DOTS Visual Scripting first experimental drop

thanks, yes I understand that removing the packages fixed the issue but it's abnormal. I wonder if it it an issue with the AssetDB. I loaded the project here and it clearly state that it had to rebuild everything since the asset database wasn't found. Maybe deleting the library would have helped in that situation. I'll keep an eye opened since it's not supposed to happen.

unfortunately it is a known issue, whe haven't really worked on the light skin yet.

Mind to share that corrupted graph? I've been having similar issues in the past and I would love to compare.
thanks!

 

In accordance with existing node editors VS editor can be named as Script Graph or Logic Graph.

 

I would vote for the Visual DOTS. Simple and says everything you need to know.

 

Why V DOTS / VDOTS is more restrictive, than DOTS VS / DOTSVS?

 

Those other new tools would just get their own name then.
They'd need their own name anyway.
In fact that's what you guys are doing already anyway, see here:

- Visual Effects Graph
- Shader Graph

so this thing could be named using the same schema, maybe the the "Visual DOTS (Graph)"

 

I guess I'm not seeing the big picture here, what other graph types are will this support besides dots?

 

"Shader Graph" generates shaders

So if this graph generates code why not just "Code Graph"


(Also, while VS is not my cup of tea this is super exciting, great work UT!)

 

DOTS is not just generic code. Is specific paradigm of programming, to gain additional performance.

I think here is good valid point, worth taking into consideration.
Other than, I would rather Call DOTS Graph (DOTSG). Tats it.

I think Unity suffer quite for lack of consistency, between range of features. Specially visible on legacy features.
Here is a chance, not to fall further away.

 

Er, but lets get back on track and feedback on the software if we can, thanks all

 

That's a great improvement to have. I wanted to experiment with it but couldn't even move a GameObject
I can do this on C# code easily, I know it's very early phase but do you have some kind of documentation updated as you build more for this Visual Scripting?

 

It feels to me that ECS / Dots / Job system is so different that the default Mono behavior interface system. That integrating it is trying to bring two very different worlds together and try to make both worlds work while both will suffer from each others.
I would rather have seen it developed in a complete new engine and dropping mono behavior for that engine. Resulting in a complete system and interface for developing in one or the other. It really seems the developers are fighting to get the new approach into a system that is not designed for it.

 

^
As previously stated by the devs themselves(multiple times) Unity is moving towards DOTS only environment, slowly but surely ditching the MONO. They are not fighting they are transitioning it as it takes a lotta time and effort as you could probably imagine.

And there is no need for rewriting an engine from scratch as DOTS is an architectural layer on top of C/C++ core.

Devs please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

The transition toward ECS / DOTS is already in progress, at least since Unity 5.
Is indeed slow and careful process, but we see evolution in real time.

 

Is there any difference between my two "Set Rotation To" here?


What's the difference between putting the SetRotationTo inside the OnUpdateEntities, and putting it in another group?

 

ok, got it. I think I would personally prefer if there was only one way of doing things (linking to a new node every time instead of making node stacks) for less confusion, but that's just my two cents

And I have follow-up questions:

1. When adding new nodes, it's often not clear which nodes I have the right to add in the context that I am in (for example, trying to add a Translate node in that OnUpdateEntities gives me an error because there is no Translation component in my query). In the future, will there be something that tells us which nodes would be valid when adding them through the menu? Like, maybe all the ones that wouldn't be valid right now would be grayed out but still addable. Or maybe Valid and Invalid nodes would be in two separate root groups in the AddNode menu? I think this would be very helpful to help teach the system to those who are new to it
2. Also, I'm trying to find a context in which I can place a LoadScene node without errors and can't find anything. Any suggestions?

 

Thanks! And yes, I'm fully aware that this is all WIP. I'm just poking around to give feedback and try to understand what's the long-term plan

Some more questions:

1. I'm trying to add Criterias in my query definition like this, but it's not making any difference in my code gen. How should these criterias be used?
2. Do the Criterias under the OnUpdateEntities node provide functionality that we couldn't just do with an If node and a Return node?

