How to Fix Player Emitting Light in Uneal Engine

Is your character glowing like a lightbulb in Unreal Engine? This guide walks you through diagnosing and fixing unwanted light emission from the player character, covering material settings, post-processing, and blueprint logic. Get clean, realistic lighting fast.

Key Takeaways

Check Material Shading Models: Ensure your character materials use “Default Lit” or “Subsurface” instead of “Unlit” or “Emissive” to prevent unintended glow.
Disable Emissive Channels: Remove or reduce emissive values in material graphs that may be causing the player to emit light.
Review Post-Process Volumes: Overlapping or misconfigured post-process effects like bloom can exaggerate brightness and make characters appear self-lit.
Inspect Light Components in Blueprints: Accidentally attached point or spot lights in character blueprints can cause persistent illumination.
Use Lightmass Settings Wisely: Adjust static lighting resolution and indirect lighting quality to avoid light bleeding or artifacts on characters.
Test in Different Environments: Always validate fixes across multiple levels and lighting conditions to ensure consistency.
Enable “Cast Hidden Shadow” for Translucency: If using translucent materials, this setting prevents light from passing through and glowing the character.

Introduction: Why Is My Player Glowing in Unreal Engine?

If you’ve ever played your Unreal Engine project and noticed your character glowing like a lantern—even in dark environments—you’re not alone. This common issue, often described as “player emitting light,” can break immersion and ruin the visual quality of your game. It usually stems from material settings, lighting misconfigurations, or blueprint errors.

In this comprehensive guide, you’ll learn exactly how to fix player emitting light in Unreal Engine. Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced developer, we’ll walk through every possible cause and provide clear, actionable solutions. By the end, you’ll know how to diagnose the problem, apply the right fix, and prevent it from happening again.

We’ll cover material shading models, emissive channels, post-process effects, blueprint light components, lighting build settings, and more. Let’s dive in and get your character looking natural—not like a walking flashlight.

Step 1: Understand the Root Causes of Player Light Emission

Visual guide about How to Fix Player Emitting Light in Uneal Engine

Image source: media.cgtrader.com

Before jumping into fixes, it’s important to understand why this happens. The “player emitting light” issue isn’t caused by a single bug—it’s usually a combination of factors. Here are the most common culprits:

Emissive Materials: If your character’s material has an emissive channel enabled, it will glow in the dark, regardless of scene lighting.
Unlit Shading Model: Materials set to “Unlit” don’t react to light, which can make them appear overly bright or self-illuminated.
Attached Light Components: A point or spot light accidentally added to the character blueprint will make the player emit light.
Bloom Overuse: Post-process bloom can exaggerate bright areas, making normal textures look like they’re glowing.
Lightmass Artifacts: Poor static lighting settings can cause light to “bleed” onto characters during light builds.
Translucent Materials Without Shadows: Transparent or semi-transparent materials that don’t cast shadows can appear to emit light.

Understanding these causes helps you target the right solution. Let’s now go through each fix step by step.

Step 2: Check and Fix Material Shading Models

One of the most frequent reasons for a glowing player is incorrect material shading. Unreal Engine offers several shading models, and choosing the wrong one can make your character look like it’s emitting light.

How to Access Material Shading Models

Open your character’s material in the Material Editor.
In the Details panel, look for the Shading Model dropdown.
Common options include: Default Lit, Unlit, Subsurface, Clear Coat, and Emissive.

Recommended Shading Models

Default Lit: Best for most characters. Reacts to scene lighting realistically.
Subsurface: Ideal for skin, wax, or organic materials. Simulates light scattering beneath the surface.
Unlit: Avoid for characters unless you want a flat, non-reactive look. This can make the character appear self-lit.
Emissive: Only use if you want the material to glow intentionally (e.g., sci-fi armor).

How to Fix It

Open the material applied to your player character.
In the Details panel, set the Shading Model to Default Lit or Subsurface.
Recompile and save the material.
Return to the editor and test in-game.

Pro Tip: If your character uses multiple materials (e.g., skin, clothes, armor), check each one. A single emissive material on a helmet or visor can cause the entire character to glow.

