# Brightness/contrast shader didn't make it through migration to 1.14 (SOLVED)

**URL:** <https://forum.defold.com/t/brightness-contrast-shader-didnt-make-it-through-migration-to-1-14-solved/83396>\
**Category:** General\
**Created:** [October 28, 2026, 2:22pm UTC](https://forum.defold.com/t/brightness-contrast-shader-didnt-make-it-through-migration-to-1-14-solved/83396 "2026-10-28T14:22:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 16\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kidkiedis](https://forum-defold.b-cdn.net/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/c57346/32.png) [@kidkiedis](https://forum.defold.com/u/kidkiedis)\
**Post date:** [October 28, 2026, 2:22pm UTC](https://forum.defold.com/t/brightness-contrast-shader-didnt-make-it-through-migration-to-1-14-solved/83396/1 "2026-10-28T14:22:43Z")

</div>

No errors, render\_script migrated without any issues.

 ![image](https://forum-defold-uploads.b-cdn.net/original/3X/b/9/b90a2e1a7aaf18691254f402d2f343c015a3c915.png)

No changes in shader either..

 ![image](https://forum-defold-uploads.b-cdn.net/original/3X/5/3/5366ba8e78e56d8f7d8fe34f5db4002e5d157efc.png)

Script sends vector4 with brightness/contrast to quad#model (gltf now) with material and shader in main collection, as it did before.

What could go wrong?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Pawel](https://forum-defold.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/forum.defold.com/pawel/32/24623_2.png) [@Pawel](https://forum.defold.com/u/Pawel)\
**Post date:** [October 28, 2026, 4:52pm UTC](https://forum.defold.com/t/brightness-contrast-shader-didnt-make-it-through-migration-to-1-14-solved/83396/2 "2026-10-28T16:52:20Z")

</div>

What’s the issue? The brightness/contrast is not affecting the output anymore, right?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kidkiedis](https://forum-defold.b-cdn.net/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/c57346/32.png) [@kidkiedis](https://forum.defold.com/u/kidkiedis)\
**Post date:** [October 28, 2026, 5:47pm UTC](https://forum.defold.com/t/brightness-contrast-shader-didnt-make-it-through-migration-to-1-14-solved/83396/3 "2026-10-28T17:47:36Z")

</div>

Exactly.. there are bars for brightness and contrast and they do nothing after 1.14

Previous version was like 1.10 or 1.11

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Pawel](https://forum-defold.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/forum.defold.com/pawel/32/24623_2.png) [@Pawel](https://forum.defold.com/u/Pawel)\
**Post date:** [October 28, 2026, 7:28pm UTC](https://forum.defold.com/t/brightness-contrast-shader-didnt-make-it-through-migration-to-1-14-solved/83396/4 "2026-10-28T19:28:14Z")

</div>

I think I see the issue (but please, next time copy the code - we have formatting tools here for code snippets and it’s easier to read)

This switches rendering back to the screen:

```lua
render.set_render_target(render.RENDER_TARGET_DEFAULT)

```

But you do so before drawing the scene.

Consequently, the 4 predicates render directly to the screen instead of `self.sbuffer`. Later, the brightness/contrast shader samples `self.sbuffer`, which contains only the cleared render target rather than the rendered scene.

You should have something like this: render scene → switch to screen → draw the fullscreen quad with the post-processing shader.

```lua
-- Render scene to buffer:
render.set_render_target(self.sbuffer)
render.clear(self.clear_param)

render.draw(self.background_pred)
... (and rest of .draw())

-- NOW switch back to the screen:
render.set_render_target(render.RENDER_TARGET_DEFAULT)

...

```

P.S.

In the fragment shader you set alpha to zero:

```lua
lowp vec4 darken = vec4(time, time, time, 0);
gl_FragColor = color * night * darken;

```

The multiplication forces `gl_FragColor.a` to 0. I don’t know if this is intended, but better to check it too.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kidkiedis](https://forum-defold.b-cdn.net/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/c57346/32.png) [@kidkiedis](https://forum.defold.com/u/kidkiedis)\
**Post date:** [October 28, 2026, 7:47pm UTC](https://forum.defold.com/t/brightness-contrast-shader-didnt-make-it-through-migration-to-1-14-solved/83396/5 "2026-10-28T19:47:26Z")

</div>

Thanks a lot for your help, Pawel! Tried both. Moving render.set\_render\_target(render.RENDER\_TARGET\_DEFAULT) after draws disables all graphics before GUI. Everything goes black and only GUI and cursor are visible.

