Bug Dramatic slowdown of build process

Hi,

I am really desperate here.

Spoiler

2021.1.28 - 0:48s
2022.1.b6 - 4:43m

Details

In my project I am building addressables programmatically. I now did a test upgrade to the beta 6 to see if there are any changes. While functionality wise things are great, the performance of the build became FACTORS slower, up to a point where this is a showstopper since during normal iteration we are rebuilding addressable bundles a lot.

The steps that take the most time are the assembly compilation and even worse, the variants preparation. This happens EVERY time, even if nothing has changed. And it takes so long, see comparison above.

Compiling Assembly Definition Scripts 20s
Preparing variants for compilation (63M / 226M), multiple times, 3:30 min and more

Is there anything I can do to get the performance of 2021.1 back? Is this a bug or a feature or a configuration issue? The project is nearly the same except for the upgrade.

Cheers, Robert

 

I recommend sending a bug report. Any regression, especially big ones like those, should be treated as bugs.

Make sure to add a repro project in the report and make a thread here with the bug number, guidelines here: https://forum.unity.com/threads/2022-1-pre-release-guidelines-announcements-beta-6.1166527/

 

Yes URP and quite a lot of assets imported but my scenes only use the Lit and Simple Lit shaders. I'll open a bug report and I can also share the project if that helps. It is just huge though, so will need to share git credentials with the Unity team.

 

Bug Report: CASE 1401628

 

Here another finding. I just did a test with 2021.2 as well. That is at 2:40min. So now we have:

2021.1.28 - 0:48s
2021.2.12 - 2:40m
2022.1.b8 - 4:43m

It makes me really fear what will happen in 2022.2. But kidding aside, this is unbearable.

 

hi,
is there any news on this? bug confirmed? can't find it in the issue tracker.
we face the exact unbearable situation as ImpossibleRobert.

unity 2020.3.30 - 04:48 min - 269 seconds
unity 2021.2.13 - 01:15:11 hours - 4507 seconds

urp - use of shaderGraph + vfxGraph, android (quest)

 

The bug report is in, I shared my huge project. The team (I think @BerontasUnity) replied they are still investigating last week. This is an absolute showstopper for me and it seems for you as well.

 

B10 seems to have improved the step "compiling assembly definition scripts". The build time is consistently down from 4:43m to 3:59m. So we saved 40 seconds somewhere.

The main time-eater is still "Preparing variants for compilation". This did not exist in 2021.1 and takes around 3 minutes each build. This is the step the Unity developers need to investigate and improve.

 

It doesn't need to be a quick fix, but should be a high-priority fix.

 

hej,

i now reported my case #1408905
in 2021.2.14 my build takes really long - it quits after about 4500s - that's new.
giving up.

 

Latest measurement with 2022.1.b13 - 4:08min, so no improvement yet

 

I was hoping for a miracle but still 4:03min instead of 0:48s with b15.

 

So there's nothing that can be done on our side?
It's not THAT hard for us but still 6 minutes of build time instead of 1 :/

Any more info on the cause and solutions you are working on?
We're on 2021.2.19.f1

 

I hope this doesn't come off as patronising - but any chance build times will be introduced as part of your testing process of releases?

I imagine before releasing a build you run a suite of tests on several projects you have? And presumably several of those tests are building projects, from small to large? It sounds like in this instance the test results would show a massive increase in build times - making Unity either fix it before shipping, or at least include it as a known issue in the release notes (checked most recent version, it's not there)?

 

You are assuming regression testing is taking place. Unity has to start using their own tools and they have to start testing things. The most recent betas have a broken inspector of all things. I think that's quite telling of nobody booting it even once as it's quite hard to miss.

They should force all their developers to use a HUGE semi-real-life project and stop testing with empty projects. They'd instantly notice how slow the editor and everything else have gotten. You just can't detect problems with a minimal dummy project or by not using your own tools.

@aleksandrk Care to elaborate on your build time regression test setup? I'd be interested in hearing what is there right now and how this could be avoided in the future, as it's a common theme over the years and it kills productivity.

 

Hi @aleksandrk! Would you mind letting us know what kinds of regression tests are at place at Unity to prevent build times from ballooning? It is a constant hassle that build time regressions happen quite often; regressions that would be evident if a normal size project was built with Unity.

Thank you.

 

Good news: Unity acknowledged the bug. IN-8037. Since then no further replies though or changes. I have no idea if that is something which will be looked at soonish or not. From my perspective it should have very high priority. @aleksandrk do you have any insights?

 

I assume warm = already built before one time?

 

This sounds really promising! Do you have any measurements to share? Initial compile is not an issue if the subsequent ones are fast. I am eager to test this and will do so over the New Year timeframe. If that really works it is the best Christmas present

 

The results sound very good indeed, keeping my fingers crossed I have not some unsupported scenario.