Feature Request Exclude textures not used in build from compression at build time.

Can I ask one thing about build times, why are textures compressed during build time that are not going to be part of the build?

This takes time and disk space while not needed.

I wish there was a way to exclude them from the compression stage.

 

They are compressed at IMPORT time. That's how Unity works.

Delete them, bring them back with source control if you change your mind.

Also, if it's just textures you want to keep in there and know you will NEVER ship, you can turn off compression and then they import almost instantly.

You can also micro-size them to 32x32 via the import settings... last I checked that makes them import pretty fast too, and they won't use much space once imported.

Otherwise, use source control and aggressively delete old data.

 

I disable compress on import, I don't need all the textures compressed when I download an asset from the asset store for example.

But my problem is with builds, why would textures need compressing if they are not part of the build?

Thats just a waste of CPU cycles and storage and last but not least time.

Yes there are workarounds, but fundamentally it could be changed so there are no need for workarounds.

 

I just double checked it,

1. I created a new project
2. Project settings ( disable compress on import )
3. Imported Allsky skybox pack ( 5gb )
4. Make a build with just the unity sample scene ( add sample scene to build settings )
5. Press build, Wait for a very long time for all the skybox textures to compress

 

Looking forward to ondemand asset importing, I'm targeting mutiple platforms iOS, Apple TV, Android , Mac and I really need to be carefull what asset store packages I import as they take long to compress. Even when only using a little of them. Glad to see this being on the roadmap.

 

Is this the same reason why URP runs all possible shader variant combinations (resulting in sometimes up to 14 hours of building, such as with the gigaya project) instead of just the ones included in the build?

 

This video explains some of the asset database inner workings