 

* switching to my personal account, but I'm still @PhilStA *

More questions (some of these are things that I suppose aren't possible right now, but it's food for thought):

1. Is it possible right now to declare variables for the system?
2. How would I go about doing the following:
   1. (not in visual script) I create a MyGameData ScriptableObject and create an Addressable asset from it in my project
   2. (in visual script from this point on....)
   3. Declare a "MyGameData" field in my system
   4. In OnCreateManager, load this MyGameData asset with addressables and save it in the field I declared
   5. In OnUpdate, always "return;" as long as this asset hasn't been loaded
   6. Have a Job that gets fed some of the data contained in this MyGameData. Like myGameData.FireballDamage for instance, so that if I spawn fireball entities, I know how much damage I must give them
3. If point #2 as a whole is just too complicated and I should just handle all the asset loading in a custom script that I write myself.... how can I do this with VS:
   1. Get the system that holds that data asset and cache it in a class variable in OnCreateManager
   2. Pass some data from MyGameData to my jobs
4. I'm trying to create an Entity from a job and add a component to it, but I'm not sure how to specify which Entity we must add the component on

In short, I think it would be good to have access to all these events:

• OnCreateSystem
• OnDestroySystem
• OnUpdateSystem
• OnUpdateEntities (what we have now)

... and possibly have explicit control on when the "OnUpdateEntities" are scheduled during the update loop, so we can put conditions, initializations, returns, etc.... before them

__________________________________

EDIT: sorry, just saw on first page that declaring variables was not possible

 

I added information on a github issue about the Visual Graphs node corruption: https://github.com/Unity-Technologies/VisualScripting/issues/1

@myanko Sounds like you had a similar problem. Do you think you could add any more info to this issue?

 

You guys are amazing! Keep up the good work!

But please release the ECS already I am actually in deep anticipation.

 

I have only been using it for a few days but the big things that I noticed were:

• Navigating the graph seems to be the most common action, yet it requires a modifier key(alt). The default left mouse button action is Box Selection which isn't nearly as common of an action. I feel like these two should be flipped.
• the Add Node list filter seems pretty inconsistent. ie. I can only choose the 'Set Property' node if I'm adding a node to the stack. As someone who likes to build in a playground area off to the side of the graph and then connect it to the stack when it's 'done', this bothers me.
• Conversely, pulling off a variable node doesn't give me a curated list based on the context. I'd like the ability to chose whether or not the current list is being filtered.

Aside from that, there's few minor features that are probably already in the pipe:

• No modifier key shortcut to cut connections.
• When trying to remove a connection, you have to select 'delete' instead of 'disconnect' which is a bit unintuitive.
• Can't have multiple connections coming out of a single variable.

Mostly, though, my troubles stem from DOTS itself. Creating a pretty simple game of 'click to spawn cube' requires an Authoring Component, Data Component, and a fairly labor-intensive System Graph to connect it all together. Part of the problem is that all 3 of these things are modified in different areas (code, unity scene, graph editor) so you're constantly switching back and forth to get the graph to work.

Perhaps the biggest time-saver would be the ability to generate ComponentData objects inside the graph since I'll probably be figuring out what data I'll need while working on the system.

**Forgot to mention that It throws errors when attempting to generate a solution file. I'm not sure if there's another way to get VS to recognize Unity code but it's really annoying.

 

Good points, Alt as a modifier for navigation is consistent with navigating in unity ( scene view ) I think that is fine, still it would be nice if that could be a user preference setting in the shortcut manager.

 

Any rough estimate on when the linux version will come out for testing? Super rough, as in would it be weeks or more like months?

 

DOTS VS is for DOTS based Visual Scripting but what about Monobehavior if Unity is not going to build a MonoBehavior then Unity should provide/buy a existing VS Solution such as Bolt or uScript and Behavior Designer.

 

Unity's said they have no plan to do one for monobehaviour. It is the same for their shader graph being restricted to SRP, Unity is solving the unsolved not the already-solved-many-times problems.

And I totally get that. Best I can suggest is you wait for a sale, and pick up one of the very many visual scripting solutions for regular C# monobehaviour on asset store.

 

This was what I was referring to.

 

Thanks for replying to my feedback guys, most of the notes I've taken while testing aren't major issues that I feel strongly about since I know the final version won't be done for a while. With that said, here's my most recent notes:

• I've noticed a few methods have a different signature, ie. Entities.Instantiate() doesn't return an Entity.
• If you can use inheritance in graphs, I couldn't figure out how.
• Game would crash when using enums as 'criteria' for a query.
  Spoiler: stacktrace

  NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object
  
  UnityEditor.VisualScripting.GraphViewModel.NodeModel.get_Stencil () (at Packages/com.unity.visualscripting/Editor/VisualScripting/Model/GraphViewModel/NodeModel.cs:35)
  
