Hi! It is a common issue to want the dark theme in Unity Engine but cant afford / not wanting to pay the PRO version.

For this tutorial I will explain how to setup the dark theme in Unity Engine personal edition without much effort for those who don't know how to do it.

NOTE: THIS TUTORIAL IS ONLY USEFUL FOR VERSIONS BELOW 2019.4.8f1 AND 2020.1.3f AS UNITY NOW OFFERS DARK THEME FOR FREE.


What do you need?

- Unity Engine 2019
- A hex editor, in this case HxD.

Step 1: Setup the needed stuff.

- First of all, download and install Unity and open it. If you setup the personal license, it will show the light theme. Close it.
- Download and Install HxD: https://mh-nexus.de/en/hxd/

Step 2: Modifying Unity.exe

- Copy unity.exe from the path-to-unity-folder/unity.exe to a folder with permissions like the desktop or documents.
- Open the unity.exe with your hex editor.
- Press ctrl + F and look for the hex values:

- (in 2019.1): 74 04 33 C0 EB 02 8B 07 and change the 74 for a 75 resulting in: 75 04 33 C0 EB 02 8B 07
- (in 2019.2, 2019.3 and 2019.4 (LTS)): 75 15 33 C0 EB 13 90 and change the 75 for a 74 resulting in: 74 15 33 C0 EB 13 90

- Save it.
- Copy the modified unity.exe to the original folder.


Step 3: Resetting the reg keys

- Windows + R > regedit
- Delete the folder HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Unity Technologies
- close regedit window

Step 4: Dark theme

- Open Unity by Unity Hub or .exe
- Enjoy!



Can I use this in other versions?

- Yes, you can, but you need to find the needed hex values:


(2018.1, 2018.2 and 2018.3): 84 C0 75 08 33 C0 48 83 C4 30 > 84 C0 74 08 33 C0 48 83 C4 30
(2018.4): 74 04 33 C0 EB 02 8B 03 48 8B 4C > 75 04 33 C0 EB 02 8B 03 48 8B 4C

Is this Windows Only?

No, here you have some codes for MacOS:


2019.1.0: 74 03 41 8B 06 48 to 75 03 41 8B 06 48

2019.2.3+: 00 75 15 33 C0 EB 13 90 to 00 74 15 33 C0 EB 13 90

2019.2.11 (by Jagi): 74 04 8B 03 -> 75 04 8B 03

2019.3.13f1 (By Player_One) and confirmed working on 2019.4.4f1: 06 00 0F 84 D5 00 00 00 -> 06 00 0F 85 D5 00 00 00

And now we have Linux hex values:

2019.2.12 (by Rodders): 74 02 8b 03 48 83 -> 75 02 8b 03 48 83

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If you know more codes, please share them in comments so I can add them to this post.
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If you can afford it, please pay the pro version.

 

[Manurocker95]

Oh, it could have been a hub update... Is there a way to somehow revert the update of the keys or the theme, i.e. similar with the windows regedit? As I posted above, the hex code is set to 75, etc...

If you set it back to 74, it should work again

 

[MoonBookUSer]

Hey, I am running macOS and Unity 2019.3.0f6 but I can't seem how to get my dark theme to work. I don't even find those hex values using a hex editor like iHex or Hopper (Free Trial) Have you tried those values by yourself for mac? And if yes, what programs did you use to modify your unity executable?

 

[Manurocker95]

Hey, I am running macOS and Unity 2019.3.0f6 but I can't seem how to get my dark theme to work. I don't even find those hex values using a hex editor like iHex or Hopper (Free Trial) Have you tried those values by yourself for mac? And if yes, what programs did you use to modify your unity executable?

I don't have a Mac nor Linux so I can't test it there :/

 

[Atlas_Amfistomos]

If you set it back to 74, it should work again

It didn't work for me

But I fixed it some other way. On Linux I deleted the ~/.local/share/unity3d folder and it worked again. Yes, it will remove some preferences and last opened projects, but at least I won't go blind.... Note that I first removed the .ulf license file and recreated it, but it didn't work

 

[Manurocker95]

It didn't work for me

But I fixed it some other way. On Linux I deleted the ~/.local/share/unity3d folder and it worked again. Yes, it will remove some preferences and last opened projects, but at least I won't go blind.... Note that I first removed the .ulf license file and recreated it, but it didn't work

weird but good to know. Will add this info to first page

 

[ULIS]

Hi,
That's probably obvious but how to reset the registry key on MacOS?
Thanks

 

[ULIS]

Hi,
That's probably obvious but how to reset the registry key on MacOS?
Thanks

 

[Manurocker95]

Hi,
That's probably obvious but how to reset the registry key on MacOS?
Thanks

I guess you could follow this. I don't own a MAC so dunno XD
https://staxmanade.com/2015/02/mac-equivalent-of-the-windows-registry---ish/

Btw, same hex values for 2019.3.4f1 on Windows

 

[ULIS]

I guess you could follow this. I don't own a MAC so dunno XD

I had a look through these .plist files but had no luck finding the ones related to Unity. The only files I found were related install history.

