[Help Needed] Finding the oldest version of Unity

I've been trying to find the first version of Unity ever released (for historical and preservation purposes)

Unless I have missed something obvious my searches have been unsuccessful and thats why I am asking for help.

If anyone has any leads on this illusive version people reply to this message.

Thanks

 

The oldest version you'll reasonably find is 2.6.1 because that was the first version of the engine that actually had a free option.

https://forum.unity.com/threads/old...indie-and-unity-iphone-2-x.69335/#post-452838

 

Before unity 2, it was only available on mac until towards the end of unity 1

 

Wow! That is some history there.

 

I wonder if anyone has a old mac any version of Unity 1 still installed? I would pay to get that history in my hands.

 

check here
https://forum.unity.com/threads/unity3d-all-versions-of-the-download-link.73388/

 

Thanks! Checking it out now.

While it seems that these links no longer work I think that the file names may be incredibly useful to tracking down the oldest version of unity

 

The file has been found!
This link

brought me to an old forum post with old download links.

These download links do not work anymore, but there is a great website known as the Internet Archive.
If you don't know, one of the many features on this site is the Wayback Machine, which lets you save any site at the current moment in time and you can look back at past saves.

I hopefully put the download link of the first Unity version from the forum page mentioned above, and to my surprise there was one save. I was really hoping that it would work, and it did!

If you are interested here's the direct download link from the wayback machine https://web.archive.org/web/2019040...y3d.com/download_unity/unity_iphone-1.0.0.dmg
And here is all of the saves of this download link (only 1 at this moment) https://web.archive.org/web/2019060...y3d.com/download_unity/unity_iphone-1.0.0.dmg

I really hope that the rest is as easy as getting a mac (I use windows) or emulating, but I have a feeling there might be more hurdle(s) to jump though.

 

With a tiny bit of research looks like its for Mac OS X so I now know what emulator to look for or what to buy

 

Nice find!

 

they do work, but it gives some warning about it (at least on Firefox), downloads normally on Edge and Chrome.

Or can edit the links change http into https
https://download.unity3d.com/download_unity/unity_iphone-1.0.0.dmg

 

That is so weird they didn't work for me before

 

Does anyone here have a mac they can test this on? I can't get this running since I'm on windows.

Even if I find a mac to test this on it will probably take at least a few days

 

Plot twist: This isn't "the oldest version of Unity".

This is an installer for "Unity iPhone", which was originally a branch from a different Unity version before it became a plugin to a later version of Unity 2 or 3. So this is Unity iPhone v1.0, but from memory that was split off from Unity 1.6 or there abouts.

See, back then Unity was not the multi-platform beast it is today. It was an OS X app which allowed content packaging for pre-built OS X, Windows and Web Player front-ends. Their first mobile version was a completely separate, stand-alone app based on a then older version of the engine. And that's what you've found here.

 

Sounds like there's a lot of work to do!
So Unity iPhone is a version of Unity 1.6?

Do you know of any leads on how we can get to the true Unity 1.0 or is it truly lost to time?

 

If you trust my memory of a thing I used well over a decade ago, yeah.

I bet there'll be copies hanging around somewhere. It may not have been a free public download / trial at that time, though.

On that note, even if you can get the installer, you might not be able to install it. I vaguely recall early versions of Unity needing an online serial number check.

 

That's probably going to be a problem.
If we can get the installer even that would be a huge win!

My main goal is to have this saved off for everyone to see, maybe part of the internet archive's collection of software history.
Hopefully if there is a serial number check required it can be skipped somehow.

Thanks!

 

I'm going to try to contact Unity's support. Maybe they can help!

 

Heh, I remember opening Unity website every day and check the news and the live demos, I was so happy when they released the Windows version.

Btw, I tried to open the 1.0.0 on my mac but the OS won't let me open because it can't verify and it complains it is not from a known source.

 

I would suggest that you upgrade this project instead of looking for a previous version of Unity. I doubt Version 1 would even install. What Mac are you using? Someone on your team will need a Mac. Can you share a screenshot of the file structure of this project, starting at the project root? That should give an indication of the successful odds of upgrading. If you don't have a Mac, share the project with one of us to try. If you are concerned about privacy, send it to me in a private message and I'll give it a go.

 

So far my main goal is just to get the old unity version and I don't have any apple products in my house so I would hope to emulate or find a used mac I can buy off someone for cheap.

I'm not sure what you mean by upgrading a project? Don't we need Unity installed to make a project?

 

That isn't good but it might not be too big of an issue. I don't know much about mac or macOS but that sounds like an error I would get on my phone when installing a .apk file instead of installing from Google Play.

There might be something in the macOS settings blocking you from installing apps from unknown sources

 

Sorry, I thought you perhaps came across an old Unity project that you wanted to upgrade, there was a similar thread recently. However, it seems you've found the oldest version available in this thread, I would start with that. You'll need a Mac and a developer account on Apple if you plan to publish the app. While you do that, perhaps in the future you'll find Unity 1.0 and you'll be ready to install it once you do.

 

I guess Unity iPhone is still pretty old, so I'll try to find a way to get it installed.
It's mac shopping time.

 

No, not that version. I meant the oldest downloadable version in our Archives. Get that working first. If that doesn't install, then an older one likely won't either. But you might find a very cheap 2005 Mac on eBay.

 

Good point. It might be best to slowly work our way back

 

I'm not sure a modern Mac even run software from that era.

 

Was it even 64bit? Think Mac cut off 32bit a while ago.

 

It is likely that Unity was 64 bit.

I'm going to try to find a older mac anyway because its going to be cheaper and more likely to work with Unity 1.0 when we eventually find it

 

For now I might download the first available Windows version of Unity just to see what its like

 

Unity Support finally replied. It's not good news.
Unless someone still has Unity 1.0 installed, it is lost to time

 

Welp. Even if someone has Unity 1.0 somewhere on their machine (not as an installer), it's far from being a "golden image" anyways (still, something is better than nothing).

 

Yeah, I'm still going to have hope though. If not, maybe enough screenshots, videos, and memories can be found to potentially put together a replica

 

May i suggest an alternative route? I think it might make things easier if you were to find released games/projects made in the early Unity days and contact their authors for the installer. While it is unlikely, somebody might have what you're looking for.
Perhaps the best bet would be getting in touch with Unitys founders?

 

I've seen these, but I've not downloaded them myself so I can't say for sure if it's the real deal

https://archive.org/details/Unity3Darchive
https://archive.org/details/unity-1.2.2

 

Wow. I hope those really do work. Just need to find a mac to find out for sure

 

If it's really version 1.2.2 I believe that requires a PowerPC mac to run, you can see the release announcement here https://forum.unity.com/threads/unity-1-2-2-released.1552/ -- it has universal binaries build support, but not for the editor.

 

Thanks! That saves a lot of time and probably some money

 

Google has given me some emulators to try out with the unity archives from archive.org

 

Save money? In what way?

 

They were looking to buy an old computer to test it out but it seems that there is an emulator for what they are trying to accomplish.

 

This is one of those times where I wish unity forums had a Remindme! bot like Reddit...

 

Why?

 

So I can just come back in a month and see Unity 1.x lol

 

it might take a while longer since I'm going to be really busy for the next few weeks