Third Party Photon Fusion Outclass Unity Solution For Free ?

https://www.photonengine.com/en-US/Fusion
https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/templates/tutorials/tanknarok-multiplayer-demo-202468
Did you realize that they public this solution in free model?

 

I'm not sure I understand your question, but I had no idea that Photon had a Fusion example on the asset store. Thanks for pointing it out!

 

Proton fusion is free and currently gives better performance than any other public networking system.

 

Yes, we've been a bit sneaky about the sample, as Fusion is still just a release candidate.

To be upfront about being "free": Fusion as SDK is free but there is a "hosting" fee involved for released games. It is based on the maximum number of players at any time (CCU) in a month and covers hosting, development and to a degree support. We are updating our pages to get the pricing page up. It's been posted in our Discord already.

The Tanknarok Multiplayer Demo is free. The "Fusion 100" doc pages explain what it does and how you can use Fusion in any project.
Currently, Fusion is available as SDK via our Fusion Doc pages (as there are daily builds).

 

So you cannot self host it ?

 

Nope. Their self-hosted option is https://www.photonengine.com/server

 

Any ballpark idea of when you plan to have this officially on the market?

I have to say that I've been interested in MLAPI but looking at Fusion just now and wow, you're experience in the field shows.

 

From my understanding I can host fusion myself, for improved security/ping, but I still have to pay the same price.

Is that not correct? Does it have to be on photon's servers?

 

We adopted the habit of not giving ETAs for releases but Fusion has a Release Candidate version already and you can download the SDK right now, as well as several samples (even one for VR). We take some time to help with everything else via Discord (can be joined via the Photon Account).

Fusion can be run as Server (no player), Host (Server + 1 Player locally) or in Shared Mode (where the Photon Cloud sorts and distributes state as being supplied by the clients). You can host dedicated Fusion Servers anywhere but it's not strictly necessary.
In either case, our work and infrastructure is being used for matchmaking, seamless NAT punch, relay and soon Host Migration. Not to mention the actual networking solution...

No matter which network architecture you use, you pay per CCU playing at the same time (max per month). This is something we can count well, scaling for any size/success and reasonably simple to plan.
The fee is not only for the hosting. Yes, it's bound to the CCUs but we cross finance the team working on all aspects of Fusion. There is more to pay for than just the servers receiving and sending bytes.

 

I've posted on the Fusion forums, but it seems very little gets replied to there. We are evaluating Fusion for our upcoming game. I have a Fusion demo working, and then wanted to host it on Azure (Windows 10) as a test of latency etc, however a built Unity project does not seem to work. The logs show.

EntryPointNotFoundException: nanosockets_address_set_ip

When attempting to perform network operations (StartGame)

Do you have any idea what could cause this? Is there a redistributable that's needed? I opened up every port in and out via rules and still no go so it looks like it's not that.

Thanks

 

This is an odd place to post a case unrelated to the thread topic.
I'll poke the colleagues more frequently to check the forum.

The error sounds like the fitting native lib is missing. Or maybe it's blocked by some Windows 10 security mechanism, if you downloaded the server from the web (Windows may do that, even if you download .zip).
Make sure you wrap up the complete build and maybe use 7zip or so. In best case, you let us know what you deploy and how.

Please report any issues with the build number and some sort of log or repro steps. Let us know which version of Unity you use on which system and we can have a look.

 

I've been looking for some guide or documentation on how to use Fusion in Dedicated Server mode, but can't find anything. I've even downloaded the 3 demos on the Unity asset store, but they seem to be built in hosted mode. Point me in the right direction?

 

I agree with Photon's approach on this. Self-hosting means you have to learn how to be a sysadmin, and you have to watch your servers. Not fun. I'd rather just build and ship a game. Self-hosting makes sense when you have the money to hire people to support it for you or if you have some kind of legal requirement where you need to run on a service provided by your publisher.

 

Hi,

Please take a look here: https://doc.photonengine.com/en-us/fusion/current/samples/fusion-headless
It shows a simple example code that can be used to start Fusion in Server Mode that will server a game in "dedicated mode".

In summary, there is not much of a difference when starting Fusion, just use the "GameMode.Server" and it should work the same.
Another important setting related to Dedicated Servers is the binding port where the Server will listen for connections, you can setup this when invoking the NetworkRunner.StartGame via the "Address" argument.
Here you can check the complete list of arguments accepted by this method: https://doc-api.photonengine.com/en/fusion/current/struct_fusion_1_1_start_game_args.html
Usually, you need to open this particular port in the firewall settings of your hosting service.

There is nothing special you need to do in order to run Fusion in this way, but mainly you need to understand how to run a Unity Instance in Headless mode (batch mode + no graphics).

--
Ramon Melo
Photon Fusion Team

 

Excellent! Thank you.

 

how can i use asset bundle with photon fusion please need help

 

@ramonmel hellow sir can please help me out with photon fusion i dont how to use asset bundle and use it in dedicated server mode i need to download assetbundle from unity web request i just need to know how to put the gameobject prefab which is downloaded to be set in networkconfig prefab table .Please help me out

 

The docs cover Asset Bundles. See "Custom Content Delivery":
https://doc.photonengine.com/en-us/fusion/current/manual/prefabs

 

I am a bit confused about the Host network model and that you have to pay for any model that you use based on CCU. If a game is hosted by the player, why are there hosting fees involved?

I am mainly curious because I want to make a game where players can also play offline/LAN with friends. Is this even possible with Fusion?

 

The CCU pricing is not a hosting fee. It covers development, operations, running the service and even some support. Just because players can host games with Fusion, doesn't mean there is no effort on our end.
Fusion does not support lan-only games. It uses a connection for matchmaking, nat punch and (if needed) as relay.

 

Alright, it's a bit more clear now. And understandable. Thanks for the quick reply.

 

Only issue is that Fusion does not support UWP, which is a large user base nowdays and lots of projects are linking the microsoft store to their xbox titles too. (which needs UWP).

 

Just to be clear...

If we want to support Internet and LAN as options (LAN being strictly local network, no access to the internet), then Fusion alone won't suffice and we will need a second solution just for LAN?

 

Correct. And internet connection is required for Fusion.