Performance issues using Mac OS 10.9 (Mavericks) and Unity 4.2.2

Yep, I'd also noticed the WindowServer spikes. I issued a bug report to Apple about this, and this is what led me to believe it's a Mavericks issue and not a Unity issue. Also the fact that nobody on the Unity dev team have acknowledged the bug leads me to believe they don't know what's causing it, therefore it probably *is* a Mavericks issue. I hope Unity will let us know soon either way. Like you say, it's making it near impossible to test anything inside the Editor, let alone the fact that it's slowing down the entire system.

 

Do you think it could be the way WindowServer is interacting with Unity? I don't think I really notice it unless Unity is running, but I need to do some more tests before coming to that conclusion.

 

It would be nice if someone from the unity team actually responded to this thread.
Using Unity in it's current state is extremely frustrating to say the least.
All the fun of creating something quickly and easily changing small things to see how they look... all gone.
Now i dread any change i need to make to the scene, i do everything not to have to hit the "play" button, I avoid having the editor in foreground - everything to avoid the dreaded lockups.
Please do something about it!
We don't need a proper unity 4.3, all we need is a small patch that fixes unity's cooperation with Mavericks' magic.

And some input from the unity team acknowledging they are working on the problem would be more than welcome. Otherwise we're feeling ignored, as if you'd say 'the 10.9 people are minority, it's their problem'

 

Yeah, it would be really nice to have a response from Unity here, even if it is just a case where this has already been fixed in 4.3, and if not what information we can provide to help narrow down the problem.

Has anyone submitted a bug report?

 

Bug: 571984 was submitted earlier in this thread. This might also be a Mavericks problem, who knows..

 

dude DOUBLE THUMBS UP I really don't get why Unity isn't responding to this thread. Im going to write them an email. I'm on pro so they should reply.

 

Hi all,

Since my post on MD issues with Mavericks was referenced, responding here too.
Our QA department has been trying to reproduce this issue, but so far with no luck.

This thread is full of fairly random suggestions that might work for one user, but not for the other (external monitor / logitech mouse center, etc.), but that doesn't help us pinpoint a single source, nor does it actually give us enough information to figure out what's going on.

So the following request for people experiencing performance degradation / stuttering while running on Mavericks with Unity 4.2; please file a bug, preferably using the bugreporter, you'll get an email, please reference the case number you have here.

http://unity3d.com/BugReportingFAQ

Thanks.

 

I did some testing and have submitted a bug report: 574023

I tried to give as much info as possible about my situation. I hope it helps...

Bug report for the OS X Mavericks performance issues — as noted in this topic: http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/20...using-Mac-OS-10-9-(Mavericks)-and-Unity-4-2-2

Main Issue: Very immense slowdown when playing a project in the editor. Followed by entire system hanging when trying to move away from Unity to another window (particularly in respect to WindowServer process in OS X).
- After extensive testing it appears to lag more frequently if there is a lot of stuff being computed on-screen (e.g. enemies, bullets…)
- Both my project and Unity test projects are affected.
- I tested using the AngryBots demo and the lag existed there too. I stripped out everything from the scene except the essential static geometry, the player, and the camera, and there was less lag but re-appeared over time, especially when firing the gun after a long period and creating bullets.
- It feels as though the system is running as though it cannot handle the processes. As though there is a lot less memory, graphical, or CPU power available to Unity. Although I have monitored all system aspects while testing and nothing is spiking or running high.
- My suspicion is that something is causing Mavericks to only allocate a certain portion of power to Unity, and it's not enough.

System specs:
- Mid-2011 iMac
- 2.7GHz Intel Core i5
- 12GB RAM
- OS X 10.9

 

For me, it happens a lot on a scene where I have an intricate NGUI interface. In other scenes it's ok, I can work, but in that one... oh my, 10 seconds freeze - 2 operations (select, unselect) - 10 seconds freeze - another couple of operations - freeze again...
It's impossible to work.

 

Same thing here : iMac goes crazy and keeps freezing and freezing when the Unity editor is on. None of my other Mac apps (Logic Pro, Modo 701, Cheetah3D, iWork suite, ArtRage 4, LiveCode 6, Xojo, Coda 2, EyeTV...) exhibits such a behaviour. What a strange and annoying experience, to say the least.

Tried every suggested trick : disabling App Nap, disabling "Screen have their own space" option, disconnecting my external display... with no luck. Before this monstrous Unity (or Apple ?) bug is solved, I'm back to Mountain Lion on a second partition.

Also submitted a bug, as suggest by Ralph.

 

I can confirm that this behaviour only occurs when in play mode, and an item is selected in the hierarchy.

To resolve, simple deselect any objects before or during play mode.

 

This is actually another issue - I've been having that problem for ages (way before Mavericks, or even 4.2.2), where I have to de-select an item in the hierarchy in play mode.

