Unity 2018 LTS Release Date?

Hello,

Is there a target release date for the Unity 2018 Long-term Support (LTS) version? We're looking forward to latching onto an LTS release.

I am aware of this explainer:
https://blogs.unity3d.com/2018/04/0...g-the-tech-and-long-term-support-lts-streams/

Thanks,
Adam

 

We are also very interested to have a release date because this LTS is a necessity to provide a 64 bit APK for Android. The deadline by Google is August 1st and upgrading the Unity version will be a long and hard work - and no we will not be using 2017.4, that would be a waste of time and effort.

 

2017.4.1 LTS was released on April 24th, 2018. If they stick to those release plans, I guess Unity 2018.4 will be available around April/May 2019.

 

When Unity 2019.1 is about to release, the next release of 2018.3.x will be called 2018.4 LTS. There is nothing particularly special about 2018.4 LTS compared to 2018.3.x. It is just the latest patch for 2018.3.x with a new fancy name.

Frankly I don't understand why they don't just call 20xx.3 the LTS version, since it effectively is.

 

Will 2018.4.x LTS have upgrades of SRP (after 5.0) available in future ?

Please release 2019.1 as soon s possible this month. Thanks

 

I hope the prefab will be more useful before Unity 2018 LTS.

 

April and has no information about release date. Hope it will be released in April.

 

If everything did go well, 2019.1 will be released this or next week.

 

Says who

 

Anything new on this? Starting a long term project and I'd rater start with 2018.4

 

An LTS release is just the last Tech release but with the major number increased. Unity 2017.3 became 2017.4 and 2018.3 will become 2018.4. There isn't anything special about the LTS releases except the way they're updated.

 

I upgraded my project from 2018.2.20f1 to 2018.3.11f1 yesterday, it went very smooth.

What caused some work was to fix many compile warnings that started to appear with 2018.3 and to replace the obsolete WWW API calls with their UnityWebRequest replacement.

 

Any update on when 2018.4 LTS will be released?

 

Soon.

 

When it's ready.

 

Are we there yet?

 

No.

 

We're getting to be about halfway through 2019.

Should we be thinking about skipping the 2018 LTS and just using the 2019 LTS?

 

Have you seen the state of Unity 2019?

 

I know. lol

 

And then skip to 2020, because that might be half way through by then?

We know that an LTS will come, and we know that it'll be a re-naming of 2018.3 once they go into support mode rather than dev mode. Given that knowledge, what difference does it make to us when they do the renaming? Just use 2018.3, and install updates if/when they fix things for you. At some point one of those will be renamed to 2018.4, and your work will carry on exactly as it did when it was called 2018.3.

In this context, it's just a label.

 

This just points that 2 years LTS is too short. If Unity is not able to deliver LTS in a fixed schedule, there is no point to it.

 

It's there now
https://unity3d.com/unity/qa/lts-releases

 

You have the LTS since you have 2018.3. I don't understand the problem.

 

You don't seem to understand what a LTS is if you think 2018.3 can be used as LTS.

 

Well, since LTS's code base is almost identical to the latest 2018.3 and updating the project between minor versions is the same as updating to major versions, there is not much of a difference. Technically LTS is replacing 2018.3 and being supported for two years. I think it's you who don't understand that LTS is just a label. Means nothing else just the promise of support.

 

Yaaaaa! LTS.
Jumped the gun a little with 2018.3.8 but roadmap says nothing but fixes since, *cross fingers*
Time to lock versions in and get serious, R&d to r&D. Start getting serious, get the Game done!

 

LTS Release 2018.4.0f1 doesn't see it in Unity Hub

 

LTS means that the version is approved to meet enterprise quality standard. 2018.3 had no guarantee to meet those standards at it's release. And thrust me, I have met my fair share of bugs and issues before they added LTS.

 

Wut?

I would love to.

 

No. It's very clear that you are the one who doesn't understand what a Unity LTS release is. Unity's LTS releases are simply the latest .3 release with a new number. Nothing special is done when the LTS release is ready and proof of this is the fact that there is no alpha or beta period for the release. It's just released.

