Finished my first project fully on Linux - Time for feedback

Like the title says I did my first full project solely using the Linux version of Unity.

I started the project shortly after the Linux version was released. As a test I started and finished a relatively simple quiz-like-application for a local museum with it. Mainly using the canvas, script, animator and videoplayer (both handheld and raw movie) components. I can't tell you much about the more advanced (rendering) features of the Unity 5 engine.

In general the experience was pretty good, especially with this being some sort of side project, but more on that later. One thing I also really liked the fact I could (cross-)compile to Linux, Windows (not tested), Android and even OSX (didn't expect the last one). Some features feel very rough, such as the animation system, but that might be more the general state of the feature and not specific to the Linux port.

Well enough intro talk, let's go to the feedback shall we.


Specs

OS: Arch Linux
Kernel: x86_64 Linux 4.2.5-1-ARCH
Resolution: 1920x1080
DE: Gnome 3.18.2
CPU: Intel Core i5-4200U CPU @ 2.6GHz
GPU: Mesa DRI Intel(R) Haswell Mobile
RAM: 7896MiB​

Installation notes

Using the AUR, Arch Linux' community packag emanagement, which basically is a wrapper around the tar.gz and handles the dependencies.

Up to version 5.3.0f4 all was working directly after installation. Since that version it seems to require you to have npm installed. Also as of this version I have to start Unity with MESA_GL_VERSION_OVERRIDE=3.2 which does not need to be needed as the intel video driver supports OpenGL 3.3. More info found here: http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/opengl-graphics.374961/#post-2432150

The other thing I noticed is that it seems to depends on libpng1.2 (at least in the AUR its the requirement). Its not mentioned as a requirement on your list of dependencies. Is it something you missed in the requirements and is there a reason for this version specific?


Issues

Below the bigger issues I experienced. There are quite a few more (minor) issues but these stuck with me during the process. I'm not sure how you want to handle community feedback and interaction here.

• Can stall/freeze on Play. This happens most often on first runs but occurred in later runs as well. It seems that saving before pressing play reduces the chance.
• The resolution/aspect ratio selection drop-down in the Game tab is quite bugged. The drop-down moves with you when you change to another work space (control+alt+up/down). When you want to add an item to that list you can interact with it with the keyboard (writing/pasting) so adding a new one requires one to write the name and width/height values in a text editor, copy it to the clipboard and paste it in the corresponding fields.
• Keyboard control for the menus is not working (e.g. Alt + F for the File menu).
• "Animation Events" simply do not list the correct functions. You see a whole bunch of build in functions but the ones which are part of the script component are not shown.
• Some dialogs (like the incorrect OpenGL version) show an extra button without text on the bottom right of the dialog.
• The building dialog can be re-sized but the content does not scale with it.
• CPU usage is consistently too high (and thus fan speed going through the roof on this ultrabook).
• Opening a C# script from the content browser starts Mono Develop however the solution does not load for the first attempt (per editor start). After closing Mono Develop and double clicking the script in Unity for the second time all works.
• Mono Develop often shows a warning when opening the dialog which is used to select the process to debug.
• General stability issues. It seems to have improved over the versions but it still occasionally crashes.
• Importing videos does not work, however manually converting your videos to .ogv does work (see my post at http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/movie-texture.355384/#post-2379824). It's not too hard to write a simple wrapper around ffmpeg to avoid the QuickTime dependency. I can have a look if you provide me with source access

Like some other developers have asked, what is the plan with this. You've proven to me you can deliver something in a usable state in which I can get most of my work done. However the 80-20 rule learns us that there is still quite some work ahead to fully nail it. Are you committed?

And there was some mention about making (some parts) open source during Unity Unite in Amsterdam if I recall correctly (I was there during the keynote) but haven't heard anything since. What are the plans there?

All in all thanks for doing this and I hope to see it part of the officially supported platforms soon.

Kind regards,
San

 

Hmm, to be honest I'm a little disappointed.

You ask for feedback and when someone puts time and effort in providing some it would have been nice to get at least an acknoledgement after three weeks.

 

Thanks a bunch for your reply! I'm eagerly awaiting the bit announcement

Out of curiousity how many people are actively developing on the Linux port and how did you setup the internal development. Is it part of the CI of the main branch? Do you have internal QA allocated on this?

And my most pressing question right now... when can we expect VR support in the Linux version

 

for linux future or overall future of Unity3d engine itself ? Strange that you havent schedule anything after 5.5 release which planned to release next june.