Unity Dark Mode for Free

The problem 💩

Unity

is one of the most popular game engines out there. Up until version 2019.4 the software’s dark theme was only available to users with a Pro subscription, costing 1,800$ a year. This is absolutely ridiculous. Making the dark theme available to all users was the most upvoted request in Unity’s own feedback forum

. The dark theme is so much better to look at than the light theme that it could be considered an accessibility feature. Nevertheless, it took them 14 years.

Many projects still rely on older versions of the engine, partially because the recent releases turned out to be rather unstable. Of course they still have the dark theme locked away 💩

Unity in light mode 🤮

The solution 🎉

Here’s how I reverse engineered Unity to get the dark theme without spending 1.8k a year: (I’m not saying you SHOULD follow these steps one by one but you probably COULD…)

Note: this should work for every Unity version below 2019.4!

1. Get x64dbg
   
2. Create a copy of Unity.exe
3. Open the original .exe in x64dbg
4. Navigate to the symbols tab an select unity.exe in the left list
5. Enter getskinidx into the right bottom search bar and double-click the first result
6. Look for the line je (or jne) unity.XXXX... followed by xor eax, eax and jmp unity.XXXX... This jne or je instruction (depending on your version) checks if you have the dark theme enabled.
7. Right-click the line > Binary > Edit
8. At the bottom change the first number from a 74 to a 75 or the other way around and click OK
9. Click the Bandaid Icon at the top to open the Patches dialog and hit Patch File
10. Select the copy of Unity.exe
11. Close x64dbg and replace the original .exe with the copy (maybe make a backup)
12. Enjoy a life without eye strain and bad UX decisions

Hope this helps! If you’re left with any remaining questions, feel free to hit me up