[RELEASED] Impostors - Runtime Optimization

Hi
This problem is due to the newer version of the Collections package. There are two ways to solve it:
1. Downgrade Jobs package to 0.8.0-preview.23, and Collections package to 0.15.0-preview.21 version.
2. Change the code a bit by replacing the struct keyword with the unmanaged keyword in lines where the error occurs.
Like this:

Code (CSharp):

1.  
2. public static int GetMemoryUsage<T>(NativeList<T> list) where T : struct // before
3. public static int GetMemoryUsage<T>(NativeList<T> list) where T : unmanaged // after

 

This fix worked perfectly, thank you! Also, thanks for incredibly fast response.

 

Hi, I bought this amazing asset and its effect is very obvious.Thank you for your hard work.
But here's the thing, I tried to make a lot of trees in the scene as a background, and when Impostors worked alone, it showed perfectly fine, as shown here:

But when I tried to make it work with an asset called "Massive Clouds Atmos", it was a volume cloud asset. At runtime, objects affected by Impostors are clipped at the edge of the terrain, as shown:

non-running state, which is what I want to achieve:

I tried tweaking some parameters and found it didn't work. Can you help me? or they can't work together？

 

One more thing, could you please send a copy of the document? The online document cannot be translated, and it cannot be downloaded in my country, nor can images and videos display properly. Lot of thanks！

 

Hi
Let me know your Unity version, Rendering Pipeline (Built-in/URP/HDRP), and rendering path (Forward/Deferred)

 

Are you talking about documentation pdf file?

 

I'm using 2020.3.19LTS ,Built-in RP and Forward rendering.

Yes, the documentation for Impostors. sorry for the poor translation quality, I use machine translation.
But now obviously the biggest problem has been solved. thanks for incredibly fast response!

 

Package contains full documentation file

Yes. Thanks for the report. Fix will be available for everyone in the next update.

 

Hi,

I have a question for you. I'm considering this asset but wanted to get you opinion for my use case. My lowest targeted device is iPhone 5s. I'm running on metal using build-in render pipeline. Also I use .Net Standard 2.0. I have a scene where 3d objects are in the background and add ambiance to the scene. The camera in my game only moves vertically, but by a great distance. The 3d props are far from the player though, so even now if I were to take some of the 3d objects and pretend they are just 2d quads and move the camera I would not see much difference if at all.

Looking at the documentation it would appear I could generate the imposters at scene load and not update them throughout the game. I'm not sure how well this will work though and performance impact. What are your thoughts on this? Would it be possible to try this tool and if it doesn't work for my use case do you do refunds (although I'm hoping that it would be of great help)?

Thank You. Regards...

 

I think for your scene it should work perfectly. But I don't know how it would work on old iPhones. Asset uses Jobs and Burst packages which might not work on older hardware(I doubt it though)

Yes, sure

 

Ok I’ll purchase it and let you know either way. Thank You.

Update: I installed it but having problem creating Scene Managers. Get a message that it can't find MainCamera in the scene. FYI. I'm using http://www.procamera2d.com (ProCamera2d) plugin. Any advice? Also I notice that minimum amount of updates is 1, is it possible to just set the imposters at startup and disable updates completely?

Update2: I was able to use Create Camera Managers(s). Will continue to setup and let you know.
Update3: When I add Imposter LOD Group I get an error that there are no assigned renderers.
Update4: Ok I got it working. I'll do some performance measurements.

 

I'm running into a problem. With my scene I get errors, so I decided to just compile the example scene that comes with the asset and load it onto the phone. After a moment I get a few errors in the Xcode debug console, and then they just keep on coming. I see this error on iPhone 5s, iPhone 6 and iPad Pro 9.7. Here is the error:

Internal: JobTempAlloc has allocations that are more than 4 frames old - this is not allowed and likely a leak
Internal: deleting an allocation that is older than its permitted lifetime of 4 frames (age = 5)
Unity.Jobs.ExecuteJobFunction:Invoke(T&, IntPtr, IntPtr, JobRanges&, Int32)

