Scene View Create Overlay

The Massive Swarm System overlay in the Scene View is the primary way to create swarm objects. It appears by default when you open any scene after importing the asset.

Showing and hiding the overlay

If the overlay is not visible, open the overlays menu by clicking the stacked-squares button in the top-right corner of the Scene View. Find Massive Swarm System in the list and toggle it on. To hide it, use the same menu.

Overlay layout

The overlay groups every create action into three labeled cards:

Card	Buttons
Core	Swarm Manager, Swarm Target
Spawners	Rect Spawner, Ring Spawner
Advanced	Spawner Director

These are the same actions as GameObject → Massive Swarm System in the menu bar and the Hierarchy right-click menu. Both surfaces call the same factory code. The overlay is the only surface with branded icons — Unity's native menu API does not support custom icons.

When manager-owned Surface Flow gizmos are visible in the Scene view, the overlay also shows a read-only Surface Flow Legend group at the end. It appears when a manager has Surface Flow enabled and its gizmo visibility is Always, or when visibility is When Selected and that manager is selected.

What each button creates

Swarm Manager — creates a Swarm Manager GameObject with SwarmManager and SwarmVisualManager components, plus a sibling Swarm Agents GameObject (the parent for pooled agent visuals at runtime). If a SwarmManager already exists in the scene, clicking this button selects and pings the existing one instead of creating a second.

Swarm Target — instantiates the Default Swarm Target Prefab configured in Project Settings and ensures a SwarmTarget component is present on it. If no prefab is configured, a simple capsule-and-cylinder placeholder is created instead.

Rect Spawner — creates a Swarm Rect Spawner GameObject and auto-assigns the first SwarmAgentArchetype found in the project. If no archetype exists, the Archetype Wizard opens so you can create one first.

Ring Spawner — same as Rect Spawner, using a ring spawn shape.

Spawner Director — creates a Swarm Spawner Director GameObject. Use this when you need waves, attrition, or a maintained population instead of a one-shot spawn burst. See Spawner Director.

Swarm Agent setup group

When you select a plain model GameObject in the scene or open one in Prefab Mode — a freshly baked VAT prefab, for example — the overlay adds a Swarm Agent group that walks you from a visual to a killable agent. The buttons reveal in stages so you only ever see the next sensible step:

Stage	Button	What it adds
Object has no SwarmAgent	Add Swarm Agent	A SwarmAgent component
SwarmAgent present	Make Killable	A SwarmAgentCombatTarget — health, damage, death
SwarmAgentCombatTarget present	Flash When Hit	A DamageFlashFeedback — the agent flashes when hit
SwarmAgentCombatTarget present	Spawn On Death	A SpawnPrefabOnDeath — spawns a prefab on death

Each button shows an Added badge once its component is on the object, so the group doubles as a checklist of what is already wired.

A few things worth knowing:

• The swarm adds SwarmAgent to pooled visuals automatically at runtime, so a display-only swarm needs no components on the prefab. Add Swarm Agent is for setting up combat on the prefab now — it gives the combat scripts the SwarmAgent they require and unlocks the rest of the group.
• Components are added with their default values. The two prefab fields — the death effect on SwarmAgentCombatTarget and the spawn target on SpawnPrefabOnDeath — are left empty for you to assign. Until then those parts stay quiet, which is harmless.
• The group acts on the selected object only. If that object is a prefab instance in a scene, the added components are instance overrides; apply them to the prefab yourself if you want every instance to carry them. Editing in Prefab Mode writes straight to the prefab.
• This group ships with the StarterKit sample. Remove the sample and the group goes with it. See Combat Integration for what each component does.

Gold nudge highlighting

The overlay tracks which objects are missing from the open scene and highlights the relevant buttons in gold to prompt you. The gold color is a guidance cue, not an error.

Highlight	What it means
Gold left bar + dot on Swarm Manager	No SwarmManager exists in the scene (including inactive objects).
Gold left bar + dot on Swarm Target	No SwarmTarget exists in the scene (including inactive objects).
Gold dot + tint on the Spawners card	No SwarmRectSpawner or SwarmRingSpawner exists in the scene (including inactive objects).

The nudge state updates automatically whenever the Hierarchy changes — add or remove an object and the highlights respond immediately.

Typical first-scene order

1. Click Swarm Manager — manager and agent root appear in the Hierarchy; the Swarm Manager button gold highlight disappears.
2. Click Swarm Target — a ready-made target with movement appears; the Swarm Target highlight disappears.
3. Click Rect Spawner or Ring Spawner — if no archetype exists, the Archetype Wizard opens. Once you have one, a spawner is created and the Spawners card highlight disappears.
4. Press Play.

Related

• Getting Started — full first-scene walkthrough with all steps.
• Project Settings — configure which default prefabs the overlay uses.
• Swarm Manager — the component created by the Swarm Manager button.
• Targets — how SwarmTarget registers with the manager.
• Spawners — full reference for shape spawners and the director.