Here’s a whole render script. Maybe GPT messed up something while replacing old render. functions with graphics. ones and I just don’t see that. Sorry it’s been a while since a last checked render script, and Alex Gulev helped me with that one a lot.

```lua
---------------Screen Parameters----------------
window_width = 1920
window_height = 1080
resZoom = 1080 / window_height
resZoomX = 1920 / window_width
resRatio = window_height / window_width
zoom = 1
local dpi_ratio = 1

local RT_SIZE = 2
local helper = {
near = -1,
far = 5000,

win_width = 0,
win_height = 0,
settings_width = 0,
settings_height = 0,
zoom_factor = 0,
RT_proj = vmath.matrix4(),
basic_view = vmath.matrix4(),
zoom = 1,
full_proj = vmath.matrix4(),

}

local function update_projection(self)
helper.win_width = render.get_window_width()
helper.win_height = render.get_window_height()

helper.settings_width = render.get_width()
helper.settings_height = render.get_height()
helper.zoom_factor = math.min(helper.win_width / helper.settings_width, helper.win_height / helper.settings_height)

local projected_width = helper.win_width / helper.zoom / helper.zoom_factor
local projected_height = helper.win_height / helper.zoom / helper.zoom_factor

helper.xoffset = - projected_width / 2
helper.yoffset = - projected_height / 2

helper.full_proj = vmath.matrix4_orthographic(helper.xoffset, helper.xoffset + projected_width,
    helper.yoffset, helper.yoffset + projected_height, helper.near, helper.far)

end

local function update_sbuffer(self)
update_projection(self)

if self.sbuffer then
    render.delete_render_target(self.sbuffer)
end

self.sbuffer_color_params.width = helper.win_width
self.sbuffer_color_params.height = helper.win_height

self.sbuffer_depth_params.width = helper.win_width
self.sbuffer_depth_params.height = helper.win_height

self.sbuffer = render.render_target("sbuffer", {
    [graphics.BUFFER_TYPE_COLOR0_BIT] = self.sbuffer_color_params,
    [graphics.BUFFER_TYPE_DEPTH_BIT] = self.sbuffer_depth_params }
)

end

local function on_steam_event(self, event, data)
if event == "GameOverlayActivated_t" then
print("Overlay is", data.m_bActive)
end
end

function init(self)
msg.post("@render:", "resize", { width = window_width, height = window_height } )

defos.disable_maximize_button() -- Not supported on HTML5
defos.disable_minimize_button() -- Not supported on HTML5
defos.disable_window_resize() -- Not supported on HTML5
defos.set_window_title("Plague Lords Prologue")

--defos.set_cursor_clipped(true)
--mouseIn = defos.is_cursor_clipped()

self.background_pred = render.predicate({"background"})
self.gui_pred = render.predicate({"gui"})
self.text_pred = render.predicate({"text"})
self.tiles_pred = render.predicate({"tiles"})
self.twode_pred = render.predicate({"2d"})
self.mist_pred = render.predicate({"mist"})
self.cursors_pred = render.predicate({"cursors"})
self.quad_pred = render.predicate({"3d"})
self.lights_pred = render.predicate({"lights"})
self.image = render.predicate({"image"})
self.screen_view = vmath.matrix4()

self.clear_color = vmath.vector4(0, 0, 0, 0)
self.clear_color.x = sys.get_config_number("render.clear_color_red", 0)
self.clear_color.y = sys.get_config_number("render.clear_color_green", 0)
self.clear_color.z = sys.get_config_number("render.clear_color_blue", 0)
self.clear_color.w = sys.get_config_number("render.clear_color_alpha", 0)

self.view = vmath.matrix4()

screen_width = render.get_width()
screen_height = render.get_height()

if not develop then
    msg.post("/cur_test", "disable")
    defos.set_cursor_visible(false)
end

self.sbuffer_color_params = {
    format = graphics.TEXTURE_FORMAT_RGBA,
    width = render.get_window_width(),
    height = render.get_window_height(),
    min_filter = graphics.TEXTURE_FILTER_LINEAR,
    mag_filter = graphics.TEXTURE_FILTER_LINEAR,
    u_wrap = graphics.TEXTURE_WRAP_CLAMP_TO_EDGE,
    v_wrap = graphics.TEXTURE_WRAP_CLAMP_TO_EDGE
}
self.sbuffer_depth_params = {
    format = graphics.TEXTURE_FORMAT_DEPTH,
    width = render.get_window_width(),
    height = render.get_window_height(),
    u_wrap = graphics.TEXTURE_WRAP_CLAMP_TO_EDGE,