  UnityEditor.VisualScripting.Model.EnumConstantNodeModel.get_EnumValue () (at Packages/com.unity.visualscripting/Editor/VisualScripting/Model/Common/Constants/EnumConstantNodeModel.cs:20)
  
  UnityEditor.VisualScripting.Editor.ConstantEditor.VisualElementExtensions.CreateEditorForNodeModel (UnityEngine.UIElements.VisualElement element, UnityEditor.VisualScripting.Model.IConstantNodeModel model, System.Action`1[T] onValueChanged) (at Packages/com.unity.visualscripting/Editor/VisualScripting/Editor/Elements/Extensions/ConstantEditorExtensions.cs:26)
  
  Packages.VisualScripting.Editor.Elements.CriterionRow.SetupConstantEditor (UnityEditor.VisualScripting.Model.IVariableModel criterionValue) (at Packages/com.unity.visualscripting.entities/Editor/Packages/VisualScripting/Editor/Elements/CriterionRow.cs:150)
  
  Packages.VisualScripting.Editor.Elements.CriterionRow..ctor (UnityEditor.VisualScripting.GraphViewModel.IGraphElementModel graphElementModel, UnityEditor.VisualScripting.Model.Stencils.CriteriaModel criteriaModel, UnityEditor.VisualScripting.Model.Stencils.Criterion criterion, UnityEditor.VisualScripting.Model.Stencils.Stencil stencil, UnityEditor.VisualScripting.Editor.Store store, Packages.VisualScripting.Editor.Elements.ExpandedContainer parentElement, System.Action`1[T] onDeleteCriterion) (at Packages/com.unity.visualscripting.entities/Editor/Packages/VisualScripting/Editor/Elements/CriterionRow.cs:103)
  
  Packages.VisualScripting.Editor.Elements.CriteriaModelRow..ctor (UnityEditor.VisualScripting.GraphViewModel.IGraphElementModel graphElementModel, UnityEditor.VisualScripting.Model.Stencils.CriteriaModel criteriaModel, UnityEditor.VisualScripting.Model.Stencils.Stencil stencil, UnityEditor.VisualScripting.Editor.Store store, UnityEditor.VisualScripting.Editor.Blackboard blackboard, Packages.VisualScripting.Editor.Elements.ExpandedContainer parentElement, System.Action`1[T] onDeleteCriteriaModel) (at Packages/com.unity.visualscripting.entities/Editor/Packages/VisualScripting/Editor/Elements/CriteriaModelRow.cs:76)
  
  Packages.VisualScripting.Editor.Elements.CriteriaSubSection.AddCriteriaModelRow (UnityEditor.VisualScripting.Model.Stencils.CriteriaModel criteriaModel, UnityEditor.VisualScripting.GraphViewModel.IGraphElementModel graphElementModel, Packages.VisualScripting.Editor.Elements.ExpandedContainer expandedContainer) (at Packages/com.unity.visualscripting.entities/Editor/Packages/VisualScripting/Editor/Elements/CriteriaSubSection.cs:162)
  
  Packages.VisualScripting.Editor.Elements.CriteriaSubSection.AddCriteriaModelRows (Packages.VisualScripting.Editor.Stencils.IIteratorStackModel iteratorStackModel, Packages.VisualScripting.Editor.Elements.ExpandedContainer expandedContainer) (at Packages/com.unity.visualscripting.entities/Editor/Packages/VisualScripting/Editor/Elements/CriteriaSubSection.cs:151)
  
  Packages.VisualScripting.Editor.Elements.CriteriaSubSection.BuildCriteriaForIteratorStackModel (System.Int32& nbRows, Packages.VisualScripting.Editor.Stencils.IIteratorStackModel iteratorStackModel, Packages.VisualScripting.Editor.Elements.ExpandedContainer expandedContainer) (at Packages/com.unity.visualscripting.entities/Editor/Packages/VisualScripting/Editor/Elements/CriteriaSubSection.cs:132)
  
  Packages.VisualScripting.Editor.Elements.CriteriaSubSection..ctor (UnityEditor.VisualScripting.Model.Stencils.Stencil stencil, Packages.VisualScripting.Editor.Stencils.IIteratorStackModel iteratorStackModel, UnityEditor.VisualScripting.Editor.Store store) (at Packages/com.unity.visualscripting.entities/Editor/Packages/VisualScripting/Editor/Elements/CriteriaSubSection.cs:75)
  