[./Runtime/Allocator/ThreadsafeLinearAllocator.cpp line 1877452280]
Internal: deleting an allocation that is older than its permitted lifetime of 4 frames (age = 5)
Internal: deleting an allocation that is older than its permitted lifetime of 4 frames (age = 5)
Internal: JobTempAlloc has allocations that are more than 4 frames old - this is not allowed and likely a leak
Internal: JobTempAlloc has allocations that are more than 4 frames old - this is not allowed and likely a leak
Internal: JobTempAlloc has allocations that are more than 4 frames old - this is not allowed and likely a leak
Internal: deleting an allocation that is older than its permitted lifetime of 4 frames (age = 7)
Unity.Jobs.ExecuteJobFunction:Invoke(T&, IntPtr, IntPtr, JobRanges&, Int32)

[./Runtime/Allocator/ThreadsafeLinearAllocator.cpp line 1877452280]
Internal: deleting an allocation that is older than its permitted lifetime of 4 frames (age = 7)
Internal: JobTempAlloc has allocations that are more than 4 frames old - this is not allowed and likely a leak
Internal: deleting an allocation that is older than its permitted lifetime of 4 frames (age = 8)
Internal: deleting an allocation that is older than its permitted lifetime of 4 frames (age = 7)
Unity.Jobs.ExecuteJobFunction:Invoke(T&, IntPtr, IntPtr, JobRanges&, Int32)

[./Runtime/Allocator/ThreadsafeLinearAllocator.cpp line 1877452280]
Internal: deleting an allocation that is older than its permitted lifetime of 4 frames (age = 7)
Internal: deleting an allocation that is older than its permitted lifetime of 4 frames (age = 7)
Internal: deleting an allocation that is older than its permitted lifetime of 4 frames (age = 6)
Unity.Jobs.ExecuteJobFunction:Invoke(T&, IntPtr, IntPtr, JobRanges&, Int32)

[./Runtime/Allocator/ThreadsafeLinearAllocator.cpp line 1877452280]
Internal: deleting an allocation that is older than its permitted lifetime of 4 frames (age = 6)
Internal: deleting an allocation that is older than its permitted lifetime of 4 frames (age = 6)
Internal: deleting an allocation that is older than its permitted lifetime of 4 frames (age = 5)
Unity.Jobs.ExecuteJobFunction:Invoke(T&, IntPtr, IntPtr, JobRanges&, Int32)

 

I loaded the example scene onto iPhone 6 and iPad Pro 9.7 and I do not see these errors and the scene loads. However when I use the drop down to pick a number of impostors I get a slew of following error (and the scene hangs):

2021-11-13 12:01:15.987373-0500 FloatMyGoat[24226:4045355] Execution of the command buffer was aborted due to an error during execution. Caused GPU Hang Error (IOAF code 3)
2021-11-13 12:01:15.998791-0500 FloatMyGoat[24226:4045355] Execution of the command buffer was aborted due to an error during execution. Discarded (victim of GPU error/recovery) (IOAF code 5)
2021-11-13 12:01:16.015549-0500 FloatMyGoat[24226:4045355] Execution of the command buffer was aborted due to an error during execution. Caused GPU Hang Error (IOAF code 3)
2021-11-13 12:01:16.016555-0500 FloatMyGoat[24226:4045355] Execution of the command buffer was aborted due to an error during execution. Discarded (victim of GPU error/recovery) (IOAF code 5)
2021-11-13 12:01:16.028152-0500 FloatMyGoat[24226:4045322] Execution of the command buffer was aborted due to an error during execution. Ignored (for causing prior/excessive GPU errors) (IOAF code 4)
2021-11-13 12:01:16.028267-0500 FloatMyGoat[24226:4045322] Execution of the command buffer was aborted due to an error during execution. Ignored (for causing prior/excessive GPU errors) (IOAF code 4)
2021-11-13 12:01:16.029639-0500 FloatMyGoat[24226:4045322] Execution of the command buffer was aborted due to an error during execution. Ignored (for causing prior/excessive GPU errors) (IOAF code 4)
2021-11-13 12:01:16.029713-0500 FloatMyGoat[24226:4045322] Execution of the command buffer was aborted due to an error during execution. Ignored (for causing prior/excessive GPU errors) (IOAF code 4)
2021-11-13 12:01:16.061284-0500 FloatMyGoat[24226:4045322] Execution of the command buffer was aborted due to an error during execution. Ignored (for causing prior/excessive GPU errors) (IOAF code 4)
2021-11-13 12:01:16.061394-0500 FloatMyGoat[24226:4045322] Execution of the command buffer was aborted due to an error during execution. Ignored (for causing prior/excessive GPU errors) (IOAF code 4)

