Bug NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object

My console is flooded with these exceptions, the screen is black:

Code (CSharp):

1. NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object
2. UnityEngine.Rendering.HighDefinition.HDRenderPipeline.AddInstanceToRAS (UnityEngine.Renderer currentRenderer, System.Boolean rayTracedShadow, System.Boolean aoEnabled, System.Int32 aoLayerValue, System.Boolean reflEnabled, System.Int32 reflLayerValue, System.Boolean giEnabled, System.Int32 giLayerValue, System.Boolean recursiveEnabled, System.Int32 rrLayerValue, System.Boolean pathTracingEnabled, System.Int32 ptLayerValue) (at Library/PackageCache/com.unity.render-pipelines.high-definition@10.1.0/Runtime/RenderPipeline/Raytracing/HDRaytracingManager.cs:183)
3. UnityEngine.Rendering.HighDefinition.HDRenderPipeline.BuildRayTracingAccelerationStructure (UnityEngine.Rendering.HighDefinition.HDCamera hdCamera) (at Library/PackageCache/com.unity.render-pipelines.high-definition@10.1.0/Runtime/RenderPipeline/Raytracing/HDRaytracingManager.cs:494)
4. UnityEngine.Rendering.HighDefinition.HDRenderPipeline.ExecuteRenderRequest (UnityEngine.Rendering.HighDefinition.HDRenderPipeline+RenderRequest renderRequest, UnityEngine.Rendering.ScriptableRenderContext renderContext, UnityEngine.Rendering.CommandBuffer cmd, UnityEngine.Rendering.HighDefinition.AOVRequestData aovRequest) (at Library/PackageCache/com.unity.render-pipelines.high-definition@10.1.0/Runtime/RenderPipeline/HDRenderPipeline.cs:2375)
5. UnityEngine.Rendering.HighDefinition.HDRenderPipeline.Render (UnityEngine.Rendering.ScriptableRenderContext renderContext, UnityEngine.Camera[] cameras) (at Library/PackageCache/com.unity.render-pipelines.high-definition@10.1.0/Runtime/RenderPipeline/HDRenderPipeline.cs:2269)
6. UnityEngine.Rendering.RenderPipeline.InternalRender (UnityEngine.Rendering.ScriptableRenderContext context, UnityEngine.Camera[] cameras) (at <0e343a50133148b6b99f9915103a7af3>:0)
7. UnityEngine.Rendering.RenderPipelineManager.DoRenderLoop_Internal (UnityEngine.Rendering.RenderPipelineAsset pipe, System.IntPtr loopPtr, System.Collections.Generic.List`1[T] renderRequests, Unity.Collections.LowLevel.Unsafe.AtomicSafetyHandle safety) (at <0e343a50133148b6b99f9915103a7af3>:0)
8. UnityEngine.GUIUtility:ProcessEvent(Int32, IntPtr, Boolean&)
9.  

The relevant part of the code (last line):

Code (CSharp):

1.         AccelerationStructureStatus AddInstanceToRAS(Renderer currentRenderer,
2.             bool rayTracedShadow,
3.             bool aoEnabled, int aoLayerValue,
4.             bool reflEnabled, int reflLayerValue,
5.             bool giEnabled, int giLayerValue,
6.             bool recursiveEnabled, int rrLayerValue,
7.             bool pathTracingEnabled, int ptLayerValue)
8.         {
9.             // Get all the materials of the mesh renderer
10.             currentRenderer.GetSharedMaterials(materialArray);

Unity 2020.2.0b8, HDRP 10.1.0

Any idea what might be causing this and how to solve it? I already deleted the Library folder, rebuilt all, etc.

I reduced the problem to LODed gameobjects. Can file a bug report with it if requested.

The standard scene works without problems.

 

I figured that clicking on LOD kinda creates a renderer which solves the problem. But I have like 1000 of those. How can I fix that automatically? It's like in HDRP where the inspector fixes everything:

 

Any updates?

 

No. I had that same problem in the latest alpha.

 

No, that's the problem, not all LODs have a renderer. Hitting play works in HDRP, but totally fails when anything raytracing related is active. It's as simple as having a LOD group without a renderer and activating raytrcing in the ambient occlusion setting. Or anything else for that matter.

And all you get is this: "NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object" floodfilling the console and a black screen.

It would at least save time if the console would show which gameobject causes the problem. With hundreds of gameobjects that get imported when you buy an asset from the store it's quite a waste of time to figure out why this doesn't work.

This has already cost me so much time to figure out the culprit in various assets, I'm happy to create a repro case so that this gets finally fixed once and for all

This happens in 2022.1.0.a11 with HDRP 13.

