UE5 Shader Compilation Errors – Why They Happen & How to Fix Them
If your materials aren’t showing up right, or you see an error saying “Failed to compile shaders”, you’re dealing with a Shader Compilation Error in Unreal Engine 5. These errors can pop up for all sorts of reasons—whether you’re using custom HLSL, tweaking Nanite or Lumen materials, or just switching platforms (like PC to mobile or VR).
Here’s what we cover:
- Material shaders failing to compile (why your textures turn gray or checkerboard)
- Errors in custom HLSL code (syntax mistakes, missing functions, etc.)
- Shader compile failures after upgrading from UE4 to UE5
- Platform-specific shader issues (why something works on Windows but not on Android)
- Failed to compile global shaders (a common issue when modifying the engine)
Shaders can be tricky, but with the right troubleshooting steps, you can fix compile errors and get your materials rendering properly again.
Articles
- Shader Error: X3000 – Syntax Error: Unexpected Token
- Shader Error: UE5 X3004 – Undeclared Identifier
- Shader Error: X3013 – ‘main’ No Matching Entry
- hader Error: Missing #include of Common.usf
- Shader error X4509: maximum number of samplers exceeded
- Shader Error: Binding Mismatch Between Shader and C++ Parameters
- Shader Error: Error Parsing Shader Permutation – Unexpected Macro
- Shader Error: Failed to Compile Global Shader FMyCustomShader
- Shader Error: Missing ShaderPermutationDomain Metadata for Shader Class
- Shader Error: Shader Compile Error in FShaderType::CompileShader
- Shader Error: Shader Failed to Compile for Platform SM5
- Shader Error: Shader Format ‘SF_METAL’ Is Not Supported on This Platform
- Shader Error: Shader Type Requires a Vertex Factory But None Was Specified
- Shader Error: X3501 – ‘MainVS’: Entry Point Not Found
- Shader Error: X3550 – Array Index Out of Bounds
- Shader Error: X3701 – Intrinsic Function Not Supported
- Shader Error: X4510 – Maximum Number of Textures Exceeded
