In the next coming days we will be switching the Editor over from running by default with Engine V2 over Engine V1.
NOTE This will not affect your project engine version which is used in the launcher and when published.
This editor experience is aimed to be identical to running on Engine V1 however should there be any issues please do reach out in Help & Support, on Github Issues or in our Discord Server
Whilst we are resolving this issue you are able to still use the Editor running on Engine V1 by appending the v1 query parameter to the end of your url e.g. https://playcanvas.com/editor/scene/2148249?v1
10th March Update
We have fixed the remaining issues differing Engine V2 from Engine V1 in the Editor. Any visual differences in Gamma are likely to be because of incorrect sRGB flags being set. Please refer to the Asset Auditor to resolve your issues. This is located in the status bar as shown below.
We have scheduled the switchover of the default Editor to run Engine V2 to happen on 12th March (Delayed).
12th March Update
We have deployed the switchover to Editor powered by Engine V2 being the default editor. Please refer to the Editor Release Notes for changes
13th March Update
We have compiled an FAQ for the switch of Editor to being powered by Engine V2
10th April Update
With Editor powered by Engine V2 being the default editor we are now actively deprecating Editor powered by by Engine V1. Please ensure all your active projects run correctly on the latest Editor. The removal of the deprecated Editor will happen on 22nd April (Postponed to 28th April). If you are having issues please do reach out to us to ensure a seamless transition process.
29th April Update
We are happy to announce the Editor migration to using Engine V1 in the viewport is complete
Please don’t do it. Our projects will look different due to that, especially the ones using UI.
Our artists will have difficulty on visually working with Editor due to that, as they will have to use Launcher to see how things look instead of Editor. Which is unnecessary workflow overhead.
We had some differences against v1 when it rolled out (by adding v2 to query). However, those were related to materials in the 3d world. I think that is why the team gave a period for us to report any findings. Both versions look the same for us after they fixed our reports. We don’t use PlayCanvas UI, though, so there might be something there? If you do see a difference, I bet the team would like to hear about those.
The removal of the deprecated Editor will happen on 22nd April
It’s completely unrealistic for us to update all of our (~50) active projects until April 22. With the easter holidays coming up, that leaves us about 4 days. Every single one of our projects run on version 1.X, some as old as 1.4X. The move to 2.X would be a ton of work, both for artists and for developers.
We plan to support the last Engine 1.x release in the Editor for at least a year after Engine 2 becomes available
This was posted August 22, 2024…
We’re currently compiling a list of issues we encountered when we tried updating a single project. But in the meantime, please, hold off the deprecation of v1.
We are NOT removing support for Engine V1. All projects that are currently on Engine V1 will launch, publish and and download with Engine V1.
The Editor however has defaulted to running on Engine V2. This is separate from the project Engine version. You can have a scenario where the Editor running on Engine V2 but when you launch the project it will on Engine V1.
The 22nd April update message is reflecting the Editor viewport and other aspects of the Editor itself no longer being based around Engine V1 but now Engine V2. Projects which require Engine V1 will still function as normal in the launcher and when published or downloaded.
I understand that. The issue with having the editor & viewport being based on Engine V2, and the launch/download/application engine on V1, is that there are differences in the rendering, and asset properties. This means we can no longer work in the editor and trust that the viewport shows the correct result. These are some issues we’ve come across:
Specular now expects sRGB textures. Previously they were read as linear. These textures now look too dark and contrasty in Engine V2 (and by extension, the editor). This is the main difference we’ve noticed regarding the rendering.
Editor V2 has removed some properties, such as tonemapping from the rendering settings. We can’t change these settings anymore in a v1-friendly way. Also, I guess newly created scenes won’t have a tonemapping property at all? Unsure how V1 engines will handle this.
Since Editor v.1.47.0, you removed the shader property from newly created materials. Applications running Engine versions older than v1.75.1 expects this property. This means when we create new materials, they don’t work in previous engines. As a workaround, we’ve had to duplicate already existing materials instead of creating new ones… As V2 keeps developing, this issue will likely grow with more properties changing.
We understand there are some visual differences between the viewport running with V1 and the launcher/download/applications being on V2 however we have been working to minimise these as much as possible.
The sRGB flag is not supported at all in Engine V1 and is ignored so you can safely apply all auto-fixes from the Asset Auditor (located in the status bar). If you have conflicting usages which are all Material based we have a fallback in place in Engine V2 if sRGB is set to false to accommodate this visually although it is not as performant.
Tonemapping and gamma correction have now been moved to be stored on the CameraComponent and the Viewport camera itself in Engine V2. If the project is still on Engine V1 however you can change your scene settings for these under Settings → Rendering and the Viewport camera under Settings → Editor. The latter will be ignored for Engine V1 projects when in launcher/download/applications.
The shader property still exists internally but is forced to physical. This allows it to continue to work with older Engine versions. phong property has been fully deprecated in the Editor. Which older Engine versions are you currently using that require this property?
If you have any screenshot samples of the differences that would aid us a lot to help you transition over to using the Editor on Engine V2.
In Engine V1, Specular textures were read as linear. In V2, the auditor prompts us to set them as sRGB. I’m unsure what the “correct” way of handling Specular textures are, but the problem here is that V1 and V2 handles them differently. For example, the leftmost picture shows how a material looked previously. The middle picture shows how it looks in V2 (with the specular texture set to sRGB, as is the auditor’s recommendation). As you can see, it does not match V1’s look. The rightmost picture shows how the material looks if we disregard the Auditor and disable sRGB on the Specular texture (and in doing so, we get a warning):
Newly created materials look wrong in versions older than v1.75.1. They don’t seem to use the prefiltered cubemap for specular or diffuse reflections:
So the first case we are investigating some conflicts with the specular map and its use cases so we will get back to you on that.
For the Tonemapping settings the reason is because your project is on Engine V2 which does not support tonemapping on the scene as its now on the CameraComponent. Check Editor → Engine Version to see which engine version the project is using. The Editor Engine version is present in the console logs.
We do not officially support older engine versions other than the current version and the previous minor release for both Engine V1 and Engine V2. Please check the release notes between Engine releases to update your API accordingly.
If this conversion process is purely time based we are able to push the removal of the Editor running on Engine V1 back but this Editor is deprecated and will be removed at some point in the future.
Separately to this, I still need to figure out how to preserve the incorrect behaviour when engine v1 project is used with engine v2 used by the Editor, as your current workaround (setting the texture sRGB flag to off) will not work due to my fix.
