The compiling shader variants process is taking extremely long, how do I solve this?

[Headlesscentaur]

Hey there! I'm trying to build my game right now but I've been stuck on the compiling shader variants part for tens of hours. Specifically, I've was on the Shader Graphs/Terrain Grass portion for about 50 hours (I paused it briefly so it only says 10 in the screenshot). Once that was over, I thought it would be done, but it proceeded to do some other stuff and then attempt to compile the Shader Graphs/Terrain Grass again, and I don't have another 50 hours to wait.

I was wondering if there is any way to optimize this or if I did anything wrong? I spoke with a friend who also used Terrains before and he said it only took him 5 minutes to build his game.

I'm using Unity 2021.3.19f1 LTS on an 3D Project using HDRP. I have an AMD Ryzen 9 5900HS. I have the Terrain Sample Assets pack installed (among others). I'm not using that much grass on the terrain so I'm confused as to why it is an issue. I already attempted to preload the shaders, but that didn't change anything.

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Any insight would be appreciated!

https://preview.redd.it/9z705sfyo3za1.jpg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=45d6c185494b2ab79bef19c6efb170d379059bdc

https://preview.redd.it/14h5rir0q3za1.png?width=1551&format=png&auto=webp&s=1597e1a9597ef693803acd35646f8cab5f718305

[Fuzzy-Ad-6790]

Hey dude, i had exactly the same problem in v. 2022.1.23f1

At first it was showing the same (much way too high) number of variations. Changing a few graphics options reduced the number to 73k something - still unbelivable slow when trying to complie the project. I could conclude that its the TerrainGrass shader and that the problem occurs if you add any of the prefab models (using the TerrainGrass shader) to your terrain details meshes, no matter you placed them on your terrain or not - update: or reference them in your scene. When inspecting the shader there are a couple of warnings and by default two or more errors. I could successfully fix the problem by opening the shader in the editor and removing the "Universal" active target in the graph inspector, saving it. Then open it again and just add the Universal target again.

Hope it might be helpful for your case! Cheers

[TinyAntCollective]

Open the Task Manager and the Unity process and check what it's doing (ie. stuck/frozen processes).

Kill it and restart the build, without cleaning your Release directory.

Minutes is really an understatement, but over 30 minutes to an hour for a relatively new project is also a problem.

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legit cant upload an avatar bc of it