Official Unity 2021 LTS Is Now Available

I'm curios why new versions of the editor get released which have "Known Issues" included that are not fixed?

In the past I wrongly assumed that "Known Issues" means bugs that were found for that particular version after release.

But today I've had this realization that unity versions are released with bugs not fixed.

Wouldn't make more sense to wait, fix all issues till that point then release a new version/update with no bugs?

 

Lifecycle, mvp, priority, breaking... I'll just throw some buzz words here to give some insight as how these things are decided.

Although I agree and in an ideal world, no product should be shipped with known issues not fixed; I beg to differ in a practical world.

I'd, for example, ask why Unity does not directly release a LTS version each year instead of wasting (!) our times with tech releases? We got... what? 19 versions of Unity 2021.2.x? Why?
Or why weekly, or bi-weekly bugfix releases? Why not once a year, cleaning all bugs? A new bug is found after the release? Too bad, you're gonna wait 1 full year for the next patch!

Or... If bug X (known issue X) is affecting my immediate production and bug Y (known issue Y) is in no way relevant to me for the duration of my current project; I would, of course, prefer to have a patch release that would cater to bug X instead of waiting for bug Y to be also resolved. Or should I instead wait for that irrelevant issue to be fixed too? I can just put my production on hold and wait until all the bugs are fixed .

 

I would like to address this thing here: https://forum.unity.com/threads/performance-drop-after-upgrading-to-2021-2-9.1262795/
Using Unity 2021 + Addressables 1.19 may worsen your asset loading performance very noticably. Beware before upgrading, and prepare to downgrade Addressables if you face this issue.

 

@LeonhardP hey there, very happy about the release.
Just wanted to let you guys know, that the little LTS icon/chip/batch is missing in UnityHub. (see attached screenshot)
Or is there a special reason for that? Just out of curiosity.



Have a good one.

 

Came here to mention the same thing. Since Hub defaults new project to newest LTS, it's still suggesting 2020.3 first even if you have 2021.3 installed

 

Known issues:

Could you please add:

• DX12 performance is 80% or less compared to DX11 performance
• Shader compiler takes up to 1 day to build shader variants in HDRP and URP ,( since 2021.2.5+)
• PLM. Do not use for production (since ever)
• Addressables performance and build time + 1000% to 3000%

 

I understand the frustration, but the known issues implies that maybe one day they will be fixed and it's unrealistic to expect them to fix these issues in an LTS, since they require major changes.

 

I deleted the library for my 2021.2 project, I then opened it in 2021.3 LTS, and then clicked play, and now I've got this, Reloading Script Assemblies, busy for 15 minutes so far. It seems like it's doing nothing, I could probably leave this till next week and it will still get nowhere.
Any ideas what is going on?
Thanks.

 

in task manager unity is using the CPU? maybe is calculating some stuff but they forgot to include an UI loading bar update so it appears to be stuck.

but most likely is that bug that freeze the editor, the one that is around for the past two years. the one that forced me to abandon unity.

 

Thanks for your response.
In the Task Manager there are some items under Unity, one is the editor which says not responding. processor usage is almost non existent.

I don't want to abandon Unity, but I can understand your frustration. It seems like I'm almost constantly dealing with problems, not necessarily just Unity, but anything to do with gamedev and computers at the moment. Everything seems to have annoying problems.

 

That's software development for ya..
Same in an entirely different industry like car manufacturers where I am. Over time you learn to work around and solve problems better and better.
As far as Unity goes, sure it has it's issues, but at least I haven't encountered any real roadblocks despite working for 3 years with it every other day. There's always a workaround.

Your instance however seems to have locked up somehow. Force quit and restart.
Btw. why did you delete and then start in a new version? That's unusual and might indeed lead to some bug because it's likely not something that has been tested.
Hope you made a backup!
The usual workflow for a clean upgrade is to just open in the new version and then do a "re-import assets". Normally you don't have to touch the library unless you want to delete it to save space on manual backups (using sourcecode-management is the better way for that however).

 

Deleting the library before changing Unity version is pretty typical.

Not deleting the library and updating Unity version may lead to corruption of the Library in case of a full re-import.

 

Uhm okay.
First time that I read that. Can you know that's still valid for current Unity versions, and isn't some belief from old old versions that's still being passed on in forums ("just in case")?

