Use Primitive Colliders instead of Mesh Colliders

Mesh Colliders and Read/Write Access

The simple version is: to bake a navmesh at runtime, Unity requires read/write access to any meshes that are used by Mesh Colliders in your scene.

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Best Practices

• Use primitive colliders whenever possible Box, Capsule, and Sphere Colliders are cheaper, faster, and do not require mesh read/write access. This is the best option for floors, walls, props, and most gameplay geometry.

• Use Mesh Colliders sparingly If you need complex geometry baked from a Mesh Collider:

  • Make sure the mesh asset has Read/Write Enabled in the import settings.

  • Avoid using static batching on those meshes (batched meshes are not readable).

• DynamicNavMeshSurface Defaults (v1.3.0+) When a DynamicNavMeshSurface is registered with the service, it is automatically configured to use Physics Colliders collection mode. This avoids most read/write issues by default.

  • If you explicitly switch a surface to Render Meshes, Unity will again require read/write enabled meshes.

  • This is only recommended for advanced cases where colliders aren’t available or sufficient.

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Performance Note

• Primitive colliders are faster to simulate and faster to bake.

• Mesh colliders not only require extra memory (read/write), but also increase bake times.

• For large, repeating environments, consider using modular colliders instead of a single large Mesh Collider.