Unity 2019.3.0f6 Scene is much brighter in headset than in desktop view(Oculus Desktop)

Pretty much as the title says. I'm using deferred rendering path with Linear color space and have never had this problem before.

The difference is more pronounced when tonemapping is applied so I'm hoping maybe it's a simple post processing issue, although it still feels more washed out even without any post processing(using PP v2.3).

As I said I've never had this issue in prior projects so maybe this version of Unity is bugged?


EDIT: So I've tried changing the color space to gamma and completely disabling post processing, and updating to the latest version of unity, still having the exact same problem. Also, it's not the entire screen that appears brighter, just anywhere a light makes contact with a surface. It's as if the lights have accurate intensity falloff on desktop but not in the headset.


EDIT 2: I tried creating 2 new projects on an entirely different computer(2019.3 and 2018.3) and the issue is still persisting. Color space and rendering path don't seem to change anything and it happens whether post processing is enabled or not.

 

So I tried creating an entirely new project in the newest version of unity(2019.3.13) and created a very simple scene with cube walls and 1 point light. I have the light intensity set to 0.01 inside of the room and the walls are still somewhat visible in the headset, while obviously being completely dark on the desktop.

This is very frustrating, I have no idea what is causing this as changing the color space and rendering path made no difference. The issue persists regardless of whether or not post processing is enabled. I can only imagine this is an issue with the newer versions of unity but I would imagine this would be a very common problem if it was that simple, idk.

Any help would be greatly appreciated as I'm sick of having to use 2018.x versions of unity for VR projects as every version after seems to either have messed up post processing(ambient occlusion specifically) or other weird issues.

 

Is no one else having this issue? I can recreate this in minutes on different computers in different unity versions, I just feel like others should be encountering this. Is there something obvious I'm missing?

I would really appreciate if someone would try replicating this for me if it's not too much trouble.
All you have to do to recreate this is:

-Create new project and install XR plug-in management and install oculus plug-in
-Disable all ambient lighting so scene is entirely dark
-Set color space to linear
-Build a small area(I prefer a small room with cube walls)
-Add a point light and set intensity very low(<0.1, range of 10)
-Test it and notice that walls that are black in the editor are visible in the headset(walls must still be in range of light source though)

It's most noticeable farther from the light source where you would expect the light intensity to be much lower. I'll try to upload some pictures soon, I really hope I'm just missing something simple but I don't ever remember having this issue before. Thanks for your time

 

Off the top of my head, sounds like the classic problem of "Unity downgraded the project settings without telling you" that changes the lighting calcs, shadows algorithm - everything (Unity's "quality settings" system hasn't really changed in 15 years and ... isn't good). What are your build / quality settings for the platform you're building to?

 

Sorry for the late reply.

Here are my settings(for desktop):






Also my camera settings:



The above image is what I am getting on desktop(this is also how it looks in-game on desktop, not just in editor). Notice how dark it is to the left of the light source(which has an intensity of 0.05 and a range of 10).


Now here is what I get inside the headset(this is the same spot as the pitch black area in the above picture, to the left)


This area should not even be visible, yet I can consistently see walls that appear completely black on desktop.

Thanks for the response btw, let me know if you need anything else.

Also, the post processing consists only of temporal anti-aliasing. Enabling or disabling it has no effect.

 

But my point is: your settings on desktop don't matter, it's the settings on your build that matter (and the Quest ... is not a desktop )

 

Sorry, I should have specified I'm using Oculus Rift not Quest.

Here are my build settings:

 

Sorry - my mistake, I misread what you'd written when you spoke about the headset (I thought you were talking about it as a deployment target).

Your attached image just appears as solid black for me (might be a forums bug? - all the screenshots showing settings appear without problem).

Going down my hit-list of causes for unity darkness problems:
0. Unity version: you say 2019.3.0 - which is severely broken in so many ways! (Unity has never EVER shiped a x.y.0 release that has EVER worked, so I hope that's a typo on your part. I would never, ever, ever even install a x.y.0 less than x.y.5 from Unity, and I would never try to make a project on less than x.y.10 unless I had a gun to my head. This is consistent (in pace) for the last 10 years (although before 2017, they did N times fewer release cadence, so for me it was up to y.3 and y.5 instead of .5 and .10) - Unity's first 5 point releases are really beta releases, and the second 5 are "day 0 patch" releases
1. Gamma vs Linear: which is the project set to (you said Linear, which is usally right, Unity is broken for Gamma in many ways)? But also: what does the hardware support (some GPUs/OSs don't support Gamma - but current windows10 + any desktop GPU strong enough to run a Rift should be absolutely fine)? Are the drivers something newer than 2017 (anything since then should be fine)?
2. Monitor brightness - grab a gamma test image and display it on editor and device, and work out what the gamma adjustment is. Play with moinotr / desktop driver until they match - does the problem go away?

 

Hey, I'm at work so I cant check those right now, but on my phone the image appears completely black which actually makes me feel better. If it's black on my phone then maybe It is a simple gamma or brightness issue for the monitor. Thanks again for all the help btw, I'll try to get back to you in a bit

 

Hi, were you able to fix your issue? I am having a very similar one, but on HoloLens 2 and Unity 2020.3.29f1.
The project was looking fine on previous Unity (2019.4.21).
My guess is that moving to OpenXR from LegacyXR changed some settings.

 

Have you checked linear vs gamma as per previous comments? It's been something Unity broke/handled badly between versions - creating a new project in one version of Unity, and opening in a later, vs creating the exact same project in new version gave you (without warning!) incompatible lighting settings by default. I would not be at all surprised if your lighting model has changed - without you changing it!