Below are two quotes from the announcement blog entry (linked below them) that show the .4 release has no special attention or meaning. It's merely a way of labeling the start of the LTS cycle.

https://blogs.unity3d.com/2018/04/0...g-the-tech-and-long-term-support-lts-streams/

No. Unity has never once said this. You are assigning your own personal meaning where none exists.

 

That's not what it means. It is just 2018.3 with the latest round of bug fixes, and stricter developer check in controls (bug fixes or must have changes only). The inherent reliability of an LTS release is just a consequence of the amount of bugs fixed without adding any new features to stir the pot.

Unity makes no guarantee to meet any arbitrary standard.

 

Would it be fair to say LTS versions are Official releases, anything else, just testing....
LTS's are a Game project wet dream.

 

You could definitely treat them that way if you wanted to, but keep in mind the TECH releases all have dedicated alpha and beta testing phases which last for months while the LTS releases are merely the preceeding TECH release with a different number.

Yes, you could view the time it spent as a TECH release as more testing, but there is nothing inherently buggy about a TECH release, and until the LTS release has had a chance to receive the patches slated for it it is no better than the last release of the preceeding TECH.

Basically anyone who has been passing up on the .3 release saying they're waiting for the LTS needs to rethink the way they view the system. Unity .3 is the LTS for all intents and purposes. Switching from the .3 files to the .4 files won't require any time spent fixing problems because it's literally nothing but bug fixes (barring unusual cases like the 64-bit android files).

Edit: For the record I'm not saying you should jump on the .3 release as soon as it's available, but once you're very close to the LTS release you can go ahead and switch to the .3 release as it will be very close to the same state it will be in when it has been renumbered to .4 and relabeled as an LTS.

 

All of the official releases are official releases.

 

I'm currently developing with 2018.3.12. But what I expect to get from a LTS is a more completely stable, debugged, finalized version where if I find a strange behavior, I know I'll either have to drop the game feature related to it or find a workaround.

Sure, 2018.3.12 is probably 99.99/100 of what the LTS version is. That doesn't stop me from looking forward to the delivery of the LTS.

 

You are getting a slightly more debugged release as the final release of Unity 2018.3 that becomes the first release of Unity 2018.4 is two patches newer than the release you were using previously. Expecting anything beyond the patches that come between the first release of 2018.3 and 2018.4 though is expecting something that doesn't exist.

Or submit a bug report and hope that they will fix it during the life cycle of the LTS. But then these three options are the same three options you have with the TECH releases. It's just that you have a longer period of time you can stay with a release.

I definitely look forward to it as well. Speaking of which it snuck out without a forum banner announcement.

 

The purpose of the LTS ("Long Term Support") is that it still receives support updates. It's just new features that it doesn't get. So if you find a bug in an LTS version please report it so they know to fix it.

 

Its up now, go have fun.

 

Sometimes people get a little too focused on "correcting" other people.

 

It's an open forum. False information hurts people come later and they read only. They won't ask if something is true if stays without challenge.
Spreading false information is not cool on an open forum devoted to help other users.

 

To be fair it's not very common for a thread to have this many misinformed opinions. Unity made an announcement blog entry, and at least two announcements at conventions and yet so many people don't seem to have any idea of what these releases are or how they are handled. It's very thoroughly explained by them.

That said I'm done correcting in this thread. We have enough material that someone willing to read can understand it now.

 

Now 2018.4 is out and we have still "preview" SRP, ShaderGraph, etc. in this LTS version. When will be delivered with the "not preview" SRP package?

 

There are no plans to take them out of preview for Unity 2018.4.

https://github.com/Unity-Technologi...r-pipelines.lightweight/Documentation~/faq.md

 

The burst package actually shows up as non-preview for 2018.4. Are there any docs about that?
It's not '2018.4 verified' though.

 

I mean regarding supposed stability and production usability. There's some things regarding this in the docs and forum posts, but I can't really find anything for the 1.0 version and/or with 2018.4.