Unity-Technologies/UnityCsReference · error · ArgumentException

${renderPipelineType} must be a valid ${RenderPipeline}

Error message

${renderPipelineType} must be a valid ${RenderPipeline}

What it means

Thrown by EditorGraphicsSettings.CheckRenderPipelineType when the supplied Type is not assignable to RenderPipeline. This guard fronts every render-pipeline settings registration/lookup API (SetRenderPipelineGlobalSettingsAsset, etc.) so that callers cannot register a non-pipeline type against the SRP settings registry.

Source

Thrown at Editor/Mono/EditorGraphicsSettings.bindings.cs:63

            set { SetAlbedoSwatches(value); }
        }

        extern public static BatchRendererGroupStrippingMode batchRendererGroupShaderStrippingMode { get; }
        extern internal static bool activeProfileHasGraphicsSettings { get; set; }

        [NativeName("RegisterRenderPipelineSettings")] static extern bool Internal_TryRegisterRenderPipeline(string renderpipelineName, Object settings);
        [NativeName("UnregisterRenderPipelineSettings")] static extern bool Internal_TryUnregisterRenderPipeline(string renderpipelineName);
        [NativeName("GetSettingsForRenderPipeline")] static extern Object Internal_GetSettingsForRenderPipeline(string renderpipelineName);

        [NativeName("GetSettingsEntityIdForRenderPipeline")] internal static extern EntityId Internal_GetSettingsEntityIdForRenderPipeline(string renderpipelineName);

        private static void CheckRenderPipelineType(Type renderPipelineType)
        {
            if (renderPipelineType == null)
                throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(renderPipelineType));

            if (!typeof(RenderPipeline).IsAssignableFrom(renderPipelineType))
                throw new ArgumentException($"{renderPipelineType} must be a valid {nameof(RenderPipeline)}");
        }

        public static void SetRenderPipelineGlobalSettingsAsset(Type renderPipelineType, RenderPipelineGlobalSettings newSettings)
        {
            //In Worker thread, we cannot update assets
            if (AssetDatabase.IsAssetImportWorkerProcess())
                return;

            CheckRenderPipelineType(renderPipelineType);

            bool globalSettingsAssetChanged;
            if (newSettings != null)
            {
                RenderPipelineGraphicsSettingsManager.PopulateRenderPipelineGraphicsSettings(newSettings);
                globalSettingsAssetChanged = Internal_TryRegisterRenderPipeline(renderPipelineType.FullName, newSettings);
            }
            else
                globalSettingsAssetChanged = Internal_TryUnregisterRenderPipeline(renderPipelineType.FullName);

View on GitHub (pinned to 225b0fbdb5)

Solutions

1. Pass a Type that derives from RenderPipeline (e.g. typeof(UniversalRenderPipeline)).
2. If registering global settings, use the pipeline type, not the RenderPipelineGlobalSettings subclass.
3. Verify the SRP package version exposes the expected RenderPipeline subclass before registering.

Example fix

// before
EditorGraphicsSettings.SetRenderPipelineGlobalSettingsAsset(
    typeof(MyRenderPipelineSettings), asset); // wrong: settings type

// after
EditorGraphicsSettings.SetRenderPipelineGlobalSettingsAsset(
    typeof(UniversalRenderPipeline), asset);

if (renderPipelineType == null || !typeof(RenderPipeline).IsAssignableFrom(renderPipelineType)) { Debug.LogError($"{renderPipelineType} is not a RenderPipeline"); return; }

static bool IsRenderPipelineType(Type t) => t != null && typeof(RenderPipeline).IsAssignableFrom(t);

When it happens

Trigger: Passing typeof(SomeNonPipelineClass), typeof(ScriptableRendererFeature), or any Type not deriving from RenderPipeline to a global-settings method. Also passing a RenderPipeline-derived abstract type when a concrete pipeline is expected.

Common situations: SRP package integration code that registers a settings asset against the wrong type; custom render pipeline authoring where the registration call uses the settings type instead of the pipeline type; copy-paste from samples that reference a pipeline type not present in the project.

Related errors

• Specified enumType must be System.Enum
• A shader '{assetPath}' cannot depend on the 'srp/default-sha
• No valid types in required type list
• Parameter selected must be of type System.Enum
• Parameter enumValue must be of type System.Enum

AI-assisted analysis of Unity-Technologies/UnityCsReference@225b0fbdb5 (2026-08-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/6c423339351e7c26. Report an issue: GitHub.