  Packages.VisualScripting.Editor.Stencils.IteratorStackNode..ctor (UnityEditor.VisualScripting.Editor.Store store, Packages.VisualScripting.Editor.Stencils.IIteratorStackModel model, UnityEditor.VisualScripting.Editor.INodeBuilder builder) (at Packages/com.unity.visualscripting.entities/Editor/Stencils/IteratorStackNode.cs:19)
  
  Packages.VisualScripting.Editor.Stencils.EcsGraphElementFactoryExtensions.CreateOrderedStack (UnityEditor.VisualScripting.Editor.INodeBuilder builder, UnityEditor.VisualScripting.Editor.Store store, UnityEditor.VisualScripting.Model.Stencils.IOrderedStack model) (at Packages/com.unity.visualscripting.entities/Editor/Stencils/EcsGraphElementFactoryExtensions.cs:14)
  
  System.Reflection.MonoMethod.Invoke (System.Object obj, System.Reflection.BindingFlags invokeAttr, System.Reflection.Binder binder, System.Object[] parameters, System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture) (at <23c160f925be47d7a4fd083a3a62c920>:0)
  
  Rethrow as TargetInvocationException: Exception has been thrown by the target of an invocation.
  
  System.Reflection.MonoMethod.Invoke (System.Object obj, System.Reflection.BindingFlags invokeAttr, System.Reflection.Binder binder, System.Object[] parameters, System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture) (at <23c160f925be47d7a4fd083a3a62c920>:0)
  
  System.Reflection.MethodBase.Invoke (System.Object obj, System.Object[] parameters) (at <23c160f925be47d7a4fd083a3a62c920>:0)
  
  UnityEditor.VisualScripting.Editor.GraphElementFactory.CreateUI (UnityEditor.Experimental.GraphView.GraphView graphView, UnityEditor.VisualScripting.Editor.Store store, UnityEditor.VisualScripting.GraphViewModel.IGraphElementModel model) (at Packages/com.unity.visualscripting/Editor/VisualScripting/Editor/Helpers/GraphElementFactory.cs:37)
  
  UnityEditor.VisualScripting.Editor.VseUIController.RebuildAll (UnityEditor.VisualScripting.Editor.State state) (at Packages/com.unity.visualscripting/Editor/VisualScripting/Editor/Views/VseUIController.cs:237)
  
  UnityEditor.VisualScripting.Editor.VseUIController.UpdateTopology () (at Packages/com.unity.visualscripting/Editor/VisualScripting/Editor/Views/VseUIController.cs:113)
  
  UnityEditor.VisualScripting.Editor.VseWindow.StoreOnStateChanged () (at Packages/com.unity.visualscripting/Editor/VisualScripting/Editor/VseWindow.cs:579)
  
  UnityEditor.EditorCommon.Redux.Store`1[TState].InvokeStateChanged () (at Packages/com.unity.visualscripting/Editor/EditorCommon/Redux/Store.cs:191)
  
  UnityEditor.EditorCommon.Redux.Store`1[TState].Update () (at Packages/com.unity.visualscripting/Editor/EditorCommon/Redux/Store.cs:176)
  
  UnityEditor.VisualScripting.Editor.VseWindow.Update () (at Packages/com.unity.visualscripting/Editor/VisualScripting/Editor/VseWindow.cs:736)
  
  System.Reflection.MonoMethod.Invoke (System.Object obj, System.Reflection.BindingFlags invokeAttr, System.Reflection.Binder binder, System.Object[] parameters, System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture) (at <23c160f925be47d7a4fd083a3a62c920>:0)
  
  Rethrow as TargetInvocationException: Exception has been thrown by the target of an invocation.
  
  System.Reflection.MonoMethod.Invoke (System.Object obj, System.Reflection.BindingFlags invokeAttr, System.Reflection.Binder binder, System.Object[] parameters, System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture) (at <23c160f925be47d7a4fd083a3a62c920>:0)
  
  System.Reflection.MethodBase.Invoke (System.Object obj, System.Object[] parameters) (at <23c160f925be47d7a4fd083a3a62c920>:0)
  
  UnityEditor.HostView.Invoke (System.String methodName, System.Object obj) (at C:/buildslave/unity/build/Editor/Mono/HostView.cs:348)
  
  UnityEditor.HostView.Invoke (System.String methodName) (at C:/buildslave/unity/build/Editor/Mono/HostView.cs:342)
  
  UnityEditor.HostView.SendUpdate () (at C:/buildslave/unity/build/Editor/Mono/HostView.cs:454)
  
  UnityEditor.EditorApplication.Internal_CallUpdateFunctions () (at C:/buildslave/unity/build/Editor/Mono/EditorApplication.cs:303)
• Opening a graph always starts at the center of the graph, even if there's nothing there. I had an instance where I had a few nodes off to the right and didnt notice them until I enabled the minimap.
• Code (CSharp):

  1. ArgumentException: TagComponent contains a field of System.String, which is neither primitive nor blittable.
  Isn't string a primitive?
  