Also when I try to load my scene with few impostors I get a similar message:

2021-11-13 12:07:14.240067-0500 FloatMyGoat[45326:20037766] Execution of the command buffer was aborted due to an error during execution. Caused GPU Hang Error (IOAF code 3)
2021-11-13 12:07:14.482646-0500 FloatMyGoat[45326:20037757] Execution of the command buffer was aborted due to an error during execution. Caused GPU Hang Error (IOAF code 3)
2021-11-13 12:07:14.487402-0500 FloatMyGoat[45326:20037757] Execution of the command buffer was aborted due to an error during execution. Ignored (for causing prior/excessive GPU errors) (IOAF code 4)
2021-11-13 12:07:14.487518-0500 FloatMyGoat[45326:20037757] Execution of the command buffer was aborted due to an error during execution. Ignored (for causing prior/excessive GPU errors) (IOAF code 4)
2021-11-13 12:07:14.488852-0500 FloatMyGoat[45326:20037766] Execution of the command buffer was aborted due to an error during execution.

Then the game hangs...

I'm running Unity 2020.3.21f1 and I'm using the build-in rendering pipeline. I've updated the Jobs and Burst packages and tried setting Impostor Rendering Type to Immediately, but it does not help at all. After reading documentation recommendation for mobile I set the atlas resolution to 1024, texture size scale to 1 and set rendering back to scheduled. It made no difference.

 

I think I'm going to have to pass on this tool. I noticed that it's using some Unity packages that are in preview and I don't think I'm comfortable shipping my game with those. Also the functionality that it provides is a bit overkill for my use case, as least for the time. I'm sure you've done an excellent job in the DOTS code but I would feel more comfortable with some more code soak in this area. I decided to generate impostors manually in the editor and just use the stills, I won't be using your package.

 

Thanks for your time and effort. Looks like it has some problems on iOS specifically. From brief googling your errors I think it could be caused by scheduled impostors rendering(which is an option to disable). Unfortunately, I can't test this on iOS device.

 

That's kind of what I figured, and since you can't test on iOS who knows if there are other issues that might creep up. Can I kindly ask for a refund in this case? I'll DM over my invoice.

 

hello I have a motorola (moto c, android 7) where I do the low-end tests and when using the imposters, they appear in unity, but when compiling the impostors do not appear on the android device.
Use the test scene from the asset.
Should I do something else to make it work on android ????

 

I have a motorola (moto e, g8 play, android 10)
on that phone if the impostors work, do you know why they don't work on the moto c is the other phone ?????.
Your answer would really help me, to cover more devices.
first of all, Thanks.

 

No, it should work out of the box.

I can't say for sure, but maybe some hardware-related problem. Are there any errors in the console on moto c?

 

I used the scene manager setup command as in the manual but I have an issue with setup impostors command with the LOD. Here is a picture of the inspector after setup:

 

Hi
The problem is that your LODGroups don't reference any renderers, that's why Impostors package cannot automatically adjust the object

 

Hello!
I have a problem on Oculus Quest: impostors of some models are black on startup, but then become normal after update. Here is the video (all objects are impostors): https://1drv.ms/v/s!AppVCuBwwtqEgc0mzwdjYkx0kzo9Bw?e=EITwje
The building has 3 materials on it, maybe this is the cause?
Unity ver. 2020.3.22f1, built-in pipeline, forward path
Update mode is set to Immediate

Also, I got the error (possibly in scene change, can't say exactly at the moment):

 

Hi
I reproduced your issue with non-static objects, these lighting settings, and not generated lighting:

So please, make sure you have a proper lighting setup.