Step 3: Disable or Reduce Emissive Channels

Even with the correct shading model, an active emissive channel can make your player emit light. Emissive materials simulate self-illumination, which is great for neon signs or glowing eyes—but not for realistic characters.

How to Find Emissive Inputs

Open the material in the Material Editor.
Look for a node connected to the Emissive Color input on the main material node.
This could be a constant value, texture, or complex expression.

How to Fix It

Remove the connection: Disconnect any node from the Emissive Color input.
Set emissive to black: If you need to keep the node, set its output to (0,0,0) — pure black.
Use a scalar parameter: For flexibility, create a scalar parameter (e.g., “Emissive Strength”) and set it to 0.

Example: Creating a Safe Emissive Parameter

Right-click in the Material Editor and add a Scalar Parameter.
Name it “Emissive Strength” and set its default value to 0.
Connect it to a Multiply node with your emissive texture or color.
Connect the result to the Emissive Color input.
Now you can toggle emissive effects on/off without deleting nodes.

Warning: Avoid using high emissive values (e.g., above 10) unless you want a dramatic glow. Even low values (0.5–2) can cause noticeable light emission in dark scenes.

Step 4: Inspect Character Blueprint for Attached Lights

Sometimes, the player emits light because a light component is physically attached to the character blueprint. This is common when developers accidentally drag a light into the blueprint or reuse a template with built-in lighting.

How to Check for Attached Lights

Open your character’s Blueprint (usually a Child Actor or Pawn class).
In the Components panel, look for any of the following:
- Point Light
- Spot Light
- Rect Light
If present, select the light component and check its properties.

How to Fix It

Delete the light: If it’s not needed, right-click and delete it.
Disable visibility: Set Visible to false if you want to keep it for debugging.
Adjust intensity: Lower the Intensity to 0 if you can’t remove it.

Common Scenarios

Flashlight logic: If your character has a flashlight, ensure the light is only activated via input (e.g., pressing F). Test that it turns off when not in use.
Template inheritance: If you duplicated a blueprint with a light, check parent classes for hidden components.
Event-driven lights: Use Set Visibility or Turn On/Turn Off nodes in Event Graph to control when the light is active.

Pro Tip: Use the Show > Visualize > Light Complexity view mode to see if lights are affecting your character. High complexity around the player may indicate an attached light.

Step 5: Adjust Post-Process Volume Settings

Post-process effects like bloom, exposure, and lens flares can make your character appear to emit light—even if they’re not. Bloom, in particular, spreads bright pixels outward, creating a glow effect.

How Bloom Causes the Issue

Bloom amplifies bright areas in the scene.
If your character has reflective or light-colored materials, bloom can make them look self-lit.
In dark environments, this effect is exaggerated.

How to Fix It

Open your level and locate the Post Process Volume.
If none exists, add one: Right-click in the viewport > Volumes > Post Process Volume.
Select the volume and check its settings.
Look for Bloom settings under Lens.

Recommended Bloom Adjustments

Intensity: Reduce to 0.5 or lower. Default is often 1.0.
Threshold: Increase to 1.0 or higher. This prevents dim areas from blooming.
Size: Keep below 1.0 to avoid large glows.
Enable Bloom: Toggle off temporarily to test if it’s the cause.

Testing the Fix

Set Bloom Intensity to 0.
Play in editor and check if the player still glows.
If the glow disappears, gradually increase intensity until it looks natural.
Use Auto Exposure instead of fixed exposure for better dynamic range.

Pro Tip: Use Show > Visualize > Buffer Visualization > Post Process to isolate bloom effects and see exactly what’s being amplified.

Step 6: Optimize Lightmass and Static Lighting Settings

If your player emits light only after building lighting, the issue may be related to Lightmass—Unreal’s global illumination system. Poor settings can cause light to “bleed” onto characters or create artifacts.

Common Lightmass Issues

Light Bleeding: Static lights illuminate dynamic objects (like characters) unintentionally.
Low Resolution: Blurry or noisy lighting can make characters appear unevenly lit.
Indirect Lighting Artifacts: Bright spots or halos around characters.