    v_wrap = graphics.TEXTURE_WRAP_CLAMP_TO_EDGE
}

self.clear_param = {
    [graphics.BUFFER_TYPE_COLOR0_BIT] = self.clear_color,
    [graphics.BUFFER_TYPE_DEPTH_BIT] = 1,
    [graphics.BUFFER_TYPE_STENCIL_BIT] = 1
}

helper.RT_proj = vmath.matrix4_orthographic(-RT_SIZE/2, RT_SIZE/2, -RT_SIZE/2, RT_SIZE/2, - 1, 1)

update_sbuffer(self)

local status, error = pcall(steam.init)
if not status then
    print("Error: " .. error)
    return
end

steam.set_listener(on_steam_event)
-- steam.user_stats_reset_all_stats(true)
--print("RESET STATS")

end

local function resizeWindow()
--print("SCREEN RESOLUTION", helper.win_width, helper.win_height)
defos.disable_maximize_button() -- Not supported on HTML5
defos.disable_minimize_button() -- Not supported on HTML5
defos.disable_window_resize() -- Not supported on HTML5
defos.set_window_title("Plague Lords")
if settings.window_mode == 1 then
defos.set_fullscreen(false)
else
defos.set_fullscreen(true)
end
screen_width = render.get_width()
screen_height = render.get_height()
resZoomX = render.get_width() / settings.resolution.x
resZoom = render.get_height() / settings.resolution.y
--resRatio = window_height / window_width
resRatio = resZoomX / resZoom
window_width = settings.resolution.x
window_height = settings.resolution.y
msg.post("@render:", "resize", { width = window_width, height = window_height } )
--print(render.get_window_width(), render.get_window_height(), render.get_width(), render.get_height())
end

function update(self, dt)
if zoom ~= helper.zoom then
helper.zoom = zoom
update_projection(self)
end
render.clear({[graphics.BUFFER_TYPE_COLOR0_BIT] = vmath.vector4(0,0,0,0), [graphics.BUFFER_TYPE_DEPTH_BIT] = 1, [graphics.BUFFER_TYPE_STENCIL_BIT] = 0})

render.set_depth_mask(true)
render.set_stencil_mask(0xff)

render.set_viewport(0, 0, helper.win_width, helper.win_height)
render.set_view(helper.basic_view)
render.set_view(self.view)

render.set_depth_mask(false)
render.disable_state(graphics.STATE_DEPTH_TEST)
render.disable_state(graphics.STATE_STENCIL_TEST)
render.enable_state(graphics.STATE_BLEND)
render.set_blend_func(graphics.BLEND_FACTOR_SRC_ALPHA, graphics.BLEND_FACTOR_ONE_MINUS_SRC_ALPHA)
render.disable_state(graphics.STATE_CULL_FACE)

--render to buffer
render.set_projection(helper.full_proj)
render.set_viewport(0, 0, helper.win_width, helper.win_height)
render.set_render_target(self.sbuffer)
render.clear(self.clear_param)
render.set_render_target(render.RENDER_TARGET_DEFAULT)

--draw gfx
render.draw(self.background_pred)
render.draw(self.tiles_pred)
render.draw(self.twode_pred)
render.draw(self.mist_pred)

render.set_viewport(0, 0, helper.win_width, helper.win_height)
render.set_view(vmath.matrix4())
render.set_projection(helper.RT_proj)

render.disable_state(graphics.STATE_BLEND)
render.enable_texture(0, self.sbuffer, graphics.BUFFER_TYPE_COLOR0_BIT)
render.draw(self.quad_pred)
render.disable_texture(0)
render.enable_state(graphics.STATE_BLEND)

--render Lights
render.set_projection(helper.full_proj)
render.set_viewport(0, 0, helper.win_width, helper.win_height)
render.set_view(self.view)
render.draw(self.lights_pred)

-- render GUI
render.set_view(helper.basic_view)
render.set_viewport(0, 0, helper.win_width, helper.win_height)
render.set_projection(vmath.matrix4_orthographic(0, helper.win_width, 0, helper.win_height, -5000, 5000))

render.enable_state(graphics.STATE_STENCIL_TEST)
render.draw(self.gui_pred)
render.draw(self.text_pred)
render.disable_state(graphics.STATE_STENCIL_TEST)
render.draw(self.cursors_pred)
render.draw(self.image)
render.set_depth_mask(false)

steam.update()

end

function on_message(self, message_id, message)
if message_id == hash("set_view_projection") then
self.view = message.view
self.projection = message.projection
elseif message_id == hash("zoom") then
helper.zoom = message.zoom
update_projection(self)
elseif message_id == hash("resizeWindow") then
--msg.post("@render:", "resize", { width = 1920, height = 1080 } )
resizeWindow()
-- window_resized - 

elseif message_id == hash("window_resized") then
update_sbuffer(self)
end
end