 

Yes I made a backup. I wanted to test my project in the LTS version, since it's currently on the 2021.2 version.
I haven't tried re-import assets before. Is that with my current project open? Or create a fresh project then import the assets?

 

Last time that Library got F***ed up and I needed to delete it for Unity to work again was sometime in 2021.

 

In the "Assets" menu there is a "Reimport All" button.

 

I'll give that a go, thanks.

 

Interesting, I could just upgrade without any problems from 2021.2.10.
As there are no upgrade guides for 2021.2 to the new LTS version I would guess, there are no extra steps needed than simply open the project with a newer version. Maybe you just restore your project from the backup and retry the upgrade process?

 

I don't think there's need to roll back, since probably no files changed outside the Library in the upgrade process (apart from the unity version txt).

Do a Library delete or Reimport All (these are similar), then, once it is done, close Unity without pressing play, then open it again.

 

I reported a bug with unity 2021.2.10 which still persists in the new LTS-Version ([Worker0] Tried select unknown importer for id '-2' '00000000000000000000000000000000').
The bug report is still open should I create another bug report in the new version or should I just wait?

 

Did you get a case id and a confirmation from QA that they can recreate the bug for the previous bug report?

 

So far I did only receive the automatic confirmation mail with the case number, but no confirmation from the QA yet.

 

We're getting off topic. If it has been more than 3-4 weeks, it could be worth submitting a bug report again. If it's less than that, I'd wait.

 

Using Reimport All has fixed the problem. The game runs in play mode now, and seems to be just the same as before the update. Thanks for the help.

 

It seems that 2021.3.0f1 release note is almost empty. So does it mean that 2021.3.0 is almost same to 2021.2.19?

 

Yes.

 

When I was on the release note page yesterday there was more on it.

 

Not having a smooth upgrade here: upgrading from 2020LTS to 2021LTS has made my Android project hang on loading without throwing any error in the android logcat or anything. It just hangs in there, loading forever.
It runs perfectly in editor on 2021LTS, but the built apk just hangs on load.
Of course, the build was working great on 2020LTS.
I have just deleted the library folder to force a full rebuild of the project. Let's see if that fixes it...
-edit: deleting the library folder inside the project folder fixed all issues.

 

I understand Unity's support timeline for 2020 LTS, and that they will be supporting it with monthly updates until mid-2023. But I would be interested to know what experienced users of Unity recommend regarding this release?

I am quite new to Unity so I am not sure whether I should just jump to 2021 LTS now that it is out. I've been working on my first game in 2020 LTS for over a year, using the standard render pipeline and no need for things like Shader Graph. Do you guys think I should just stay with 2020 LTS? I don't want to unnecessarily risk things breaking for no real gains.

I'm also not sure how this synchronises with device/OS releases. For example when iOS 16 drops in September, I am assuming my game made in 2020 LTS will still run? Though I would assume 2021 LTS might get specific features targeted to exploit newer OS capabilities that the older 2020 LTS won't get. Any recommendations from experienced users (or Unity) would be really appreciated!

 

Thanks, I will do.

 

Indeed, this fixed it.
Hey @Tautvydas-Zilys , maybe you should just automatically delete the library folder when upgrading a project from an LTS version to the next. I have needed to do that every time I switched LTS versions or jumped from yearly unity versions for the project to work. It's an hassle to rebuild everything, but the project gets reimported anyway and takes 80% of the time it would take for a full rebuild.

Also, now my game runs in a jerking motion compared to 2020LTS. I'm not sure why it does that and I'll have to check it out.
edit: the jerkiness was because of manually updating the physics engine. Using fixed update is fine.

You're up for a ROUGH upgrade.

2021LTS is supposed to be faster both in editor and in build.
If I were you, I would make a copy of the whole project folder (except for the "library" folder, that will be reconstructed anyway) and upgrade that new project folder to 2021LTS.
Then you will know if it upgrades correctly, if it goes faster, etc...
And if it's a nightmare to upgrade and it doesn't work, just delete the new project folder and stay in 2020LTS with the old folder.

 

For one thing, I can already tell that the editor is WAY faster than 2020LTS for everything, but specially entering Play Mode, which is VERY MUCH APPRECIATED GUYS! THANKS!
Also, compiling for Android is MUCH faster now.
And reimporting my assets (ASTC textures) is also much faster.

Just so that you know that your work is VERY MUCH APPRECIATED and doesn't go unnoticed!
I'm glad I upgraded!

edit: Seriously, it feels SO GOOD to be able to iterate my build so quickly!


