I’m having a bit of a frustrating experience with Unity 6 and could use some help. So, I started working on a terrain for my game, and while I was excited to add details and trees, I’ve run into some weird issues with the detail and tree distances. Basically, when I adjust the settings for these distances, it feels like nothing is actually happening.
The default detail distance is set to 80 meters, while the tree distance is 5000 meters. If I set both of them to 0, everything completely disappears, so it’s definitely working to some degree. However, I’m confused why I can’t see any changes when I adjust the distance settings to anything above 0 but below their defaults. It’s like the terrain is stuck in this weird state where, unless I just set them to 0 or drop them below zero, nothing changes.
I’ve attached some screenshots to show what I mean. You can clearly see in one of them that when I set the tree distance to just 1, trees that are literally kilometers away are still visible! But then, if I drop the detail distance below 0, I can’t see any details at all. The strangest part is that with the detail distance set to 80 meters, I can’t see any of the details from that distance either; it’s as if it’s completely ignoring that setting.
I’m wondering if this is a bug or perhaps I’ve missed a setting somewhere that’s causing this wonky behavior. Has anyone else experienced something similar? Could this be related to how Unity handles terrain rendering? I’m trying to figure out if I’ve just overlooked something simple or if this is a known issue.
Thanks for taking the time to read this! I’d really appreciate any insights or fixes you might have. Unity can be a great tool, but these little quirks can really throw a wrench in the creative process. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!
The behavior you’re experiencing with Unity’s terrain detail and tree distances sounds like it could be related to the terrain detail density settings, camera clipping distances, or possibly scene-specific rendering overrides. First, ensure your camera’s far clipping plane is set high enough to accommodate longer viewing distances, and check if any custom scripts or scene-level settings might be overriding these terrain visibility parameters. It’s also a good idea to verify whether the terrain is properly marked as static, and that your project quality settings don’t impose stricter limits on detail and object rendering distances than the values you’re trying to set through the terrain settings.
Additionally, the odd behavior of visibility at very short or zero distances could indicate a known quirk or bug in Unity 6’s rendering pipeline, especially if you’re using the HDRP or URP render pipelines. To troubleshoot further, try isolating the terrain and removing any custom shaders or rendering scripts to confirm if the issue persists. Checking Unity’s official issue tracker and community forums can also help determine if this is a known issue. If all else fails and settings seem correct, filing a detailed bug report with Unity—accompanied by your screenshots—could help identify whether you’ve encountered a software-specific problem.
It sounds like you’re having a tough time with the Unity terrain settings! From what you’ve described, it definitely feels like something’s not working as it should. When you change the detail and tree distances, and things aren’t reacting the way you expect, it can be super frustrating.
First off, have you checked if the terrain layer settings have any overrides? Sometimes, if there are multiple terrains or layers, settings might not take effect as expected. Also, make sure the details (like grass or bushes) and trees are actually added to those settings; otherwise, it might seem like the distances don’t do anything.
Another idea is to look at your graphics settings. Unity’s quality settings for rendering can affect how things are displayed in your game. You could try changing the quality level to see if that affects how details and trees render at a distance.
If adjusting the settings brings trees in from far away but doesn’t make nearby details visible, you might also want to check your camera settings. Sometimes, the camera’s near clip plane can limit what it actually renders based on the distance.
It could also be a bug, especially if you’re on a newer or beta version of Unity. In that case, maybe check the Unity forums or bug reports to see if anyone else is having the same problem. Sometimes, patches are released to fix these quirky issues.
Lastly, if nothing else works, trying to reset the terrain settings back to default and then adjusting them a bit at a time might help you spot where the problem lies.
Hope you can figure it out soon! Unity is definitely powerful, but these little quirks can definitely challenge the creative flow.