Alternatives to UNET?

After spending years with UNET and a huge amount of time troubleshooting & reporting bugs (https://forum.unity.com/threads/my-compiled-list-of-unet-bugs-issues.403578/) I'm giving up on UNET. I'm so frustrated I can't even begin to describe it. UNET is too buggy and there's virtually no support, progress, or bug-fixing.

My goal is to work with Steam. I don't need any HLAPI, just something that can connect and send raw data. What good alternative networking solutions are there?

Thanks in advance.

 

Steams SteamWorks sdk has a peer to peer networking solution.
https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/features/multiplayer/networking

Though, its pretty much just a way to connect, send and receive byte arrays, which is pretty much what the UNet LLAPI does.
You say you dont need a HLAPI, and from what I read in your bug list it seems most, if not all, of the bugs are HLAPI related, so is there also something wrong with the LLAPI?

I have not used the HLAPI and am instead working on my own system on top of the LLAPI since I want true peer to peer functionality, not a client server one, and havent ran into anything too bad of a bug yet with the LLAPI.

 

Thanks. Sounds perfect.

 

I suggest checking facepunchs version of Steamworks.

 

The question is, can you use Steamworks or any wrapper of it, BEFORE having your game steam id?

 

Assuming you are talking about appid.
Well you can. But I suggest just getting a appId. But features are limited. The Networking part should work just fine if you use the spacewars appid.

 

Isn't getting your steam ID now pretty automatic with Greenlight gone?

 

LOL, Nope, you have to pay and have a "Complete" game before applying.

Crafting your own Host/Client/Server System using from scratch P2P is no easy task.

 

You no longer have to have a complete game. Our game is in development and we got a AppId.

That was only for Greenlight. It is fully automatic as far as I know it. Took about 5 days to get aprooved.

 

So you got trough Steam Direct, without having a complete game? as in-development?

Good to know!

 

Yes. Just apply. You need to provide 0 info about your title. You can get through direct without even having a plan

 

Even when Greenlight was still alive you didn't need a "Complete" game, so shouldn't be the case today either. You just needed a game that was minimally playable in a standalone build, which could mean walking around in single player works but none of the multiplayer features are implemented.

The only blocker I could see now is not having $100 in your bank account.

 

Right now you need absolutley nothing. Not even an idea. Just FYI.

 

Don't you at least have to give them a name for your game??? How do you pick the name without the idea!

 

Yes a title is all. But I think you can change it