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Graphics Shader Error in 'Skybox/Procedural': Internal error communicating with the shader compiler process

Discussion in '5.4 Beta' started by ikemen_blueD, Jan 20, 2016.

  1. ikemen_blueD

    ikemen_blueD

    Joined:
    Jan 19, 2013
    Posts:
    341
    My PC specs:
    Intel Xeon CPU E3-1230 V2 @ 3.30GHz 3.30GHz
    16 GB RAM memory
    64-bit Windows 7 Professional SP1
    NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Ti
    DirectX version 11.0

    My PC runs fine on Unity 5.2.4 and previous versions.

    The problem starts when installing Unity 5.3.0, 5.3.1, ... , 5.4.0b2.

    PROBLEM 1

    After installing Unity 5.4.0b2 (same for up to 5.3.0), I start Unity with a new empty project. Unity starts super low, almost hangs there for 5 or 7 minutes. Also, Unity closes super low.


    At first, it starts with some white areas.


    Lots of spikes on CPU & Memory usage just to start the Unity & even close the Unity.

    Unity often "Not Responding" so many times ><.

    After 5 or 7 minutes, finally Unity opens with a pink Skybox issue. Here is the error messages:





    Shader compiler: internal error initializing platforms: Protocol error - failed to read correct magic number
    Shader compiler: internal error compiling shader snippet type=0 platform=4: Failed writing data to socket
    Shader compiler: internal error compiling shader snippet type=1 platform=4: Failed writing data to socket
    Shader error in 'Skybox/Procedural': Internal error communicating with the shader compiler process


    Temporary disable Skybox display from Editor window, and set Camera Clear Flags to Solid Color, can hide the pink Skybox. But, the Skybox compiling issue makes the whole Unity engine too slow & often not responding.

    I quickly scan through "Editor.log" & "Editor-prev.log". It looks like there are some Shader compiler exceptions. But, I'm totally noob on shading languages to be able to fix it.

    ANOTHER BUG
    When I press Play, Unity often hangs. I need to end some "adb.exe * 32" processes in order for the Unity to be able to play the scene.

    I try to explain as much info as possible. I hope you guys can help me to fix the annoying Shader Compiler exceptions.
     

    Attached Files:

  2. ikemen_blueD

    ikemen_blueD

    Joined:
    Jan 19, 2013
    Posts:
    341
    any Unity staff can help me. It's pretty frustrated that I cannot use any version after 5.2.4.
     
  3. cscompositeur

    cscompositeur

    Joined:
    Jan 15, 2014
    Posts:
    4
    Hi,

    Same problem here :( with unity 5.3.1f1 and shader compiler.
     
  4. unity_baldurk

    unity_baldurk

    Unity Technologies

    Joined:
    May 1, 2015
    Posts:
    11
    Hi there,

    From the error messages you are getting, it seems that Unity is able to successfully open a socket to the shader compiler (using networking, but local to your PC and not visible to the internet) but seems to fail on every attempt to read or write with it.

    Can you give more information about your environment? Do you have any anti-virus or firewall/internet security program running? This would include e.g. the default windows firewall. Make sure that any such program isn't blocking either Unity.exe or UnityShaderCompiler.exe from network access.

    Also can you create a new project to reproduce the problem, then attach the shader compiler logs in Library/ of the project, there should be at least a Library/shadercompiler-UnityShaderCompiler.exe0.log, but upload any others that are there.
     
  5. ikemen_blueD

    ikemen_blueD

    Joined:
    Jan 19, 2013
    Posts:
    341
    Hi there,

    Thanks for the help. I'm quite disappointed at Unity staff, since no reply anything from here. Unity Pro support seems not promised. Anyway, I do have the default Windows Firewall turn on, Microsoft Security Essentials and System Mechanic. Thanks for the hints, I will try and let you guys know soon.
     
  6. ikemen_blueD

    ikemen_blueD

    Joined:
    Jan 19, 2013
    Posts:
    341
    @unity_baldurk : I followed your guide. Here are my steps:

    - Uninstall Unity 5.2.4f1, which for me, is the most stable version. Restart the computer.
    - Delete these folders, to ensure a clean install for Unity 5.3.1f1.
    C:\Users\...\AppData\Local\Unity
    C:\Users\...\AppData\LocalLow\Unity
    C:\Users\...\AppData\Roaming\Unity
    C:\Program Files\Unity
    - Install Unity 5.3.1f1 64-bit & create a new project. All the issues are the same as described above with Unity 5.4.0b2.