The hang-ups talked about in this thread is definitely a Unity + Mavericks + WindowServer process issue. The extensive tests I've done have concluded that:

-If Unity app is open (but not in focus for a long enough time, e.g. I'm just not using it), then the system performs fine.
-The moment I switch focus back to Unity, the WindowServer process spikes and the system hangs
-Switching focus back out of Unity doesn't immediately solve the hang-ups. It's almost as if something related to Unity is still in memory and WindowServer is trying to do something with it.
-Once an adequate number of time has passed (and Unity is out of focus), or the computer went to sleep and then woke up (Unity out of focus), then the system performs normally
-The moment I go back into Unity, the WindowServer hangs-ups and process spikes continue.

In my situation, it is most definitely Unity.

Mid-2010 MacBook Pro
2.4 GHz i5
8 GB
OS X 10.9

 

Got to agree that it's just completely breaking the workflow and makes me not want to use Unity until the issue is resolved. Nothing worse than having your work be interrupted by random lags and system freezes.

Unfortunately the randomness makes it very difficult to write an accurate bug report. I've tried for 2 hours today to create a reproducible situation that causes the freezes, but it really does seem to be completely random.
What I can say for sure though is that it's not limited to the play mode. I get the same occasional freezes when I'm just working in the editor placing objects or working with materials.

The freezes also happen in other applications (Photoshop, Blender), but only when Unity is open in the background. As soon as I close Unity, I can work without issues.

Mid-2010 MacBook Pro
No external monitor
8 GB RAM
OS X 10.9

 

Yup, same exact situation as me. Not limited to Play mode, and affects entire system as long as Unity is open (even in background..with the exception of the sleep/wake scenario in my last post).

We also seem to have the same laptop.

 

My issue is the same, but I have a different machine:

iMac Mid 2011
12GB
Radeon HD 6750M

Let's not forget to report the bug officially.

In a fresh project, the issue is hardly noticeable. Because it is WindowServer that is freaking out, I thought the issue might have to do with one of my 3rd party editor panes (which all became unresolved when I started a new project), so I closed them all in my main project. It seems better, but I'll have to test it further. Are any of the rest of you using a heavily customized GUI?

 

Actually, yes, I have a lot of 2D Toolkit related windows open in my projects.

 

I have a slightly older iMac (maybe 2011) and a brand new MacBook Pro (current late-2013 model). When Mavericks was released, I did a clean reload of my iMac, and obviously the MacBook came with Mavericks. Both machines have exactly the same OS, updates, Unity version, etc.

If I run any of my projects on the iMac, I get the constant random slow downs, system freezing, etc. BUT, on the MacBook Pro, I don't have any issues AT ALL - and that's having worked on it for many hours etc.

Seems like a hardware problem to me (as that's the only thing that's different), but I have no idea what it is specifically.

EDIT: To clarify - hardware/Mavericks combination. The iMac worked fine with current Unity version on Mountain Lion.

The performance issues on the iMac are bad enough that I would call it "unusable". Really glad I have another machine to work on.

 

Graphics driver issue may be the cause...

 

I just tried turning graphics emulation off in the editor. This is on by default (if you are working on a mobile project its set to open GL ES 2.0, if standalone it'll be Shader Model 3). Setting it to NONE seems to have made Unity run a whole lot smoother. Please can others try this and let us know

 

I sent in a very detailed email forgoing the bug process and got a pretty clear answer. But we will have to wait for 4.3 to get it. See email quoted below.

Of course they did not tell me what previous versions of Unity do have the issue with mavericks so I am not going to waste bandwidth in a guessing game. But I figured I would share what I had heard.

 

I'm in a similar situation as SteveJ. I have an older Mac (2011 Mac mini) and a brand new MacBook Pro (late 2013). The mini exhibits the terrible hanging problem being discussed in this thread, with the WindowServer process spiking to 100% CPU. The MacBook Pro is totally fine. I just used the MacBook Pro across dual external monitors (plus its own) in Unity 4.2.2 for an hour without an issue.

The interesting thing is I just looked at Activity Monitor on my MacBook Pro and I can't find the WindowServer process running at all. Should it show up under the CPU tab on every system, or is it only appearing on problematic ones?

Edit: I forgot to state the obvious: I'm running Mavericks on both machines.

 

@Simengie : thanks a lot for sharing this info, it's quite reassuring. Before 4.3 is released, I think the best option is to install Mountain Lion on an external disk or second partition. At least this is what I have done... and it was an instant "fix" of all the freezings. Phew !

For anyone wondering how to re-download Mountain Lion installer from the Mac App Store : it has been hidden by default, just like the Lion installer and their corresponding OSX Servers if you own them too. Just go to your account ("Store" menu) and change hide/show settings individually in the "iTunes in the cloud" section. It will then reappear in your purchase list. Worth the effort, even for a few days... and especially if you're on a deadline and need a stable config.

 

Okay, 4.3 is out there. Did it solve the problems?

 

not for me.

 

me either

 

Having fewer lock ups but they still are happening. But they did not start happening till after I worked on a complex object versus just happening all time.