 

@chap-unity I uploaded a minimal verifiable repro project, Case 1372965

 

Have you been able to reproduce this? It's really annoying. eg the Unity Auto Showroom looks like this:


Because some Beams don't have Renderers.


It's supposed to look like this which happens once you disable the beams:

 

A fix was made for this issue initially (PR #6016), but not merged. This is because the next version of HDRP will significantly change the CPU side of ray tracing under the hood. This means your issue should no longer appear and you should see a massive performance increase on the CPU side for ray tracing. (can even get up to 30x CPU performance, depending on the scene size), check out the details in PR #5988.

It has been merged into master 8 days ago, so it should land in the next 2022.x release.

I'm not sure if these changes (CullInstances API on the editor side) will land in 2021.x, in that case 2021.x will still need a fix for the issue so it would probably be a good idea to backport the other fix (PR #6016) to 2021.x, @chap-unity probably knows more about this.

 

If you want to replicate it, simply add the Adams Project and use HDRP with it

 

So DXR is basically unusable until moving to 2022?

I did that fix above but still getting this spammed in console in play mode:

Code (CSharp):

1. NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object
2. UnityEngine.Rendering.HighDefinition.HDRenderPipeline.AddInstanceToRAS (UnityEngine.Renderer currentRenderer, System.Boolean rayTracedShadow, System.Boolean aoEnabled, System.Int32 aoLayerValue, System.Boolean reflEnabled, System.Int32 reflLayerValue, System.Boolean giEnabled, System.Int32 giLayerValue, System.Boolean recursiveEnabled, System.Int32 rrLayerValue, System.Boolean pathTracingEnabled, System.Int32 ptLayerValue) (at Library/PackageCache/com.unity.render-pipelines.high-definition@12.1.0/Runtime/RenderPipeline/Raytracing/HDRaytracingManager.cs:161)
3. UnityEngine.Rendering.HighDefinition.HDRenderPipeline.BuildRayTracingAccelerationStructure (UnityEngine.Rendering.HighDefinition.HDCamera hdCamera) (at Library/PackageCache/com.unity.render-pipelines.high-definition@12.1.0/Runtime/RenderPipeline/Raytracing/HDRaytracingManager.cs:511)
4. UnityEngine.Rendering.HighDefinition.HDRenderPipeline.ExecuteRenderRequest (UnityEngine.Rendering.HighDefinition.HDRenderPipeline+RenderRequest renderRequest, UnityEngine.Rendering.ScriptableRenderContext renderContext, UnityEngine.Rendering.CommandBuffer cmd, UnityEngine.Rendering.HighDefinition.AOVRequestData aovRequest) (at Library/PackageCache/com.unity.render-pipelines.high-definition@12.1.0/Runtime/RenderPipeline/HDRenderPipeline.cs:1945)
5. UnityEngine.Rendering.HighDefinition.HDRenderPipeline.Render (UnityEngine.Rendering.ScriptableRenderContext renderContext, System.Collections.Generic.List`1[T] cameras) (at Library/PackageCache/com.unity.render-pipelines.high-definition@12.1.0/Runtime/RenderPipeline/HDRenderPipeline.cs:1836)
6. UnityEngine.Rendering.RenderPipeline.InternalRender (UnityEngine.Rendering.ScriptableRenderContext context, System.Collections.Generic.List`1[T] cameras) (at <de62ab64366d4d29973fce8773660238>:0)
7. UnityEngine.Rendering.RenderPipelineManager.DoRenderLoop_Internal (UnityEngine.Rendering.RenderPipelineAsset pipe, System.IntPtr loopPtr, System.Collections.Generic.List`1[T] renderRequests, Unity.Collections.LowLevel.Unsafe.AtomicSafetyHandle safety) (at <de62ab64366d4d29973fce8773660238>:0)
8. UnityEngine.GUIUtility:ProcessEvent(Int32, IntPtr, Boolean&)

Edit: seems reapplying the fix got it to stick this time but DXR only working in Scene view for some reason.

 

No, this was only an issue for incorrectly set up LOD groups (if there was a missing renderer), and the fix will also be backported to 2021.2.

The best solution would probably be to set up the LOD group correctly, or wait for the next official release that includes the fix. You can also apply the fix manually, but it requires some basic knowledge of unity packages.

However, if you make heavy use of DXR, I can recommend trying out 2022.1 because it comes with some great performance gains regarding DX12/DXR.

 

Is the editor also more stable? I've noticed when converting my large world game to ray tracing in 2021.2 the editor is crashing a lot.