    I got a new DockArea.OnGUI issuse, which I don't have with Unity 5.4.0b2.

    Shader compiler: internal error initializing platforms: Protocol error - failed to read correct magic number
    UnityEditor.DockArea:OnGUI()
    Shader compiler: internal error compiling shader snippet type=0 platform=4: Failed writing data to socket
    UnityEditor.DockArea:OnGUI()
    Shader compiler: internal error compiling shader snippet type=1 platform=4: Failed writing data to socket
    UnityEditor.DockArea:OnGUI()
    Shader error in 'Skybox/Procedural': Internal error communicating with the shader compiler process


    The error messages are no longer displayed when I press Play button. The pink Skybox is still there. The weird slow performance of the Unity system is still there btw.

    "shadercompiler-UnityShaderCompiler.exe0.log" is attached. I hope you can help me to figure out what is my problem. I'm planning to buy a new Graphic Card ( because I think my GTX 660 Ti conflicts with whatever Unity Shaders somehow).
     

    Attached Files:

    Last edited: Jan 28, 2016
  7. unity_baldurk

    unity_baldurk

    Unity Technologies

    Joined:
    May 1, 2015
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    Thanks. Unfortunately that log doesn't shed any more light - just that network communication with the shader compiler failed pretty much immediately after it was launched. Something is going catastrophically wrong with the networking.

    Just to be clear - have you tried temporarily disabling/turning off all features of Windows Firewall, Microsoft Security Essentials, and System Mechanic? If you want you can do this while disconnected from any network for safety and turn them on after. This way we can eliminate them as a possibility.

    I don't believe this error is in any way related to your graphics card - the failure is much earlier, in the communication with the shader compiler. The pre-compiled shaders used to render the editor interface are all working since they don't have to communicate with the shader compiler to compile.

    I'm looking to see if I can arrange getting a build to you with extra logging to try and find out where the error is, but there are a couple of advanced system monitoring tools you can use to monitor the network activity, which might shed some light.

    The easiest one to try is Process Monitor from Microsoft. Download it from the link - it's just a zip with a exe inside, you can extract it anywhere and run.

    When you load the program after the license agreement popup, it will look something like this (the events will be different):
    procmon2.png

    The first step is to filter all of these events down to just the ones we care about. Open the Filter menu and click Filter. Then you can choose 'Process Name' 'contains' 'Unity' and click Add, like this:

    procmon3.png

    Finally click OK and go back to the main window, and you will see the events (this list will be empty if you don't have Unity open). You can clear the list with the button highlighted in blue, and with the buttons in red you can further narrow down to only networking events - in this screenshot I have already deselected other event types:

    procmon4.png

    With process monitor running with this filter, can you please start Unity from fresh and create a new project to repro the problem you are seeing. Then when you have all of the events in process monitor, you can go file -> save and save the events displayed as PML file. If you upload that I can take a look and see if there's any more information.
     
    ikemen_blueD likes this.
  8. ikemen_blueD

    ikemen_blueD

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    Jan 19, 2013
    Posts:
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    I will try it tomorrow, and let you know soon. Thanks so much for the helps so far, really appreciated it :)
     
  9. Aras

    Aras

    Unity Technologies

    Joined:
    Nov 7, 2005
    Posts:
    4,770
    @unity_baldurk is Unity staff ;)
     
  10. ikemen_blueD

    ikemen_blueD

    Joined:
    Jan 19, 2013
    Posts:
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    Aras: my bad, since his username does not have a Unity badge. I thought he is just a nice guy, trying to help.

    @unity_baldurk : Here are my steps:
    - turn off Microsoft Security Essentials, Microsoft Firewalls, System Mechanics.
    - Install Unity 5.3.1f1.
    - run Process Monitor, filter Unity process only, Show Network Activity filter only ON, Clear the list before create a new project.
    - run Unity, create a new project, wait for 3 or 5 minutes until Unity finally starts with pink shader issues.
    - Save the events as PML file.