Yes, it occurs on scene change. Thanks for reporting this error. I'll send you fix in DM

 

Hi, really cool asset!

Do imposters cast shadows?

 

Hi

No, they don't.
Impostors are meant to be used at far distances, where objects generally don't cast shadows (because of shadow distance setting)

 

Hello, I'm considering purchasing this asset, but I plan to use it for vegetation such as trees. I'd like to use it with the asset "Vegetation Studio Pro", is there any compatibility with that asset?

And does this asset support any shaders on the gameObjects that are going to be turned into imposters? Thank you!

 

As I understood, vegetation studio already includes some kind of impostors called BillboardSystem.

 

Hi,

I bought the asset yesterday, I'm loving it so far.

However, are there any known compatibility issues with MapMagic 2? (I'm using the MapMagic2 Objects addon)

In my project MapMagic is procedurally generating map chunks as the player moves, and populating them with trees, these trees are impostors (I'm not using the terrain tree system).

Newly instantiated trees are visually fine, impostors seems to be working on them, however I keep getting these errors below, and I have drastic performance drops when they occur.

 

Hi
Thanks for using Impostors!

Do these errors occur every frame or on a specific event(for example, loading a new chunk)?

From the error message I cannot identify what went wrong. Could you please try to run your scene with a disabled burst compilation?

 

These errors occur on a specific event, when a new chunk is loaded (I receive about 100 errors at each chunk loaded, probably this is related with the number of trees in each chunk)

This is the error with disabled burst compilation:

 

Hi,

Possible feature add question.

What is the feasibility of having imposters in VR be stereoscopic instead of flat?
If the imposter billboards get rendered twice once per each eye can you add an offset to each rendered imposter to create a stereoscopic 3d effect?

Thanks.

 

Hi
In that case, each eye needs to be considered as separate camera, which will double the performance cost on processing the system and rendering impostors` textures.
Generally, flat impostors shouldn't break immersion in VR, considering that impostors are used only at distance, where stereoscopic vision is not working(I guess).

 

Hello,

I've been using old version (before v1.0.0) and to have it working on Oculus Quest I used your suggestion from this post:
https://forum.unity.com/threads/released-impostors-runtime-optimization.759110/page-3#post-7500839

Now I see that few new updates were released (with a new features) and also correction for the Oculus Quest in the version 1.0.0. Unfortunately I already use impostors in my project so I have it set on multiple objects in a different scenes. Instructions for the installation of the 1.0.0 specify that it requires "clean installation". What is the best way of updating project to a newer version of impostors. I can't do "clean installation" because unity doesn't have option of uninstalling already installed assets. I can only physically delete it from the project/disk but what about the menu integration in Unity and with other objects in the project with references to Impostors? Is there any standarised way of doing it for the Impostors asset?

When I just updated Impostors in my project (without removing previous version) then I got these compilation errors:

 

Hi!
First of all, I encourage you to backup your project somehow before upgrading.

I believe you could just delete the old version completely from Unity's project window and then import the new version. Unity should handle these deleted and reimported references to scripts. Let me know if that doesn't work

 

Hello,

I'm new at these assets. After importing this package, I'm getting about 96 errors. There are two types. Error CS0234: The type or namespace name '_________' does not exist in the namespace 'Unity' and error CS0246: The type or namespace name '_________' could not be found. Is this easily solvable?

Thank you for the answer.
Tom

 

Make sure Jobs and Burst packages are installed through Unity Package Manager

 

Thanks for the fast answer.
Now I got rid of all the errors except one.
Error CS0246: The type or namespace name 'DisableSafetyChecks' could not be found.
Are you familiar with this one?

Tom

 

First time seeing this error, but as I understood it is related to Jobs package.
What version of Unity are you using?
What versions of Jobs and Burst packages are installed in your project?