 

The only possible crash I know of is when working with millions of polygons in the acceleration structure, and framerates get as low as 1-2 fps, it could even be a VRAM issue at that point, I am not sure.

It's bad practice and you shouldn't come across this scenario in production, but I agree it shouldn't crash, not even in development. I will have a look if I can reproduce this in a test project and report it.

 

Appears the fix didn't make it into the 2022.1.0a13.1822 release, guess I'll have to wait another 1-2 weeks for next release

 

I just tested again with a15 and still getting it:

Code (CSharp):

1. NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object
2. UnityEngine.Rendering.HighDefinition.HDRenderPipeline.AddInstanceToRAS (UnityEngine.Renderer currentRenderer, System.Boolean rayTracedShadow, System.Boolean aoEnabled, System.Int32 aoLayerValue, System.Boolean reflEnabled, System.Int32 reflLayerValue, System.Boolean giEnabled, System.Int32 giLayerValue, System.Boolean recursiveEnabled, System.Int32 rrLayerValue, System.Boolean pathTracingEnabled, System.Int32 ptLayerValue) (at Library/PackageCache/com.unity.render-pipelines.high-definition@13.1.0/Runtime/RenderPipeline/Raytracing/HDRaytracingManager.cs:161)
3. UnityEngine.Rendering.HighDefinition.HDRenderPipeline.BuildRayTracingAccelerationStructure (UnityEngine.Rendering.HighDefinition.HDCamera hdCamera) (at Library/PackageCache/com.unity.render-pipelines.high-definition@13.1.0/Runtime/RenderPipeline/Raytracing/HDRaytracingManager.cs:511)
4. UnityEngine.Rendering.HighDefinition.HDRenderPipeline.ExecuteRenderRequest (UnityEngine.Rendering.HighDefinition.HDRenderPipeline+RenderRequest renderRequest, UnityEngine.Rendering.ScriptableRenderContext renderContext, UnityEngine.Rendering.CommandBuffer cmd, UnityEngine.Rendering.HighDefinition.AOVRequestData aovRequest) (at Library/PackageCache/com.unity.render-pipelines.high-definition@13.1.0/Runtime/RenderPipeline/HDRenderPipeline.cs:1945)
5. UnityEngine.Rendering.HighDefinition.HDRenderPipeline.Render (UnityEngine.Rendering.ScriptableRenderContext renderContext, System.Collections.Generic.List`1[T] cameras) (at Library/PackageCache/com.unity.render-pipelines.high-definition@13.1.0/Runtime/RenderPipeline/HDRenderPipeline.cs:1836)
6. UnityEngine.Rendering.RenderPipeline.InternalRender (UnityEngine.Rendering.ScriptableRenderContext context, System.Collections.Generic.List`1[T] cameras) (at <2325cc54de6040309d03768ffdba64e6>:0)
7. UnityEngine.Rendering.RenderPipelineManager.DoRenderLoop_Internal (UnityEngine.Rendering.RenderPipelineAsset pipe, System.IntPtr loopPtr, System.Collections.Generic.List`1[T] renderRequests, Unity.Collections.LowLevel.Unsafe.AtomicSafetyHandle safety) (at <2325cc54de6040309d03768ffdba64e6>:0)
8. UnityEngine.GUIUtility:ProcessEvent(Int32, IntPtr, Boolean&)
9.  

 

There was no new HDRP release for a15 (I assume a15 uses the a13 package), but the package for a16 is already up, so the fix will be included in a16. (more info here)

 

I'm getting this in 2021.3.5f1 almost a year later and no fix. UNITY CEO needs to start aiming for stability than cloud builds and cloud compiles and cloud assets and other things almost no one uses.

 

Not sure if exactly the same issue, but for me, it seemed to resolve if you go into project settings > Quality > HDRP, and for each HDRP asset set the Maximum LOD level to a number greater than zero for Low, Medium and High.

My project is small so doesn't make a big difference for me. (Unity 2021.3.4f1, HDRP version 12.1.7)

 

Same bug happens in 2022.5 --> this solution works!

 

Had this issue using Unity 2022.2.17 same as Stanislav had the same issue, and Delta_jom is a savior this fixed it amazing thank you!

 

Works in 2022.2.8f1.

Broken piece of trash engine.

 

Dog and Pony EA ceo overpromising glitz and glam, none of the substance of real love that an engine should get.

UNITY is OP, but getting sketchier in the long run instead of more stable.

 

I am using Unity 2022.3.13 and I can't seem to find individual HDRP values, only 1 and changing that doesn't work... Can anybody help me, I ave n clue what to do.