    PML File link (I can't upload it directly from Unity forum)
    https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bx-R9k1wWQp5eWg1ZzRZaHl5dXM

    I think you may be interested in looking PML file of Unity 5.2, which has no errors.
    https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bx-R9k1wWQp5bXl5M1V1S291NG8
     
    Last edited: Jan 29, 2016
  11. daisySa

    daisySa

    Joined:
    Dec 29, 2011
    Posts:
    341
    Same problem here on Unity 5.3.1p3 and OS X 10.11.3:

    Unhandled exception: Protocol error - failed to read correct magic number
    Quitting shader compiler process
     
  12. unity_baldurk

    unity_baldurk

    Unity Technologies

    Joined:
    May 1, 2015
    Posts:
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    Thank you @ikemen_blueD. The logfile doesn't have anything crucial in it but it does tell us that for some reason the network attempts aren't even showing up as unsuccessful in the log, they are completely gone (I don't know though exactly how they would show up).

    I'm working on putting together a special build for you that will have more logging but I don't want to waste your time going back and forth so I'm going to talk to networking people here to figure out what information we want to debug. That will be ready next week I hope.

    In the meantime I have written a very simple winsock application from scratch that replicates most of the important parts of how the unity <-> unityshadercompiler communication works. I've uploaded a zip here with two exes, named Unity.exe and UnityShaderCompiler.exe. You can run Unity.exe, and it will launch UnityShaderCompiler. Then you can type in the Unity window and the messages will be sent back and forth using the same network communication.

    This exe has some more specific error message popups in it, but I'm mostly interested to see whether or not you get the problem reproducing at all on this small test case. Very unscientifically, for me and a few others here in the office it works fine without errors.

    If you're worried about running random exes, then you can compile it from source code yourself (I included the C++ source file, you can compile it and copy to both exe names).

    @daisyDynamics that error message can happen if the shader compiler encounters a problem as well, which is most commonly due to a crash in the actual shader compiling step (especially if it only happens compiling one particular shader). @ikemen_blueD 's problem is unique in that the shader compiler always fails 100% of the time. If you don't get this message:

    Shader compiler: internal error initializing platforms: Protocol error - failed to read correct magic number

    Then it is not the same problem. You should file a bug with your repro project separately though so we can fix it!
     

    Attached Files:

    ikemen_blueD likes this.
  13. daisySa

    daisySa

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    Dec 29, 2011
    Posts:
    341
    Thanks, that's helpful information. I'm still investigating the issue and will submit a repro project if I can't resolve it.
     
  14. cscompositeur

    cscompositeur

    Joined:
    Jan 15, 2014
    Posts:
    4
    Hi,
    Same problem as Ikemen here.

    I install unity 5.3.2 If i open an old project or standard assets example shaders on existing material are good. If I create a new material in this project it's pink by default.

    If I create a new project , It's pink by default.https://gyazo.com/6375d3ce25090fabae1fedf8aeca5794
     
  15. Lukovrc

    Lukovrc

    Joined:
    Aug 22, 2015
    Posts:
    3
    same problem with pink skybox in default project. just installed unity 5.3.2
     
  16. Zoodinger

    Zoodinger

    Joined:
    Jul 1, 2013
    Posts:
    43
    Hello,

    I've had the same problem in my custom shaders, but I believe it's a shader compiler bug as it only appears on specific shaders but doesn't when the same code is changed slightly. This is an older iteration of a shader I wrote that throws the error. It works perfectly in the Editor, but not in builds.

