Troubleshooting

Generate does not produce expected outputs

Check:

• that your shader code compiles as normal C# first;
• that the package is installed and visible to Unity;
• that you are using markers such as ShaderFunction, ShaderStruct, and explicit ShaderGraphFunction.

Then run:

• Tools/SharpShader/Generate

Expected outputs live in:

• Assets/ShaderGen/*.generated.hlsl
• Assets/ShaderGen/SubGraphs/ when ShaderGraphFunction is present

Shader Graph output is missing or skipped

This usually means one of two things:

• the function was not explicitly marked as ShaderGraphFunction;
• the Shader Graph bridge does not support one of the involved types.

Shader Graph support is explicit and narrower than the main HLSL generation path. A successful HLSL generate does not imply that the same function can also become a SubGraph.

Diagnostics appear for unsupported source forms

When code falls outside the supported surface:

• supported code generates cleanly;
• unsupported code fails with explicit diagnostics instead of partial or misleading output.

Use these docs as the reference surface:

• Technical details
• Resources
• Docs index

Visual example assets are not in the package

This is intentional. The shipped package contains code-first examples and demo tests. Visual demo shaders and materials currently live in usecase1 rather than in the package itself.

Unity recompiles broadly after generator-related changes

This is a known limitation of the generator delivery model. It does not mean generation is broken, but it can make iteration noisier than the intended workflow.

Projects with custom .asmdef scopes only generate partially

By default, Sharp Shader does not require any manual generator DLL placement.

If your project introduces custom Unity assemblies with .asmdef, Sharp Shader coverage follows those Unity assembly boundaries.

In that case:

• copy SharpShader.Generator.dll into the custom assembly scope that contains Sharp Shader code;
• if several custom assembly scopes contain Sharp Shader code, copy the DLL into each of them;
• generated outputs still appear in the shared project output folder:
  • Assets/ShaderGen/

If code in one custom assembly generates correctly but code in another does not, the most likely cause is that the second assembly scope does not currently see the Sharp Shader generator DLL.

Generated.IR.json is not present

This is expected in the normal user-facing generate path. Generated.IR.json is now treated as an internal optional pipeline artifact rather than a default public output.

Something works in generated HLSL but not in Shader Graph

Treat the HLSL path and the Shader Graph path as related but not identical surfaces. The current package supports a narrower Shader Graph bridge than the core HLSL generation path. If a function depends on unsupported Shader Graph resource or type forms, SubGraph generation may be skipped even when HLSL generation succeeds.