Is the new input system ready for production?

Hey guys,

I'm making a game for both controller and keyboard/mouse and I was wondering how stable the new input system is? Will I be able to use it without major hiccups in 2019.1 or is it too early?

Is it subject to major changes in the future?

 

Depending what you call production ready. If you expect seamless usage and unhindered development, it's not.
If you have time (I would say at least a year until ship), then you may better off starting to implement.
I don't think it will change considerably in the future, but of course, it's a preview package, so you never know. This is why it's important that you don't try to use it close to your deadline.

 

It is not production ready. Things change regularly.

 

Great, I'll start using it then

I was testing it out and I haven't been able to reproduce the UnityEngine.Input behaviour for the gamepad stick.

Here's what I'm trying to reproduce:

Code (CSharp):

1.  Vector2 MoveAxis = new Vector2(Input.GetAxis("Horizontal"), Input.GetAxis("Vertical"));

In the new input system:
the Move Action I created is supposed to do the same. However, whenever I stop moving the stick, the Vector2 I read from the Move action does not always equal to Vector2.zero and thus my character keeps on moving.



Here's the script I'm using:

Code (CSharp):

1. using UnityEngine;
2. using UnityEngine.Experimental.Input;
3.  
4. [RequireComponent(typeof(Player))]
5. public class PlayerInput : MonoBehaviour
6. {
7.     public float MoveSpeed = 7f;
8.     private Player Player; // A reference to the Control on the object
9.     private bool Jump; // the world-relative desired move direction, calculated from the camForward and user input.
10.  
11.     void OnEnable()
12.     {
13.         Inputer.Control.Player.Move.performed += MoveOnPerformed;
14.         Inputer.Control.Player.Jump.performed += JumpOnPerformed;
15.         Inputer.Control.Player.Weapon.performed += WeaponOnPerformed;
16.     }
17.  
18.     void OnDisable()
19.     {
20.         Inputer.Control.Player.Move.performed -= MoveOnPerformed;
21.         Inputer.Control.Player.Jump.performed -= JumpOnPerformed;
22.         Inputer.Control.Player.Weapon.performed -= WeaponOnPerformed;
23.     }
24.  
25.     private void JumpOnPerformed(InputAction.CallbackContext _callbackContext)
26.     {
27.         Player.Control.Jump();
28.     }
29.  
30.     private void WeaponOnPerformed(InputAction.CallbackContext _callbackContext)
31.     {
32.         Player.AttackNow();
33.     }
34.  
35.     private Vector2 MoveAxis;
36.  
37.     private void MoveOnPerformed(InputAction.CallbackContext _callbackContext)
38.     {
39.         var value = _callbackContext.ReadValue<Vector2>();
40.         if (value.magnitude > .1f)
41.             MoveAxis = value;
42.         else MoveAxis = Vector2.zero;
43.     }
44.  
45.     private void Start()
46.     {
47.         Player = GetComponent<Player>();
48.     }
49.  
50.     // Fixed update is called in sync with physics
51.     private void FixedUpdate()
52.     {
53. //        MoveAxis = new Vector2(Input.GetAxis("Horizontal"), Input.GetAxis("Vertical")); // this gives me proper values unlike the MoveOnPerformed
54.         var dir = new Vector3(MoveAxis.x, 0f, MoveAxis.y);
55.  
56.         Player.Move(MoveSpeed * dir);
57.     }
58. }

 

I've been using it for a few weeks now and the new input system is really amazing, it's super flexible! Great job jonas-echterhoff

 

I know this is not out of preview yet, but as of today, can I safely replace SteamVR plugin? Does this support, Valve (index, vive), Oculus, and WMR Controllers?

 

Is it possible your hardware stick doesn't sit at 0, 0 when it's not being used? You could define a threshold, to only move the characters once the Vector magnitude is greater than a certain value.

 

Guess I will be waiting for bit longer. Appreciate the update!

 

I have this same issue. It is not a deadzone issue, it's that the event doesn't get fired when the stick returns to 0,0 so the last positive value in the previous frame remains. Very annoying bug.

 

@jonas-echterhoff Hi, sorry to bother you on this thread. I will create a new one if it's better to do so. I was wondering if there is any documentation or tutorials, or if it has supported API to have haptic feedback in new input system. I have found this - https://docs.unity3d.com/Packages/c...gine_Experimental_Input_Gamepad_ResumeHaptics , but it's hard to tell how to use it in correct way without smell code and if it works at all the way I see it could work. I intend to resume and pause haptic in coroutine, is this the right way? Is there any example where I can look it up?

 

@jonas-echterhoff I have the same problem when using Player Input script.

I have Move control group that binds to left gamepad stick. As far as I can understand from auto-generated file, all events (started, performed, cancelled) call the same function:

Code (CSharp):

1. public void SetCallbacks(IGameplayActions instance)
2.         {
3.             if (m_Wrapper.m_GameplayActionsCallbackInterface != null)
4.             {
5.                 Move.started -= m_Wrapper.m_GameplayActionsCallbackInterface.OnMove;
6.                 Move.performed -= m_Wrapper.m_GameplayActionsCallbackInterface.OnMove;
7.                 Move.canceled -= m_Wrapper.m_GameplayActionsCallbackInterface.OnMove;            
8.             }
9.             m_Wrapper.m_GameplayActionsCallbackInterface = instance;
10.             if (instance != null)
11.             {
12.                 Move.started += instance.OnMove;
13.                 Move.performed += instance.OnMove;
14.                 Move.canceled += instance.OnMove;            
15.             }
16.         }

So in the actual player controller script I read the axis value like this:

Code (CSharp):

1. //....
2. private Vector2 _moveInput;
3.  
4. //...
5.  
6. void OnMove(InputValue value)
7. {
8.        // i guess this should be called on started, performed and cancelled
9.         _moveInput = value.Get<Vector2>();
10. }
11.  
12. void FixedUpdate()
13. {
14.     print(_moveInput);
15. }

Sometimes it does reset to 0,0, sometimes it does not (very easy to reproduce with quick stick flick) and stays at something like (0.4, -0.3). The legacy input system worked fine with the same approach, so I can't blame the gamepad for sure.