    Code (CSharp):
    1. Shader "Sprites/MenuBackground"
    2. {
    3.     Properties
    4.     {
    5.         [PerRendererData] _MainTex ("Sprite Texture", 2D) = "white" {}
    6.         _Color ("Tint", Color) = (1,1,1,1)
    7.         ColorBG ("Background Color", Color) = (0,0,0,1)
    8.         ColorLines ("Line Color", Color) = (1,1,1,1)
    9.         [MaterialToggle] PixelSnap ("Pixel snap", Float) = 0
    10.         CenterX ("Center X", Float) = 0.5
    11.         CenterY ("Center Y", Float) = 0.5
    12.         AxisX ("Axis X", Float) = 1
    13.         AxisY ("Axis Y", Float) = 0
    14.         Divisions ("Divisions", Int) = 1
    15.         Radius ("Radius", Float) = 0.1
    16.         PixelScale ("PixelScale", Int) = 1
    17.     }
    18.  
    19.     SubShader
    20.     {
    21.         Tags
    22.         {
    23.             "Queue"="Background"
    24.             "IgnoreProjector"="True"
    25.             "RenderType"="Opaque"
    26.             "PreviewType"="Plane"
    27.             "CanUseSpriteAtlas"="False"
    28.         }
    29.  
    30.         Cull Off
    31.         Lighting Off
    32.         ZWrite Off
    33.         Blend One OneMinusSrcAlpha
    34.  
    35.         Pass
    36.         {
    37.         CGPROGRAM
    38.             #pragma vertex vert
    39.             #pragma fragment frag
    40.             #pragma multi_compile _ PIXELSNAP_ON
    41.             #include "UnityCG.cginc"
    42.        
    43.             struct appdata_t
    44.             {
    45.                 float4 vertex   : POSITION;
    46.                 float4 color    : COLOR;
    47.                 float2 texcoord : TEXCOORD0;
    48.             };
    49.  
    50.             struct v2f
    51.             {
    52.                 float4 vertex   : SV_POSITION;
    53.                 fixed4 color    : COLOR;
    54.                 half2 texcoord  : TEXCOORD0;
    55.                 half2 pixelAngle    : TEXCOORD1;
    56.             };
    57.        
    58.             fixed4 _Color;
    59.             fixed4 ColorBG; fixed4 ColorLines;
    60.             half CenterX; half CenterY;
    61.             half AxisX; half AxisY;
    62.             int Divisions;
    63.             float Radius;
    64.             int PixelScale;
    65.  
    66.             v2f vert(appdata_t IN)
    67.             {
    68.                 v2f OUT;
    69.                 OUT.vertex = mul(UNITY_MATRIX_MVP, IN.vertex);\
    70.                 OUT.color = IN.color * _Color;
    71.                 #ifdef PIXELSNAP_ON
    72.                 OUT.vertex = UnityPixelSnap (OUT.vertex);
    73.                 #endif
    74.  
    75.                 half displace = max(0, _ScreenParams.x / _ScreenParams.y - 1) * 0.5f;
    76.  
    77.                 half left = -displace * (1 - IN.texcoord.x);
    78.                 half right = IN.texcoord.x * displace;
    79.  
    80.                 OUT.texcoord = half2(IN.texcoord.x + left + right, IN.texcoord.y);
    81.  
    82.                 OUT.pixelAngle.x = _ScreenParams.y / PixelScale;
    83.                 OUT.pixelAngle.y = 6.28318530718 / Divisions;
    84.  
    85.                 return OUT;
    86.             }
    87.  
    88.             sampler2D _MainTex;
    89.  
    90.             fixed4 frag(v2f IN) : SV_Target
    91.             {
    92.                 //Pixelize the position according to the pixel scale
    93.                 half2 pos = floor(IN.texcoord * IN.pixelAngle.x) / IN.pixelAngle.x;
    94.  
    95.                 //The center of the circle
    96.                 half2 pivot = half2(CenterX, CenterY);
    97.  
    98.                 float4 color;
    99.  
    100.                 if (distance(pos, pivot) < Radius) {
    101.                     color = ColorBG;
    102.                 } else {
    103.  
    104.                     half2 dir = normalize(pos - pivot);
    105.  
    106.                     half2 axis = half2(AxisX, AxisY);
    107.                     //Whether or not the angle is negative or positive
    108.                     half z = axis.x * dir.y - axis.y * dir.x;
    109.  
    110.                     half prod = dot(axis, dir);
    111.                     //The actual angle formed between the fragment<->center and axis
    112.                     half angle = acos(prod);
    113.  
    114.                     angle = fmod(angle, IN.pixelAngle.y);
    115.  
    116.                     if (angle < (IN.pixelAngle.y / 2)) {
    117.                         if (z < 0) {
    118.                             color = ColorBG;
    119.                         } else {
    120.                             color = ColorLines;
    121.                         }
    122.                     } else if (z < 0) {
    123.                         color = ColorLines;
    124.                     } else {
    125.                         color = ColorBG;
    126.                     }
    127.  
    128.                 }
    129.                 return color * _Color;
    130.             }
    131.         ENDCG
    132.         }
    133.     }
    134. }
    Notice line #100: "if (distance(pos, pivot) < Radius) {". If I change that to:
    Code (CSharp):
    1. half dX = pos.x - pivot.x;
    2. half dY = pos.y - pivot.y;
    3.  
    4. if (dX * dX + dY * dY < Radius * Radius) { ...
    The shader now works! Note that it's "Radius * Radius" that makes it work.

