Project won't load if Generate Mesh Distance Fields is enabled (stuck at 95%)

[KosMatty]

Hi all,

My project initially created in UE 5.1 and subsequently updated to 5.2 and now 5.3, won’t load when “Generate Mesh Distance Fields” is enabled in the project settings.

If I set r.GenerateMeshDistanceFields = False in DefaultEngine.ini, the project loads fine, but Lumen doesn’t work. The editor doesn’t throw any errors for this project - all blueprints compile smoothly, and everything functions as expected when Mesh Distance Fields are disabled. However, when r.GenerateMeshDistanceFields is set to True, the project never loads and gets stuck at 95% (‘Performing post-load…’ or ‘Loading map: Initializing world…’). No shaders are being compiled in the background (Task Manager shows CPU usage ~5% when stuck at loading). Just nothing happens forever…

I feel I’ve tried everything, and the only insight I’ve gained is that Mesh Distance Fields are causing the issue. I’ve copied ‘Config’ & ‘Content’ folders and .uproject file to a new folder to start fresh. I’ve even performed a clean installation of Windows 11 and UE, but the problem persists.

Switching between RHIs (DX11/12 / Vulkan) doesn’t change anything. It’s worth noting that the project worked fine in UE 5.1 and 5.2, but the issue arose after migrating to 5.3.

Has anyone encountered a similar problem or have any insights into what might be causing this?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[3dRaven]

@KosMatty

MeshDistanceFields

It’s a shot in the dark but perhaps this might help?

“generate mesh distance fields” setting not working.

hi, there, had the same problem - no distance field generates, enabling/ disabling in project settings helps nothing, directX switching do nothing too… solved this problem for me: increased scalability to high and after that depth starts generating and starts works visualization

Maybe the default scalability is stopping the engine from generating the Mesh Distance Fields? (Needs to be set to high for them to start generating)

[KosMatty]

Thanks for your reply, I tried running the project with different scalability settings, but it didn’t change anything. Also, as I mentioned, my project doesn’t load at all, not just that Mesh DF are not generating.

Yesterday, I spent most of the day trying to diagnose this problem, and it seems that the core of it might be the Ultra Dynamic Sky asset. When I completely removed it from the project (hard deleted from Content folder), the project loaded normally every try. However, this is not a solution because my project heavily relies on UDS (all materials using it, UMG & Blueprints dependencies, etc.).

If I find a precise solution I’ll give an update. And if anyone knows what might be happening, I’d appreciate the insight!

[Sp00neg]

Hi, I have the same problem, but I didn’t use UDS plugin in my projects - they just not loading when Generate Mesh Distance Fields is enabled Looking for solution too.

[KosMatty]

The issue might not be with the UDS but rather with a specific configuration or dependencies between certain elements. I’m in touch with the dev creator of Ultra Dynamic Sky, and we’ll try to diagnose the problem together. I’ll keep you posted once I got something
If you happen to find a solution, let us know too!

[Sp00neg]

Hi! I found the solution for my project - in DefaultEngine.ini was missed a section [/Script/WindowsTargetPlatform.WindowsTargetSettings], when I’ve added it and fill target shader platform, it started to work as before(I think Epics broke something in default values in 5.3.2 update). Now this section looks as follows in my .ini file:

[/Script/WindowsTargetPlatform.WindowsTargetSettings]
+D3D11TargetedShaderFormats=PCD3D_SM5
+D3D12TargetedShaderFormats=PCD3D_SM6

Hope it’ll help you. Good luck!

[KosMatty]

Problem solved. In my case, the issue was with UDS Weather Masks (Brush & Projection Box), which, for some reason, caused loading problems after updating the project to UE 5.3 and UDS to version 7.9. After removing all the masks from the level and adding them again, the problem no longer occurs and the project loads as it should every time.