Edit: LOL NO, It seems I have been over enthusiastic: the editor keeps crashing at me...

 

Hello guys,
Thank you for the release!
I'm curious about why you didn't update the Emscripten?
It is more than one year behind the current version.

Thank you

 

Oh... BUMMER...
Compute Shaders are not working correctly on Built-in, both in editor and in build... They were working before the upgrade... now I'll have to dig in and check what's happening, but there are no errors anywhere.
Also, there is still that jerkiness in motion that wasn't there before and I can't get rid of it. (it's not the GC)
edit: the jerkiness was because of manually updating the physics engine. Using fixed update is fine.

 

Ok, I got it to work, but no amount of reimports of the compute shaders would fix it, instead, I had to go inside the compute shader, put a [space] character in there inside the kernel code, save it, and now the compute shader has been willing to recompile.
So, something is wrong with compute shaders caching.

The jerkiness is still there in build, though, and it wasn't there before...
edit: the jerkiness was because of manually updating the physics engine. Using fixed update is fine.

 

Has anyone found that even with a empty project the power useage is "very high" in task manager, CPU is 14.5% and GPU 41.8% and yes I have set target frame rate to 60
It was the same with the 2020 version but with 2019.4.17 I have moderate power usage ( 3.6 % CPU and 7% GPU)

 

Has anyone tried building with il2cpp set to master instead of release? 2021.2.* with il2cpp set to master caused endless building for Android.

 

I was just wondering what's the difference between "master" and "release".

 

I have just found that the shader macros: SHADER_TARGET_GLSL, SHADER_API_GLCORE, SHADER_API_VULKAN and SHADER_API_MOBILE don't have the same behaviour as before:
On 2021LTS, the only reliable way to check if you're compiling for DX or OpenGL is using UNITY_UV_STARTS_AT_TOP
All the other macros are defined not by the current API in use but by the build target, which is not the same, because I'm building for Android, which is GLSL and OpenGL style of things, but in the editor I'm on DX11.
This is something that break my shaders and has taken me some hours to find out...

Of course, this wasn't like that on 2020LTS: the macros where defined by the current API in use, not the build target.
That's something that will break shaders, I'm sure.

 

https://docs.unity3d.com/ScriptReference/Il2CppCompilerConfiguration.html

For the record we have been able to build with 2021.2 / 3 for android and the master config without too much issue.

 

UE5 release is tested and delievered with the complex City Demo project and simply works is buildable and has lots of real world stuff you need like level streaming, realtime GI ....

Seriously, Unity 2021 LTS is absolut not ready for release.
I tested 4 hours my main HDRP DX11 and DX12 projects and none of them works.

Both independent DXR projects are not buildable
and crash.

(Filename: Library/PackageCache/com.unity.render-pipelines.high-definition@12.1.6/Editor/BuildProcessors/HDRPPreprocessShaders.cs Line: 775)

d3d12: upload buffer was full! Waited for COPY queue for 0.000 ms.
d3d12: failed to wait for fence (258).
D3D12Fence::Wait(1879) error: got 1878. Possible device removal.
D3D12Fence::Wait(1879) error: got 1878. Possible device removal.
Crash!!!

My main HDRP DX11 project has still endless shader compiler build times. Adressable and main build.
....

Against what scenario you tested 2021 LTS?
Even by testing minimal HDRP projects like SpaceShip Demo you would make these issues clearly visible.
Does the Adressable team has access to LTS release or bigger demo scenes? It seems to be not.

This release simply destroy +100 000 hours from user in a few days.

I am really disapointed from this "LTS" release we should use now for the next 1.5 years.

Alone the shader compiler build times from several hours gives a lot time to have a look on your main competitors progress and performance.

 

Deleting the LIBRARY folder in my project to force a full rebuild of the asset database and caches fixed my issues.
I've had to do that every time I upgraded to a new full version of Unity, otherwise it would never work.
Honestly, I don't know why the upgrade process doesn't do that by default.

 

I did this for all 4 projects (DX11 and DX12) after first run was not working.

 

Oooh, you're using HDRP... I see you like to live dangerously...

 

I just did without issues, but the docs do say that it could take ages to compile. It may be different for every project.

 

pls add templates. 3d urp and etc

 

Is this a final version or still beta?
with all respect. its not that great. especially when its being marketed with "faster workflow"