    Another thing that makes it work is replacing the "color = ..." with return statements (while keeping the original distance() < Radius line). Getting rid of the now-obsolete else keywords is not required for it to work.

    I hope this will help you guys figure out what's wrong!
     
    Last edited: Feb 1, 2016
    ikemen_blueD likes this.
  17. unity_baldurk

    unity_baldurk

    Unity Technologies

    Joined:
    May 1, 2015
    Posts:
    11
    I'd like to avoid this thread becoming a meta-bug for different problems with similar symptoms, since that's a good way to not solve anything :).

    If you have a problem with one particular shader like @Zoodinger above, that's not what the OP is experiencing. If you file a bug with the repro shader it can be investigated separately as it indicates a crash in the platform shader compiler.

    The OP's problem is that the shader compiler is running but no network communication is happening at all beyond the initial connection. If you are experiencing this problem you will see something like this in your Editor.log:

    Shader compiler: internal error initializing platforms: Protocol error - failed to read correct magic number

    Note in particular the bolded part. If you have this error about initializing platforms then that is a strong indication of the bug, as this means the network is failing when just querying what platforms the shader compiler supports before we even get to compiling shaders.

    If you do get this error, please post the diagnostic information that @ikemen_blueD has:
    1. Post your operating system, machine configuration and environment, the Editor.log and any Library/shadercompiler-UnityShaderCompiler.exe0.log in the new project.
    2. Disable any antivirus or firewall or any programs that could affect network use, and try again to see if that makes any difference.
    3. Take a process monitor capture with the steps I posted earlier in the thread and share the results. (If you are comfortable doing so, a wireshark capture would also be of great help).
    4. Finally try running the pair of executables I posted above to see if you notice any problems there.
    I am preparing a build of Unity with extra diagnostic and debugging log output, I will share it with anyone experiencing the problem to try and narrow down what is going wrong and find a fix.
     
  18. ikemen_blueD

    ikemen_blueD

    Joined:
    Jan 19, 2013
    Posts:
    341
    Hi guys, for those who have similar issue like mine. Can you guys do the tests? Because I'm pretty busy for my lunar year holidays preparation, so I probably be late to provide unity_baldurk the test stats, so he and Unity staff can fix the issue. Many thanks! :)
     
  19. Zoodinger

    Zoodinger

    Joined:
    Jul 1, 2013
    Posts:
    43
    Right, I'm sorry, the error I'm getting is:
    Shader compiler: internal error compiling shader snippet type=0 platform=9: Protocol error - failed to read correct magic number
    which looks very similar, but I'm not getting "internal error initializing platforms". I'll file a separate bug report for this.
     
  20. ikemen_blueD

    ikemen_blueD

    Joined:
    Jan 19, 2013
    Posts:
    341
    @unity_baldurk sorry for my late reply. Here are my steps:

    - Turn off Microsoft Security Essentials, Microsoft Firewalls, System Mechanics.
    - Install Unity 5.3.1f1.
    - Run "Unity 5.3.2p1 Editor with extra Socket Logs", that you sent me. Create a new project.

    Here are the error messages:

    Shader compiler: internal error initializing platforms: Protocol error - failed to read correct magic number
    UnityEditor.DockArea:OnGUI()

    Shader compiler: internal error compiling shader snippet type=0 platform=4: Failed writing data to socket
    UnityEditor.DockArea:OnGUI()

    Shader compiler: internal error compiling shader snippet type=1 platform=4: Failed writing data to socket
    UnityEditor.DockArea:OnGUI()

    Shader error in 'Skybox/Procedural': Internal error communicating with the shader compiler process


    The "Editor.log", "Editor-prev.log" from "C:\Users\...\AppData\Local\Unity\Editor" & the "shadercompiler-UnityShaderCompiler.exe0.log" from "C:\...\New Unity Project\Library" are attached.

    I'm doing the same steps with Process Monitor. Here is my "Logfile.PML" download link
    https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bx-R9k1wWQp5TGY2cnJmRVlCUk0

    I hope these logs can help you to figure out the main culprit :)
     

    Attached Files:

    Last edited: Feb 3, 2016
  21. unity_baldurk

    unity_baldurk

    Unity Technologies

    Joined:
    May 1, 2015
    Posts:
    11
    Thank you for the testing @ikemen_blueD. From these debug logs I can see what is going wrong, but I do not understand why yet :).

