 1

Answer by PixelSpartan · May 11, 2015 at 09:02 PM

I noticed this bug in Unity 5 too. I tested and i discovered whats the problem.

1.Click on Window (from file menu) and then click on Lighting.

2.Now select Ambient Source (From Lighting) to Color or Gradient BUT NOT TO SKYBOX!

3.Change Reflection Source(From Lighting too) to custom BUT NOT TO SKYBOX!

4.Do this for every scene you have.

Hope I helped : D

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LukeZaz · May 12, 2015 at 03:56 AM 0

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Unfortunately didn't work. I've added a screenshot to my post that displays the problem and shows my lighting settings as well.

gemba95 · May 25, 2016 at 11:49 AM 0

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thank u my problem is finished :)

DrishtiS · Aug 19, 2017 at 08:39 PM 0

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I added a terrain and everything turned black after it. But your solution worked. Thanks.

Answer 2

Answer by Panjo · Jan 27, 2016 at 03:18 PM

@LukeZaz Same problem - and none of these solutions worked for me. What did work for me, however, was disabling and re-enabling the terrain in the editor; after a few seconds, the lights popped back on.

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Omelette_au_Goulage · Aug 31, 2020 at 10:02 PM 0

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Thank you! I had the problem where only 4 textures would work on a terrain, if I added one more texture it would paint black. This fixed it for me.

Answer 3

Answer by zviaz · May 11, 2015 at 08:26 PM

I was having the same problem not too long ago so maybe I can help. For me it was the texture/materials default emission colour. I would start the game but when coming out of the game and back into the scene editor all of my levels objects would turn black.

Select the terrain (assuming you have a material assigned like grass or dirt) and open up the shader to look for one of the settings using the "black" colour by default. You would need to change this to match the colour of your terrain.

alt text

emission.png (12.9 kB)

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LukeZaz · May 12, 2015 at 03:59 AM 1

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I don't have a material applied to my terrain as I simply add textures under the Paint Terrain options instead. Additionally, the terrain was the only thing affected. Thanks for the suggestion, though.

Answer 4

Answer by Captain-Awesome · Dec 01, 2015 at 08:48 PM

I just had the same problem!! I got my terrain to show up by reloading my grass texture. Like this:

Find the grass in your project.
Select it, then change the resolution Max Size.
Click the Apply button.

After doing that my terrain showed up, but it was extremely bright from all the lights I made in the scene trying to light up my black terrain. :O

I know this isn't the best solution, but it works for me for now.

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Answer 5

Answer by bhupiister · Jun 11, 2020 at 01:39 PM

I had the same problem, my entire world turned black, but the issue was relatively simple. I by mistake dropped the material on the skybox and it turned black. What you need to do it, go to Windows>Rendering>Lighting settings and now remove the material from the skybox.

But I could only reach to the solution by reading part solution of @PixelSpartan. Thanks, everyone.

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Terrain is entirely black in editor

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