How so I fix this?

By the way, the Behaviour setting of player input script is set to "send messages" if that's somehow important.​

 

GetComponent<PlayerInput>().actions["move"].ReadValue<Vector2>()

returns correct value at the same time.

So what should I do to use OnMove() correctly?

 

Does this happen when you try to move your stick in a circular pattern? It might have to do with removed `continuous`.

 

@PixelLifetime i don’t think the movement pattern before letting off the stick matters. What seems to matter is letting go off the stick from any position as fast as possible, so the spring shoots it back to the center. This is what triggers that problem, that’s why I thought that “cancelled” does not trigger.

 

@jonas-echterhoff seems like it was the case.

Action was set to "Button" (default one). Changing to Action "Value" with Controlt Type "Any" fixed the issue for me.

Tnank you so much.

 

I think this thread lost its track... but in any case, replying to the original question, I am migrating my game to the new input system, it apparently is working well (didnt test in production yet)... but if you take a look at the Issues on Github it's scary, there are dozens of issues from weeks/months ago without even a single reply. If it was a random project I would think it's abandoned.

https://github.com/Unity-Technologies/InputSystem/issues

 

Our issue handling is migrating to FogBugz and the Unity bug reporter. The issue page on GitHub right now is a mixed bag of stuff, with quite a few things being outdated. Once the migration is complete, we will turn off the GitHub issue feature.

 

Oh ok, thanks! This makes me feel a bit safer. I will roll my game tomorrow to production with the new input system, I will reply here with the results.

 

@Rene-Damm where is currently the best place to open bugs for the NIS?

 

Best way is through the Unity bug reporter.

 

Thanks. Created case 1193571, maybe it's something you're already aware, which is really bad thing about using fogbugz instead of github issues (cant search the issues, check status, etc)

 

Thanks. I'll have a look.

For the most part, our FogBugz issues are reflected on https://issuetracker.unity3d.com/.

 

Just as a fair warning to fellow devs, don't use the New Input System if you target Android. After I did that I started getting dozens of new daily complains/crashes/non-responsive touch/pen not working. I had to roll back the solution to the previous touch and previous Unity version (2019.1), as the pen on 2019.2 isnt working even on the old input. Lost about a month of work, and lots of players and got lots of new bad reviews.

 

Any word on when the "official/Production ready" release date might be?

 

When Unity 2020.1 is released. Judging from past releases, that may be some time between March and June of 2020.

 

Is this going to replace the old input system in the long run? Or is this a choice to be made in the editor on which one to use for your projects?

 

I'd assume it would have an option to use both (that's how it is now, with the preview version) at least for a while. But as with all things, probably will depreciate it sometime in far future.

 

Judging from Unity's history, I'm guessing it will replace the current system when it supports all the things the current one does and they have a way for users to migrate to the new one, OR, they will just deprecate the old one without warning and leave people that depended on various edge features of the old system with no solution.

 

I wonder if its worth it to work around the GetKey() implementation not being there, or wait for a version where it is implemented and stay with the old system for now. If thats there I dont mind getting rid of the old one, but without it its kinda rough, feels weird to have to work around something rudimentary like that...

 

@jonas-echterhoff

You said XR will be moved to a separate package, is this package available as a preview package?

is it this? https://docs.unity3d.com/Packages/com.unity.xr.interaction.toolkit@0.0/manual/index.html

Thanks!

 

Is it still the case as of 2020?

 

What are you asking? We talked about a number of things.

 

if you are asking if this is production ready in 2020, in my case, it is very much production ready and 1000 times better than the old system. I am even using it with VR controllers.

 

I havent tested it again on Android, cant say if it improved. It seems that on other platforms it's working better. Android has a bazillion different devices, so it's likely you will find problems with some devices/users.

 

On Android, the keyboard command key(windows key) will trigger android system action (google assistant). It might break your android. Also tab button is not working on android as well. Mouse right button key does not work as expected.(no event is fired).
On IOS there is no support for Keyboard and Mouse. As IOS introduced new GameController API in IOS 14 having GCKeyboard and GCMouse, Unity Support, Please integrate them in unity input system along with "preferPointerLock" to true so that system pointer will be locked inside ios app. After the Apple M1 silicon, our ios apps and games can directly run on MAC OS. So I see a great potential for GCKeyboard and GCMouse in IOS. I have to made a native plugin for IOS 14 GCKeyboard and GCMouse and now my bluetooth mouse and Keyboard works with the IOS games but I am unable to Lock pointer on IOS(It is important as it may break the app e.g Notification and Status bars accidentally bring on game etc)
@Rene-Damm I think you are presently working on this. Kindly look into this issue.

 

And ios 14 rumble support would be welcome too