    Unity.exe sends the initial command like so:
    • Integer with a protocol magic number.
    • Integer with the length of the command string
    • Characters of the command string (here, 14 bytes)
    This sending succeeds, but then Unity times out while reading the response, and after that every other communication times out also.

    On the UnityShaderCompiler.exe, after connecting it starts to receive the data above. However it receives only 1 byte at a time always. Not only this, but it begins to receive slower and slower, at first taking approx 0.5s for each byte, then 1s, then more, until eventually it is only receiving 1 byte per minute. After 6 minutes when you close the editor, it has still not completed receiving the 22 bytes in the original message!

    I don't understand why this is happening yet. It is possible there is a problem in your network card driver or something similar, I am not sure. Here are the next things I would like to try:
    1. Please post your dxdiag results, in case there is anything useful to be listed there.
    2. Could you please run the pair of .EXEs I posted earlier in the thread? This is a very simple independent test case which performs the same kind of networking. It would be very useful to know if it has the problem also, which you would see by very very slow communication between the two exes since there is no timeout encoded (a string such as 'hello there' would take many minutes to transfer).
    3. I would now also like to obtain a wireshark capture of the networking, instead of a process monitor capture. This will give much more information but is quite complicated to set up - here are some useful instructions on how to capture.
      PLEASE TAKE NOTE: wireshark captures will contain the contents of all network traffic on your PC. So it is important that while performing the test you avoid using the network as much as possible otherwise (do not browse the web, for example), and also take care that you do not post the capture in this public forum. Instead, send it directly to me in a private message.
    For everyone, @ikemen_blueD will be busy for the next while with holidays, as mentioned before. If you are receiving this error "internal error initializing platforms" please post to let me know, as this could help to diagnose the problem sooner.

    Baldur
     
    drawcode and ikemen_blueD like this.
  22. NexeVR

    NexeVR

    Joined:
    Mar 7, 2015
    Posts:
    1
    I've got the exact same trouble.

    It works with Unity5.2.2p3.
    but "Shader compiler: internal error initializing platforms" on Unity 5.3.2p2 and Unity5.3.1p4.
    I've tried to launch in Admin mode or to stop my firewall but same result.


    I need to launch my new game with at least Unity5.3.1p4 because of the VR support so I'm stuck.
     
  23. ikemen_blueD

    ikemen_blueD

    Joined:
    Jan 19, 2013
    Posts:
    341
    Hi guys, sorry for my late reply. I decided to re-install the whole Windows 7 fresh. I did not install Microsoft Security Essentials, System Mechanics. I install Unity 5.3.2f1. Everything works fine, no error or anything. So, my guess even I disable these two, they are still blocking Unity Network connection somehow.

    So, if you have a similar error like mine, try to uninstall your Antivirus, your Firewall, or any Tools that may block Unity Network connection, which yields a pink Skybox error.

    EDIT
    I tried to install Microsoft Security Essentials, and Whitelist settings as follow:
    • Settings, Excluded files and locations:
      • C:\Program Files\Unity
      • C:\Users\...\AppData\Local\Unity
      • C:\Users\...\AppData\LocalLow\Unity
      • C:\Users\...\AppData\Roaming\Unity
    • Settings, Excluded processes:
      • C:\Program Files\Unity\Editor\UnityHelper.exe
      • C:\Program Files\Unity\Editor\Unity.exe
      • C:\Program Files\Unity\Editor\BugReporter\unity.bugreporter.exe
      • C:\Program Files\Unity\Editor\Data\Tools64\UnityShaderCompiler.exe
      • C:\Program Files\Unity\Editor\Data\Tools64\JobProcess.exe
    I notice Unity runs much faster with these settings. I don't know which other EXE files I should consider to add to whitelist processes list. So, I grasp some I think are important. For now, for my case, I may confirm that System Mechanics conflicts with my Unity Edtior 5.3 versions and later.
     
    Last edited: Feb 17, 2016
  24. FatIgor

    FatIgor

    Joined:
    Sep 13, 2015
    Posts:
    29
    For some reason I had this UnityShaderCompiler.exe problem show up when I started work this morning. After reading through this thread I found that I was able to fix it by explicitly adding UnityShaderCompiler.exe as an allowed program in my firewall.