```

Tried a lot of combinations in update section. But the one above works fine but disables the shader.

quad\_pred is the one where shader is.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Pawel](https://forum-defold.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/forum.defold.com/pawel/32/24623_2.png) [@Pawel](https://forum.defold.com/u/Pawel)\
**Post date:** [October 28, 2026, 8:08pm UTC](https://forum.defold.com/t/brightness-contrast-shader-didnt-make-it-through-migration-to-1-14-solved/83396/6 "2026-10-28T20:08:01Z")

</div>

Put in shader just

```lua
gl_FragColor = vec4(1.0, 0.0, 1.0, 1.0);

```

to see if you’ll have single color on screen, maybe something’s wrong with the setup?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kidkiedis](https://forum-defold.b-cdn.net/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/c57346/32.png) [@kidkiedis](https://forum.defold.com/u/kidkiedis)\
**Post date:** [October 28, 2026, 8:18pm UTC](https://forum.defold.com/t/brightness-contrast-shader-didnt-make-it-through-migration-to-1-14-solved/83396/7 "2026-10-28T20:18:05Z")

</div>

No changes. It only disables properties I use to send params to shader so gives an error upon trying to adjust settings.

```lua
scripts/loader.script:87: 'quad#model' does not have any property called 'bcs'

```

It seems like shader works but doesn’t affect ingame graphics. So I thought the problem is in “update” of the main render script.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Pawel](https://forum-defold.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/forum.defold.com/pawel/32/24623_2.png) [@Pawel](https://forum.defold.com/u/Pawel)\
**Post date:** [October 28, 2026, 8:23pm UTC](https://forum.defold.com/t/brightness-contrast-shader-didnt-make-it-through-migration-to-1-14-solved/83396/8 "2026-10-28T20:23:28Z")

</div>

> [@kidkiedis](#):
>
> No changes.

What do you mean? The screen should be in full magenta color - is it?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kidkiedis](https://forum-defold.b-cdn.net/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/c57346/32.png) [@kidkiedis](https://forum.defold.com/u/kidkiedis)\
**Post date:** [October 28, 2026, 8:25pm UTC](https://forum.defold.com/t/brightness-contrast-shader-didnt-make-it-through-migration-to-1-14-solved/83396/9 "2026-10-28T20:25:11Z")

</div>

Sry. It shows normal main menu screen without any changes. The shader doesn’t do anything but still receives all parameters.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Pawel](https://forum-defold.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/forum.defold.com/pawel/32/24623_2.png) [@Pawel](https://forum.defold.com/u/Pawel)\
**Post date:** [October 28, 2026, 8:31pm UTC](https://forum.defold.com/t/brightness-contrast-shader-didnt-make-it-through-migration-to-1-14-solved/83396/10 "2026-10-28T20:31:42Z")

</div>

The shader may work, bt you may still not be able to see it on screen. Something in your post-processing quad setup is not actually working. Or I think I’m lacking some more informations, perhaps a quad setup in your game?  
Maybe you could create a repro na share?  
Your render script draws the GUI after the post-processing pass. Mayeb could you temporarily disable the GUI draw calls and check if magenta appears?  
Do you use built-in quad gltf?  
Could you check your `quad#model` component in the editor?  
Make sure the Scene points to the correct glTF file, try leaving the Mesh field empty, and verify that the assigned material has the `3d` tag matching `self.quad_pred`.  
Also check the quad’s position, rotation and scale, as these may have changed during the DAE → glTF migration.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kidkiedis](https://forum-defold.b-cdn.net/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/c57346/32.png) [@kidkiedis](https://forum.defold.com/u/kidkiedis)\
**Post date:** [October 28, 2026, 8:38pm UTC](https://forum.defold.com/t/brightness-contrast-shader-didnt-make-it-through-migration-to-1-14-solved/83396/11 "2026-10-28T20:38:16Z")

</div>

> [@Pawel](#):
>
> Do you use built-in quad gltf?