How to Fix It

Go to Window > World Settings.
Under Lightmass, adjust the following:
- Static Lighting Level Scale: Lower to 0.5–0.8 for sharper shadows.
- Num Indirect Lighting Bounces: Increase to 4–6 for smoother light.
- Indirect Lighting Quality: Set to 2–4 (higher = better, but slower build).
- Environment Intensity: Reduce if the sky is too bright.
Rebuild lighting: Build > Build Lighting Only.

Preventing Light Bleeding

Ensure your character is set to Moveable or Stationary (not Static).
Use Lightmap Resolution of 64–128 on character meshes.
Avoid overlapping static geometry near the player spawn.

Pro Tip: Use Show > Visualize > Lightmap Density to check if your character has adequate lightmap resolution. Green is ideal; red indicates low resolution.

Step 7: Handle Translucent and Decal Materials

Translucent materials (like glass, water, or energy shields) can cause the player to emit light if not configured properly. This is especially true if they don’t cast shadows.

The Problem with Translucency

Translucent materials allow light to pass through.
If a bright light is behind the player, it can illuminate the character from within.
Without shadow casting, this creates a glowing effect.

How to Fix It

Open the translucent material.
In the Details panel, enable Cast Hidden Shadow.
This allows the material to cast shadows even if it’s transparent.
Set Translucency Lighting Mode to Surface TranslucencyVolume for realistic light interaction.

Additional Tips

Avoid using Unlit shading for translucent materials.
Use Subsurface Profile for skin or organic translucency.
Limit the use of emissive + translucent combinations—they often look unnatural.

Example: A character with a glowing energy shield should use a translucent material with Cast Hidden Shadow enabled and a subtle emissive value (0.3–0.8), not full brightness.

Step 8: Test Across Multiple Environments

A fix that works in one level may fail in another. Always test your character in different lighting conditions to ensure the glow is truly gone.

Recommended Test Scenarios

Bright daylight level: Check for overexposure or bloom artifacts.
Pitch-black cave: Ensure the player doesn’t glow in complete darkness.
Indoor with artificial lights: Verify that lights don’t cause unintended illumination.
Night scene with moonlight: Test for natural-looking shadows and reflections.

How to Test

Create a simple test level with varied lighting.
Spawn your character and walk through each area.
Use Stat Unit and ProfileGPU to monitor performance and lighting complexity.
Take screenshots or record video for comparison.

Pro Tip: Use Console Commands like r.PostProcess.Enable 0 to disable post-processing and isolate the issue.

Troubleshooting: When the Glow Persists

If you’ve tried all the above and the player still emits light, here are advanced troubleshooting steps.

Check for Custom Shaders or Plugins

Some plugins (e.g., ray tracing, custom lighting) can override default behavior.
Disable plugins one by one to identify conflicts.
Check for custom HLSL or material functions that might force emissive output.

Inspect Skeletal Mesh Settings

Open your character’s skeletal mesh.
Check Lighting settings: Ensure Cast Shadow is enabled.
Verify Lightmap Resolution is appropriate (64–128).

Use the GPU Visualizer

Press Ctrl+Shift+, to open the GPU Visualizer.
Look for high values in the Emissive or Translucency channels.
This can pinpoint which material or component is causing the glow.

Reimport Assets

Corrupted textures or materials can cause unexpected behavior.
Reimport the character mesh and textures.
Reapply materials from scratch if necessary.

Conclusion: Keep Your Characters Realistic and Immersive

Fixing player emitting light in Unreal Engine is all about attention to detail. Whether it’s a material set to Unlit, an attached light in the blueprint, or overdone bloom, the solution is usually straightforward once you know where to look.

By following this guide, you’ve learned how to:

Diagnose the root cause of unwanted glow.
Adjust material shading and emissive settings.
Remove or disable attached light components.
Fine-tune post-process effects like bloom.
Optimize Lightmass for clean static lighting.
Handle translucent materials correctly.
Test across multiple environments for consistency.

Remember, lighting is one of the most important aspects of game visuals. A character that glows unintentionally breaks immersion and distracts players. With these tools and techniques, you can ensure your characters look natural, grounded, and visually compelling.

Now go build something amazing—without the unwanted glow.