 

[d1mistergreen]

when i do all this on 2019, it still shows light version even if i delete the folder, why

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

i changed the hex values in unity 2019 and deleted the folder, but it stays as light theme, why

 

[Manurocker95]

when i do all this on 2019, it still shows light version even if i delete the folder, why

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

i changed the hex values in unity 2019 and deleted the folder, but it stays as light theme, why

What folder are you deleting? the reg keys? are you opening unity through hub or direct .exe?

 

[d1mistergreen]

What folder are you deleting? the reg keys? are you opening unity through hub or direct .exe?

I deleted the folder called like current_user/unitytechnologies. I opened through the exe.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

I deleted the folder called like current_user/unitytechnologies. I opened through the exe.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Unitytechnologies

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

What folder are you deleting? the reg keys? are you opening unity through hub or direct .exe?

I deleted the folder called like current_user/unitytechnologies. I opened through the exe.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------


HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Unitytechnologies

nevermind, i just deleted the original unity.exe, then renamed the cracked one to unity.exe and opened it with the hub.

 

[qzaeem]

It didn't work for me

But I fixed it some other way. On Linux I deleted the ~/.local/share/unity3d folder and it worked again. Yes, it will remove some preferences and last opened projects, but at least I won't go blind.... Note that I first removed the .ulf license file and recreated it, but it didn't work

I'm having the same issue. Did you manage to get it fixed on mac?

 

[Manurocker95]

I'm having the same issue. Did you manage to get it fixed on mac?

Are you trying to open hub or directly the dmg?

 

[qzaeem]

Are you trying to open hub or directly the dmg?

I'm opening it both with and without Hub. It was working perfectly fine, but yesterday while I was working, the editor suddenly started to revert to the light theme. The Unity version I have is 2019.1.14f. I've tried installing other versions - 2019.2.3, 2019.1.1, etc. - and changing their hex values, but nothing seems to work now.

 

[Manurocker95]

I'm opening it both with and without Hub. It was working perfectly fine, but yesterday while I was working, the editor suddenly started to revert to the light theme. The Unity version I have is 2019.1.14f. I've tried installing other versions - 2019.2.3, 2019.1.1, etc. - and changing their hex values, but nothing seems to work now.

Did you change the license or updated the version? because you need to do this for every license and version you install.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

Did you change the license or updated the version? because you need to do this for every license and version you install.

Btw, you need to do this again if you update Unity Hub

 

[qzaeem]

Did you change the license or updated the version? because you need to do this for every license and version you install.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------


Btw, you need to do this again if you update Unity Hub

No I did not update anything, I'm not sure about any auto update (If Hub is updated automatically). "You need to do this again" If you're referring to changing the hex values again then they're already changed (74 -> 75). Besides, I've tried deleting and reinstalling everything (Unity, Unity Hub), and even tried installing other versions of unity, but now changing the hex values is having no effect.

 

[Manurocker95]

No I did not update anything, I'm not sure about any auto update (If Hub is updated automatically). "You need to do this again" If you're referring to changing the hex values again then they're already changed (74 -> 75). Besides, I've tried deleting and reinstalling everything (Unity, Unity Hub), and even tried installing other versions of unity, but now changing the hex values is having no effect.

I meant "You need to modify the hex value again" . Going back to 74 and then to 75

 

[qzaeem]

Did you change the license or updated the version? because you need to do this for every license and version you install.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------


Btw, you need to do this again if you update Unity Hub

I meant "You need to modify the hex value again" . Going back to 74 and then to 75

I tried that too ("Going back to 74 and then to 75"), but it isn't working unfortunately.

 

[Atlas_Amfistomos]

I'm having the same issue. Did you manage to get it fixed on mac?

Nope, didn't bother yet. Will do and post my findings here. And to be honest I got the paid version since I am working on my first official title and I want to release it on steam at some point.

 

[EmFresh]

Thank you for this, my eyes could not take it anymore. Just a side note I found an online hex editor for anyone who does not feel like downloading HxD (it's also dark theme).
here's the link: hexed.it (I can't make a hyperlink).

[Modified] editing Unity.exe:

• Copy unity.exe from the path-to-unity-folder/unity.exe to a folder with permissions like the desktop or documents.
• Either drag the .exe onto the page or use the Open File button and search for the location
• Double click Search on the right side of the screen to open search settings
• Copy the hex value for your version of unity into the search bar
• Disable Text and Enable Big-Endian & Little-Endian (same as both in HxD), press Search Now, then click on the memory location under the button to go there.
• Edit the hex value then press the Export button to save it on your PC

that's it, hope you find it useful.