Google Chrome webplayer support has been dropped

We knew this day was coming, but Google Chrome update 42 has officially dropped support for the Unity Webplayer. Sad days. Hello WebGL.

 

But it can be overriden using some user setting, right?

 

For a few months, yes. It will be dropped completely in September.

 

What settings should I modify to do so?
Today, I noticed that with v42.0.2311, the webplayer doesn't load anymore.
Thanks in advance.

 

https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/1247383?hl=en

 

So, this is not that serious right or am I missing something? All browsers ask for your permission to run the plugin. By default they all block plugins, don't they?

 

Be sure to check out: chrome://flags/#enable-npapi

Also note:

(source)

 

Then yes, we have the ticking b**b by September.

 

Updated moments ago, no luck in installing the Webplayer, 32 or 64 bit.

Did google just droped webplayer support? This is kind of... huge/bad since WebGL is stil no par to the webplayer.

Help!

 

Yes seems like. Found this in the release notes: https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src/+log/41.0.2272.0..42.0.2311.0?pretty=fuller&n=10000

commit 0539f2f5214fc17fdd5d1964be0ceedf98fdb9ce
author wfh <wfh@chromium.org> Wed Jan 21 14:36:46 2015
committer Commit bot <commit-bot@chromium.org> Wed Jan 21 14:38:17 2015
Block NPAPI plugins by default

Add --enable-npapi flag in chrome://flags to support re-enable.

BUG=295137
TEST=browser_tests, unit_tests, content_browsertests, blink layout tests

Review URL: https://codereview.chromium.org/645203002

Cr-Commit-Position: refs/heads/master@{#312374}

 

Yes, this worked out: chrome://flags/#enable-npapi

Thanks!

 

I don't see the point of enabling flags since the webplayer will be gone from Chrome in a matter of months anyway?

 

Because people have projects that arent built for WebGL yet?

 

@ TJHeuvel.net
It's just, even if someone releases their game in the next few days on the webplayer, Google for Chrome are winding down the use of plugins within months. Ok, I can see the logic of, this gives your game several months exposure before people have problems getting it to run in one of the browsers (Chrome) but it's not very long.

 

Yes, this is serious. We'll need to focus on helping WebGL / IL2CPP mature.

 

ya chrome mentioned this flag would be there months ago, our problem is that for users who play web games, our analytics show that 60% play in chrome, and wont switch to firefox, and even though the workaround exists, some of our audience are children, and children don't do very well at reading instructions, let alone following a fix it. Most web gamers, if a game doesn't work, will just leave your webpage instantly and never come back.

 

I dont understand, I'm new to this dropping of unity in browsers. What is their reasoning for this? Too many people play games via websites like Kongregate and the like. If they disable the ability for unity games to be usable in browsers, what is the alternative? This seems like a really really REALLY bad move on the part of the makers of these browsers. Am I missing something here or is there already something to replace unity in this regard?

 

WebGL.

--Eric

 

what is webgl?

 

"Proper support"

 

If anyone is interested, I made a trivial modification to the default WebPlayer HTML template. It just displays an impossible to miss notice about Chrome 42, and what to do, when the plugin is considered "missing". I'm using this as just a quick bandage until a better solution (preferably a bug-fixed, faster building WebGL) surfaces.

 

Trying to publish to WebGL from now on is actually not the biggest problem for us. Our biggest issue is the existing finished b2b products as there's no resources to go back and rebuild them. It has damaged our reputation somewhat with customers and clients despite them being made aware of the situation. I'm not blaming Unity (although they were way too slow in keeping developers updated), this is all Google stamping their feet. I've already had to explain to non techie people about this situation when asked about why x isn't working now (not even Unity related).

 

This is pretty much what we've had to do and ask our clients to do for their systems. And in most cases there may never be a WebGL version. Some things might just have to end up dying if the cost of redevelopment isn't economical.

 

i hope WebGL is getting better. At the moment it's no alternative. To many limitations, to large builds (10x bigger than webplayer).
I've heard that other developers already hate this WebGL because all Builds are just to Big.

 

Even if this was well known.. it's a big slap in the face for me this Monday Morning!

 

I think for many this is a death or life issue. I'm highly dependant on WebGL in Unity.
I (we) need to hear from Unity that they're really working hard on this platform.

I'm starting to test my project on WebGL (with latest Unity 5.0.1p1 as of today). +10 minutes to generate a build on my Mac and when run, throw exceptions just at the beginning. So I need to tweak and rebuild again, and again, ... 10 minutes per each build? No way to work. This needs to be improved a lot (incremental builds?).

Also, Unity Cloud Build could be a great helper here since it works great for other platforms, but I don't see the option right now.

 

You can set the optimisation level to "Slow (fast Builds)" to speed up the buildtimes while developing.

 

I get +10 minutes with "Slow (fast builds)" setting.

If I choose "Fastest (very slow builds)", the build process crash after +30 minutes due to a "out of memory" error.

I'm using a MBP with 8 GB RAM.

 

Normal i would say ... make a bug report with your project but its probably to big if it takes that login to bake.

 

It this wasn't so serious because the "npapi-gate" issue, it would be funny to remember old school days when I launched a build batch of my C course projects and went to take coffee. Now, almost 20 years after, it seems nothing has changed.

 

I'm not Unity, but they are indeed working hard on it. The release notes for all the post-5.0 releases have a lot of "WebGL" and "IL2CPP" entries.

--Eric

 

Thank you guys.

Let's see what happens in 1-2 months. Really want to see WebGL rocketing!

 

Rest in peace Unity Web Player. I will miss it. I really hope WebGL will get to it's level someday.