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.

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.

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.