Rendering Pipeline in Godot 4.3+

Project-level rendering decisions: which renderer runs where, how the lighting is built for it, how edges are smoothed, what resolution 3D renders at, and how to measure the result. All examples target Godot 4.3+ with no deprecated APIs. GDScript is shown first, then C#.

This skill picks the strategy; 3d-essentials holds the per-node recipes (materials, light properties, GI setup, fog, decals).

Related skills: 3d-essentials for materials, lights, environment and GI node setup, 2d-essentials for 2D lights and shadows, shader-basics for post-processing, compositor effects and the Shader Baker, godot-optimization for profiling CPU/GPU bottlenecks, web-export for the Compatibility-only browser target.

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1. Pick the Renderer First

The renderer decides which lighting features exist at all, so choose it before building the look.

Renderer	rendering_method	Use for	Missing compared to Forward+
Forward+	forward_plus	Desktop and console, high-end visuals	,
Mobile	mobile	Phones, tablets, standalone XR, low-end desktop	SDFGI, VoxelGI, SSAO/SSIL/SSR, volumetric fog, TAA, FSR
Compatibility	gl_compatibility	Web (the only option there), very old GPUs	Everything Mobile lacks (though SSAO arrives in 4.6), plus FXAA/SMAA and MetalFX; glow is a simplified version

Set Project Settings → Rendering → Renderer → Rendering Method. Platform overrides already exist: rendering/renderer/rendering_method.mobile defaults to mobile and rendering_method.web to gl_compatibility, so one project can run Forward+ on desktop and Mobile on phones, but then test the look on both, because effects silently disappear on the lighter renderer.

A settings menu must hide options the running renderer cannot honor. The later sections use this helper: