What causes "No scene available to load asset container to" in BabylonJS/Babylon.js?

Create the engine and scene first, then pass the scene instance to LoadAssetContainerAsync

BabylonJS/Babylon.js · error · Error

No scene available to load asset container to

Error message

No scene available to load asset container to

What it means

loadAssetContainerAsync requires a target Scene to attach pending data and build the AssetContainer against. Passing null/undefined for the scene parameter causes this throw before any loading starts.

Source

Thrown at packages/dev/core/src/Loading/sceneLoader.ts:1151

 * @param options an object that configures aspects of how the scene is loaded
 * @returns A promise that resolves when the scene is appended
 */
export async function appendSceneAsync(source: SceneSource, scene: Scene, options?: AppendOptions): Promise<void> {
    return await AppendSceneAsync(source, scene, options);
}

// This is the core implementation of load asset container
async function loadAssetContainerCoreAsync(
    rootUrl: string,
    sceneFilename: SceneSource = "",
    scene: Nullable<Scene> = EngineStore.LastCreatedScene,
    onProgress?: Nullable<(event: ISceneLoaderProgressEvent) => void>,
    pluginExtension?: Nullable<string>,
    name = "",
    pluginOptions: PluginOptions = {}
): Promise<AssetContainer> {
    if (!scene) {
        throw new Error("No scene available to load asset container to");
    }

    const fileInfo = GetFileInfo(rootUrl, sceneFilename);
    if (!fileInfo) {
        throw new Error("Cannot load file: a valid scene filename or root url was not provided.");
    }

    const loadingToken = {};
    scene.addPendingData(loadingToken);

    const progressHandler = wrapProgress(onProgress);

    try {
        const { plugin, data } = await loadDataAsync(fileInfo, scene, progressHandler, pluginExtension ?? null, name, pluginOptions);

        const asyncPlugin = toAsyncPlugin(plugin, fileInfo);
        if (!asyncPlugin.loadAssetContainerAsync) {
            throw createLoadError(fileInfo, loadAssetContainerNotSupportedMessage);

View on GitHub (pinned to 0592b347b8)

Solutions

Create the engine and scene first, then pass the scene instance to LoadAssetContainerAsync
Await engine/scene initialization before starting asset loading
Guard the call: if (!scene) throw/log before invoking the loader

Example fix

// before
const container = await SceneLoader.LoadAssetContainerAsync(url, '', undefined);
// after
const scene = new Scene(engine);
const container = await SceneLoader.LoadAssetContainerAsync(url, '', scene);

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

if (!scene) throw new Error('Scene must be created before loading asset containers');
const container = await SceneLoader.LoadAssetContainerAsync(rootUrl, filename, scene);

Type guard

const hasScene = (s: unknown): s is Scene => s instanceof Scene;

Try / catch

try {
  container = await SceneLoader.LoadAssetContainerAsync(url, '', scene);
} catch (e) {
  if (e instanceof Error && e.message.includes('No scene available')) {
    console.error('Scene was undefined when loading asset container');
  } else throw e;
}

Prevention

Await engine/scene initialization before any loading code runs
Keep scene creation and asset loading in the same init function to avoid ordering bugs
Enable strictNullChecks so undefined scene parameters are caught at compile time

When it happens

Trigger: Calling SceneLoader.LoadAssetContainerAsync(rootUrl, filename, null) or omitting the scene argument so it resolves to undefined.

Common situations: Creating the container before initializing the engine/scene; a scene variable is undefined because engine init hasn't resolved or an earlier createScene call failed silently.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of BabylonJS/Babylon.js@0592b347b8 (2026-08-30). Data as JSON: /api/errors/30fc4ca1c1d1e346. Report an issue: GitHub.