• Search should be a bit more generous in general. ie. I should see 'EntitySpawnerComponent' if I type 'ESC' or 'eSC'. Also 'getinput' should return 'Get Input'.
• Searching for 'time' returns the first element including the word 'time' (captureDeltaTime) instead of the most accurate match which would just be Time.time.
• In general, the palette of gray node elements can sometimes blend together, especially when zoomed out. This is mostly due to the 1pixel black stroke around nodes which works great when zoomed in. This includes the upper-left UI that has the same background color as the graph itself. (image attached). What could be useful is a grid pattern in the background (similar to blueprints) to help distinguish nodes and also work as a visual cue to your current zoom amount.

 

String is a reference value, use NativeStringXX (what ever size you need)

Also note, inheritance is not a data oriented concept.

 

At very short overview of current progress I've notice this:
1) Separate nodes for Add,Sub,Mul + Operators so formula like a+b OR a-b will lead to 3 nodes, and 10 clicks + if want to use Math.abs of a+b will need whole day clickin :F... So low leveling of the operation doesn't lead always to good design but to over complexity of the graph, so expression evaluator will significantly improve experience, also user can create own nodes from formulas(who will type same formula again and again). Expression evaluators can do even if(condition,then,else), so creating Branch and similar nodes is Futile work copying Caker or OLD.
2) Although I have some experience in Unity, I couldn't manage to create simple key.UP input at all, and was in mind to create trigger with values going 0 to 1f while I'm holding. And probably couldn't do without 4-5 components which is again over complexity. Why not, also I create new Input right here right now, on a InputNode, or at least open InputManager.asset with simple click.
3) Main power of Unity that was designed to have visual experience(they designed to be similar to UI or Max or May,have editor to tweak the values and what is most important to see values changing runtime. Jobs although bring us imense speed, we lost our creativity and to debug visually. Frame by Frame and track how the data flow goes.
....enough wobbling for now

 

Okay, let me ask a few questions.

1. How many systems will be in Unity in the far future? Only DOTS? Will the GameObject be a thing?
2. If GO still will be a part of Unity in a long term, will it eventually support the VS?
3. If VS won't support the GO system and will be tied up with DOTS only, what's the point of the VS system that is not capable to cover the whole Unity API?

I saw you mentioned BluePrints and that you don't mimic them. But they do cover almost everything you can do with the Engine via C++. It's a very solid, large and multi-purpose VS solution. Unity needs some love here too.

And some off-topic. With so many windows (VS, SG etc.) Unity needs the top-layer tabs to split the workflow. It's too cluttered to work like that.

 

Hi, What you seem to be looking for are mostly things that will come with High Level nodes, which are not part of Drop-1. We'll start providing some with Drop-2 in June and more with each subsequent iffering.
1) There is already a node made for that specific purpose called Inline Expression. I think that’s what you are looking for.
2) Unfortunately this kind of events is not supported yet; only the input down is sort of handled with the current version.
3) Tracing and tools to debugs aren’t available yet. We had to disable the features before shipping because they were unusable in the current state of things, but they are definitely on our radar and should ship later this year.

If I understand the questions correctly, you want to know if we will support GO and Monobehaviours? For that, I'd stay it's not really the plan for us. there are already plenty of solutions that already does a great job doing it. I can suggest Bolt on the Asset Store that does an awesome job for most of our users. We are really DOTS centric, like mentioned earlier in the thread

Hope it answer it all!

 

Hi, I found that Visual Scripting packages are depend on Roslyn (com.unity.code-analysis package). I used Roslyn dll for my own package, so importing Visual Scripting pacakge makes dll conflict. Can I use safely com.unity.code-analysis package for my own custom packages?

Edit: Also, it seems that there is no XML documentation file in com.unity.code-analysis. If the code-analysis packages will be public, adding XML documentation for dlls will be very helpful for Unity users.

 

Sorry for out of topics, but I want to know how to find these "hidden packages for external library" like com.unity.code-analysis. These packages are not shown in Package Manager (with staging repository in manifest.json) also https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/PackagesList.html .

Is there any method for getting list of "all" packages?