We'll help you get your ship lit.
Most answers are in the documentation - start there for setup and the quick start. For anything else, reach us directly below.
Documentation
Setup, the quick start, and the systems reference. Most questions end here.
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support@anarki-corporation.comCommon questions
Which Unity versions and pipelines are supported?
Unity 6 (6000.x) on the Universal Render Pipeline. ShipVFX is URP-only - Built-in RP and HDRP are not supported. The same config scales from mobile to desktop.
Can I try it before buying?
Yes - the interactive demo on the home page IS the framework: the real Unity build, live in your browser (desktop). Orbit the frigate, cycle the 12 presets, push the throttle - what you see is exactly what the pack renders.
What does it cost in performance? Does it really run on mobile?
ShipVFX was built for our own mobile 4X game, so mobile is the baseline, not a port: procedural shaders with ~0 textures, hard particle caps, force-disabled shadows/collision on FX, and a light budget tuned to URP’s mobile guidance. The heavy "Powerhouse" tiers (reactor trail, volumetric smoke, heat distortion) are explicit desktop/console opt-ins. And it is measured, not promised: on a 2017 OnePlus 5T the Mobile tier holds a locked 60 fps with one ship and with a fleet of eight on screen, and an RTX 3090 runs the same 8-ship fleet at 460 fps. The full benchmark method, and how to read each number, lives on the Benchmarks page.
Do I need to write any code?
No. You author everything in the Configurator - a live editor tool with a fly-around preview - and it all lives in one config asset that rebuilds identically in your build. Code is only needed if you want to drive the FX from gameplay (a five-method API: throttle, boost, warp, damage, state).
How much code does it actually take to react to gameplay?
One line per driver. A ship that just looks right needs none at all: drop the ShipVFX Binder component on it, assign a config in the inspector, and it builds itself on Awake. To make it respond to your game you pass values in - no VFX programming, no lifecycle to manage, no init order to respect. Every setter clamps its input, so an out-of-range value cannot break anything. This is the whole integration for a typical RTS ship:
var vfx = ship.GetComponent<ShipVFXBinder>().Controller;
vfx.SetThrottle(currentSpeed / maxSpeed); // plume + trail grow
vfx.SetBoost(isBoosting); // afterburner kick
vfx.SetDamage(1f - hull / maxHull); // engines misfire
vfx.SetState(isSelected ? ShipVisualState.Selected
: ShipVisualState.Idle);My FX look flat or dull - what happened?
Your project is missing Bloom, which the HDR plumes are designed for. Run Tools → ShipVFX → Add Recommended Grade to Scene - one click adds the bundled Bloom + tonemap profile (and one click reverts it).
My ship flies sideways or backwards.
Imported FBX models rarely have their nose along Unity’s +Z axis. Set the Forward Direction once in the Configurator (place the Front marker, click "Orient ship from markers", Validate) and the ship flies nose-first everywhere - preview, editor and build.
Do the 12 presets work on any ship?
Colours, shapes and animation travel anywhere. Sizes and placements were tuned on our own hulls, so on a very different ship a preset may want a quick pass on scale - the auto-fit and one-click theming do most of that, and applying a preset never touches your sockets, scale or orientation.
Are the ship models from the demo included?
No. The ships shown on this site and in the demo are our own demonstration assets and are not part of the package. ShipVFX delivers the VFX and lighting systems, which attach to your models - any FBX or prefab. There is one deliberate exception: a single AI-generated demo hull ships with the package, with a finished rig for it, so the Configurator has something to demonstrate on out of the box and you can fly a complete ship from one config. It is a test fixture with no art pass and is not representative of the package quality. It carries no separate licence - the standard EULA covers it like the rest of the package - but as raw generator output it is a poor choice for anything you ship. Deleting it breaks nothing.
Does it work with AI-generated models (Meshy, etc.)?
Yes - that’s exactly what the orient-from-markers tool is for. AI-generated and DCC-exported ships often import mis-axised; two marker clicks align the nose to the travel axis without touching the transform. We know it holds up because the demo hull bundled with the pack is Meshy output, rigged with the same tools you get - and the manual documents the one real gotcha, which is generators writing the unit conversion as a scale on the root node instead of baking it into the vertices.
Is the C# source included?
Yes - full C# source, no DLLs, in clean runtime/editor/test assemblies with 77 automated tests. Redistributing the source as an asset is not permitted (standard Asset Store EULA).
Do updates cost extra?
No. ShipVFX includes lifetime updates - new versions appear in your asset library and in the changelog.
Can I use it in a commercial game?
Yes. The standard Asset Store EULA covers commercial and personal Unity projects. ShipVFX itself was built for our own real-time mobile 4X strategy game, currently in active development.
What about refunds?
Purchases go through the Unity Asset Store, so its standard refund policy applies. If something is not working, email us first - most issues turn out to be quick fixes.