    I am rather bemused as to why it stopped working tho. When I stopped work yesterday everything was working as normal, and on starting this morning I had this new problem. Oh well, let's hope it's done with now.
     
  25. islaydwarfs

    islaydwarfs

    Joined:
    Feb 28, 2016
    Posts:
    1
    I had the exact same error message about the shaders and my unity was all pink but I managed to fix it. What I did was open my local disk where I had downloaded unity 5 to and saw that my folder with my games in was not in it. I just dragged the folder where I saved my games to into the same folder that unity 5 is downloaded to, then I opened unity 5 and it worked fine. I hope this helps anyone else who has the same problem.
     
  26. Valthalin

    Valthalin

    Joined:
    Aug 22, 2013
    Posts:
    3
    I'm a similar problem.

    Unity and the shader exe are not connecting up. So everything is pink. I am not building custom shaders or anything. Just opening up a new project in unity. Nothing I've tried to fix the problem works so far. I did submit a bug report a bit ago so hopefully someone will get back to me.

    Unity works fine during start, playing, ect. Just anything with shaders are not working.

    Additionally, If I close unity it becomes unresponsive and I have to close the task. I have not waited long enough to see if it will close. I presume it KIA after about 8 minutes and manually kill the task.

    Specs:
    64-bit Windows 7 Professional, Service Pack 1
    I5-2500 CPU 3.30GHz 3.60GHz
    16gb ram
    NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 TI, version 364.72
    DirectX version 11.0

    Security:
    Windows security is disabled
    ZoneAlarm
    AVG

    Editor:
    Unity Editor 5.3.4f1

    With previous versions of unity I had no shader problems. But since I updated to unity 5 I have had this problem. updated network drivers, graphics drivers. I turned off all firewalls, and antivirus, reinstalled unity, still nothing is working.

    unity error.jpg

    Here are the in editor errors:
    Shader compiler: internal error initializing platforms: Failed writing data to socket
    UnityEditor.DockArea:OnGUI()

    Shader compiler: internal error compiling shader snippet type=0 platform=4: Failed writing data to socket
    UnityEditor.DockArea:OnGUI()

    Shader compiler: internal error compiling shader snippet type=1 platform=4: Failed writing data to socket
    UnityEditor.DockArea:OnGUI()

    Shader error in 'Skybox/Procedural': Internal error communicating with the shader compiler process
     
    Last edited: May 1, 2016
    Eden_fassker likes this.
  27. jimrota

    jimrota

    Joined:
    Dec 31, 2014
    Posts:
    15
    Having the same issue with version 5.3.4f1 After restarting Unity, while trying to reassign the broken materials like Default Material to every object that has the issue...it not only appears to corrupt the new material when added (like it was a prefab apply), making it pink, it also then crashes to let us know that it is seriously sick...

    Further digging suggests it has something to do with the Standard Shader and perhaps the one called Default (or is assigned Default-Material). What to do if the Default-Material is corrupt, or is it???

    It seems to allow re-assigning of a new material.

    standard_shader3.jpg standard_shader4.jpg standard_shader2.jpg

    I ended up having to scrap all Materials that were using the Standard Shaders. I changed them all to Legacy Diffuse and then went through every object (thousands) and made sure nothing was using a Standard Shader (pink), reassigned them to the Legacy Shaders. It seems to be stable but keeps crashing (could be unrelated).
     
    Last edited: May 11, 2016
  28. abhijan123

    abhijan123

    Joined:
    May 15, 2016
    Posts:
    6
    same error
    My PC specs:
    Intel Core i7 6700 HQ 2.6 GHz
    16 GB RAM memory
    64-bit Windows 10
    NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M
    DirectX version 12.0

    Please give a fix........ my project has been halted
     
  29. abhijan123

    abhijan123

    Joined:
    May 15, 2016
    Posts:
    6
    Solved the problem by setting the graphics driver to NVIDIA
     
  30. Assembler-Maze

    Assembler-Maze

    Joined:
    Jan 6, 2016
    Posts:
    630
    Hello!

    I would have the same error (unity 5.3.4). Does this problem still persists in 5.3.5? I'm afraid to migrate to that just yet, I don't want all the work I did to be lost.
     
  31. topaz7

    topaz7

    Joined:
    Dec 15, 2012
    Posts:
    76
    I am getting this issue after I updated my Windows. I allowed UnityShaderCompiler.exe to firewall but it doesn't solve it.