 

One thing that seems really noticeable is running a scene with the profiler window open. Every tick to update the window causes at least a 10th of a second jump. Switching from that tab (hiding it behind another tab) stabilizes running again. I do have some other custom editor windows that run a little slow; however, even in a new project, the same lockup behaviors keep happening.

 

4.3 certainly didn't fix anything on my end. Darn.

 

Did u try the latest fixes from app store for mavericks? They were released 11th November.

 

I may be wrong but I'm pretty sure there haven't been any Mavericks updates yet, not outside of fixing the gmail compatibility.

 

I have this problem as well... I also have a mid 2010 macbook pro with a nvidia 330gt.

It makes Unity almost unusable.

 

Same here, after a whole day of work with 4.3. Although there seem to be less random freezes - which I still have to confirm - it is still impossible for me to work serenely with a Unity + Mavericks setup, be it on an 2008 iMac 24' or a 2010 MB Pro. Back to Mountain Lion.

[EDIT] After a few hours of extra testing, freezes are very numerous again... and I can't even say why. Definitely unuseable.

 

ok it's a real nightmare for a lot of people including me.

I have noticed few things. maybe it can help.

- turn on "maximize" in the game view of the editor. It seems that its better when it's turned on and there's no more freezes. But it's not very interesting since we can't access to the editor when "maximize" is turned on.

- try to disable "App Nap" in the "get info" window of the osx finder (right click on the launch icon, then disable "app nap"). Things are going a little better with this feature of mavericks is disabled.

Hope this help.

 

try to disable "app nap" in the "get info" window for the both in your finder.
Right click on the launch icon of unity and mono develop, then disable the "app nap" feature in the "get info" both window

 

Thanks for chiming in, JoeVoxel. Toggling App Nap has been discussed earlier in the thread and doesn't appear to affect this specific problem, although it may improve performance when switching to / from Unity for other reasons.

Maximizing the game view dismisses a lot of Unity's UI. Reports in this thread about the Profiler window, 3rd party editor panes, and the WindowServer process seem to suggest that the freezes are something UI related. This helps add to the evidence.

We should re-report the bug using Unity 4.3 since bugs from previous versions are put on the back burner.

 

That is exactly what I meant. Seems that gmail updates for mavericks have contributed to fixing the freezing issues. Will have to confirm this.

 

UPDATE: It's definitely not a fix for Unity freezing issues. I dont understand what is going on and why is it taking for so long to fix the issue. It's proving to be impossible to prototype a game in Unity that is using physics. Just lags and crashes. I am regretting every moment I have upgareded to Mavericks.

 

Just starting to use mavericks and 4.3 - haven't experienced lockups yet....
But monodevelop solution pane on left was missing.

Reinstalled unity 4.3 again on top of itself and it fixed it - others have same problem.

I recommend reinstalling 4.3 on top of itself - something broken in mac installer.

Might not help but can't hurt

 

Yes, i can confirm it, working with Unity from my iMac (using Maverick) is really a painful experience.
It's very slow, and if i select something on the hierarchy or in the project tab and then play the game everything slow down and is impossible to test.
Same issue when i use the profiler.

I've noticed that using maximize on play and disabling graphic emulation may help a lot.

Btw, it's not a 4.3 issue, we had the same problems with 4.2.

 

That is awesome news!

Go go Unity devs

 

In my experience, Unity froze very very frequently while using NGUI (2.7 mainly). I wasn't doing anything in particular, even just changing the selection in the Hyerarchy, so I thought it could be the gizmos, who forced the window to refresh somehow, producing the spike in the WindowServer process that leads to the temporary freeze.

So I changed the gizmos from 3D to 2D, and now it's working better. Can anyone that has freezes try this?

 

Hi there,

Just to confirm this happens to me also in both, Unity 4.3 and Unity 3.5.7f6, with Mavericks.

I'll gladly run whatever tests the Unity devs would like to me run. It's a nightmare to use Unity as it freezes the system constantly.

Thanks!

 

This is good news because 4.3 and Mavericks is unusable (freezing for 10-20 seconds every few clicks) on my 2011 iMac. I wondered if it was Unity so i quit it and Mac runs fine though i had a lot of problem when i first upgraded to Maverick. Its a good name, you have to be a Maverick to dare to use it !
I've reverted to 4.2.2 and lost a few days to this and it's at least stable and i can use it.

[Note to self, never ever upgrade to latest version of anything on day of release ever again]

 

I have come to the same conclusion as you but powerless to do anything about it.

 

Thanks, I can also confirm that upgrading to 4.3 on Mavericks I notice worse performance from Unity, slower than 4.2.2 when opening and importing same assets and sometimes not sure if Unity is hanging or not. I think its just slow and one has to wait and not do anything.

MacBook Pro
Retina, 15-inch, Early 2013
Software OS X 10.9 (13A603)

Some people may have lower build number.

 

Awesome! Thanks so much for keeping us updated Griautis!

 

Thanks. It's great that you guys are able to reproduce.