 

Oh, I was testing in an older version of Unity 2020.1.4f1. In 2020.3.25f2 there is no such an error. Thank you very much.

 

Backup should be the main point of focus in every single project

Removing the whole Impostors folder and importing it again works properly (I had to upgrade only the Jobs package to a higher version which is currently 0.11.0-preview.6).

Unfortunately still impostors are not displayed in the Oculus Quest properly and to see the billboards I have to change the code in the way as you suggested in this post: https://forum.unity.com/threads/released-impostors-runtime-optimization.759110/page-3#post-7500839 Bilboards are properly displayed in the Unity Editor (in a Play Mode) without that correction in code.


BTW: "Outy of the box" I had also this compilation error with the Impostors

MissingReferenceException: The object of type 'CameraImpostorsManager' has been destroyed but you are still trying to access it.
Your script should either check if it is null or you should not destroy the object.
Impostors.Managers.CameraImpostorsManager.<OnValidate>g__AddComponent|29_0 () (at Assets/Impostors/Runtime/Managers/CameraImpostorsManager.cs:193)
UnityEditor.EditorApplication.Internal_CallUpdateFunctions () (at <2cd7ebc9c2ef4276a8edbc7de85c89ce>:0)

 

Bought this morning and having some issues with getting it to work in URP.

When I run the sample scene, if I enable impostures it just culls everything except immediately in front of camera. If I disable impostures then it shows all the houses again. Happens both in editor and in a build.

For some reason it is telling me the render feature is missing, but don't get any composition issues. (My ForwardRenderer was really messed up, so I created a new one with only this feature on). Is there something I am doing wrong?


burst 1.4.6
Jobs 0.2.10-preview 13
collections 0.9.0-preview.6
Mathematics 1.2.1

 

Hi everyone, hope you doing well.
Sorry, I can't give you support for asset right now because of russian invasion to Ukraine.
So far this is not a full-scale offensive, but I can not work now

 

Wish you the best! Keep safe.

 

UPD
Sorry for writing it here, but you should know, that russia started a war in my country, in my home.
We with my mother and brother had a chance to run away from our city in the first hours of the invasion. But not my father. He is still on the frontline of this causeless aggression. I can never even imagine that such thing could happen in the 21st century... Putin is a Hitler of our time, this is not an overstatement. He and his entourage set their people up against the Ukrainian nation. This cannot be forgiven or else this world is doomed.

My message is simple: You can help Ukrainian people.
1. Just ignore any business with russians, show them that they and their government are wrong.
Important! I'm NOT asking for hate.
2. Spread a word of truth on your social media. Please, don't leave us alone in this war for democracy.
2. You can donate to help Ukrainians, there are separate funds for humanitarian and military aid if you wish. I'm not forcing. Money is important, but not as much as solidarity and truth.

Sorry again for distracting you.

All the best,
Taras

 

Don't be sorry. Giving support for your asset is the least priority for you right now and I'm sure people here have understandings for it.

Wishing you the best as well. You and your family, stay safe.

 

My wife is from Ukraine, Her parents are in Dnipro and could not leave that city because of age. Currently in our apartment in Poland we have one girl with children from Ukraine. We provide as much support as we can. Hope everything ends soon. Be careful and stay safe!

 

Thanks! The people of Ukraine are very thankful for help from Poland. My mother and brother are in Poland right now. They are treated well. They can't believe how much love and support they are given. So do I. The people of Poland are true friends.

 

Hi, I've got a problem. When I'm not moving object everything is working fine. But in my scenario I'm enabling and disabling whole object and get a lot of errors and don't know how to deal with them.
So how it looks in my game:
1. I'm moving object while it's disabled to where I need.
2. I'm enabling object.
3. When I don't need it anymore I'm disabling object.
4. Wait some time when gonna need object.
5. Back to point 1.
In hierarchy it looks like that: I'm enabling / disabling root object. Childs have got Impostor LOD Group script.
in screenshots you may see what I get. On selected line is error.
Cheers,
Kamil

 

Problem solved quiclky thanks to the author

 

Please add support for HDRP, this is amazing asset bro.