Yes. Changed to gltf.

> [@Pawel](#):
>
> Could you check your `quad#model` component in the editor?

Doublechecked that one.

 ![image](https://forum-defold-uploads.b-cdn.net/original/3X/a/5/a57eca13b15256937465e84623227e96d6fb5b39.png)

 ![image](https://forum-defold-uploads.b-cdn.net/original/3X/8/6/8691a93dbd56135f272251e162ed432e6066b29f.png)

 ![image](https://forum-defold-uploads.b-cdn.net/original/3X/7/6/7693446b1b78fea99f24acbb65c4a3d990666269.png)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Pawel](https://forum-defold.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/forum.defold.com/pawel/32/24623_2.png) [@Pawel](https://forum.defold.com/u/Pawel)\
**Post date:** [October 28, 2026, 8:46pm UTC](https://forum.defold.com/t/brightness-contrast-shader-didnt-make-it-through-migration-to-1-14-solved/83396/12 "2026-10-28T20:46:51Z")

</div>

And tags in material?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kidkiedis](https://forum-defold.b-cdn.net/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/c57346/32.png) [@kidkiedis](https://forum.defold.com/u/kidkiedis)\
**Post date:** [October 29, 2026, 7:24am UTC](https://forum.defold.com/t/brightness-contrast-shader-didnt-make-it-through-migration-to-1-14-solved/83396/14 "2026-10-29T07:24:14Z")

</div>

It seems like I can make a repro with just a main menu. I’ll try to assemble it in a couple of hours.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kidkiedis](https://forum-defold.b-cdn.net/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/c57346/32.png) [@kidkiedis](https://forum.defold.com/u/kidkiedis)\
**Post date:** [October 29, 2026, 8:16am UTC](https://forum.defold.com/t/brightness-contrast-shader-didnt-make-it-through-migration-to-1-14-solved/83396/15 "2026-10-29T08:16:47Z")

</div>

![image](https://forum-defold-uploads.b-cdn.net/original/3X/c/4/c4a64fcecc14dc4a3de3838bd8bac1bcaeeff2c7.png)

Didn’t touch them. Everything except render\_script is the same as in 1.1. And it worked perfect.

Working on a repro.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kidkiedis](https://forum-defold.b-cdn.net/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/c57346/32.png) [@kidkiedis](https://forum.defold.com/u/kidkiedis)\
**Post date:** [October 29, 2026, 1:02pm UTC](https://forum.defold.com/t/brightness-contrast-shader-didnt-make-it-through-migration-to-1-14-solved/83396/16 "2026-10-29T13:02:16Z")

</div>

Solved! Had to move that line with

`render.set_render_target(render.RENDER_TARGET_DEFAULT)`

after draws and remove mesh from quad#model.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Pawel](https://forum-defold.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/forum.defold.com/pawel/32/24623_2.png) [@Pawel](https://forum.defold.com/u/Pawel)\
**Post date:** [October 29, 2026, 1:49pm UTC](https://forum.defold.com/t/brightness-contrast-shader-didnt-make-it-through-migration-to-1-14-solved/83396/17 "2026-10-29T13:49:26Z")

</div>

Glad we could help!

Remember that also migrating to a built-in GLTF was an issue here, so for anyone migrating a project from DAE to glTF, here are a few things worth checking if some kind of a postprocessing effect that was based on a very common quad approach, suddenly stops working:

1. **Check the model’s Mesh selection.**  
Leaving `Mesh` property empty results in rendering the glTF scene with its imported node transforms. Selecting a specific mesh renders its local geometry without those transforms. If you’re using the built-in quad gltf file - it’s rotation is stored on its scene node. Selecting `Plane_001Mesh` skipped that rotation, leaving the quad edge-on to the camera, thus invisble. Choosing the empty entry in the Mesh fixed its orientation.

2. **Check the asset’s dimensions against your projection.**  
The built-in glTF quad is 1x1, while e.g. in this project’s postprocessing projection was suited for 2x2 quad - so keep it in mind, when using the built-in quad, or use `quad_2x2.gltf` 😉

3. **Check render-target switching when updating a render script.**  
Yeah, as above - this is the main reason. Here, the switch happened before the scene draw calls, so the shader sampled an empty buffer.

These issues masked each other, so it was a bit more complex, because fixing only the render-target order resulted in a black screen, because the quad was still flipped, so a few issues might overlap each other and it becomes tricky 😅