Unity 4 Details

http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/116479-Disappointed-with-performance?p=922137&viewfull=1#post922137

and

http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/116479-Disappointed-with-performance?p=922139&viewfull=1#post922139

 

Well, I saw from somewhere in this thread that they are still working on 3.x
I believe that those bugs and issues will be fixed.
I just think that the GUI system is also a big problem, but it seems don't have a chance to be fixed in 3.x
Although I'm not using it, but I think this should not be the correct attitude to so important a problem.
They should have done the new GUI system before the new animation and flash things.

 

Although im not working with unity, im pretty sure they are working parallar and not holding the GUI so they could work on the animation tool..
Each group works on a different tool and you don't expect 100 people working on GUI solution because some of them have different things they are good at..

 

http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/140471-Critical-bugs-in-3.5-that-people-are-worried-won-t-get-fixed

I just find this..

 

I can accept that, but that doesn't help, still worried about the things.
Imagine that, what if the new Linux support and Animation create many big issues just like 3.5 did.
I'm not a manager, and I don't know how many people should be working on the old issues compared with the new features.
I just see what happened in 3.5, and I'm worried.

 

The thing is the attitude to the GUI system but not the GUI system itself.

 

OK, to be clear, I love Unity more than any other 3d engines right now, even more than the engine which I am one of the maker.

It is amazing. I can create interesting games much much easier and faster than before, and 4.0 is also amazing.
I'm also not expecting the new GUI system in 3.x
I'm going to buy 4.0

But I feel things are changing. If they don't pay enough attention to the old issues, especially the very important issues, I will have to throw away the amazing Unity in the future with much much pain.

 

Well then, why wont they just stop adding new features and just fix bugs?
If new features = new bugs, then just stop adding new features.
You see the problem with this logic? they cant promis there wont be no bugs but keeping the engine as it is now is just like paising your game for no reason because trust me they have people there that are doing their best to fix the *known* bugs. you cant deliver bug free program. Also what about the rest of us that never experienced your bugs? Should they put us on hold just so you be happy? What they do now is working parallar on new features and fixing bugs, and I think this should keep us both pleased.

 

Hi guys,

I was about to pre-order Unity 4 and iOS Pro when I noticed something from the FAQ:

"For how much longer can I buy 3.x add-ons?
Existing Unity Pro customers will still be able to purchase 3.x add-ons if for example they want to be able to finish a game without having to pre-order Unity 4.0 or wait until official release. Existing customers can also upgrade existing add-ons from Basic to Pro in the 3.x cycle.
Note that customers who purchase new 3.x add-ons, or upgrade their existing add-ons to 3.x after June 18 will not receive a free upgrade of those add-ons to 4.0."

So I was wondering what version of the add-on (i.e. iOS Pro) is on the store now? R they for Unity 3.x or Unity 4.x?

I asked this coz I didnt want to purchase the add-on now only to spend money to upgrade again when I begin to use Unity 4...

 

The thing is not that the new feature create new bugs.
The thing is what they do now is not working parallar on new features and fixing bugs.
They are introducing new features with new bugs, but the bugs are fixed slowly.
So why the GUI system problem exist? why there are still many issues in 3.5?

 

I believe the add-on's(iOS, Android,...) version is as same as the engine
And I think you can pre-order Add-ons for 4.0

 

Thanks nbalexis for your reply. I thought so at first too, until I noticed from their FAQ that Unity Pro customers will still be able to purchase 3.x add-ons, so I was given the idea that the add-ons on the store might be for 3.x instead of 4.0.

 

I think you can purchase the 3.x add-on and pre-order in different pages.

 

Is that so? Icic thanks!

 

No. it is not.
I am sorry. I see the FAQ again and I also get confused...

 

Ya I got the same reaction when I read the FAQ the 1st time round lol

 

I never had an issue in 3.5... and ive been using it the minute its out everyday.
And there is no problem with the current GUI, it is working just as it should. the "problem" is it is out dated and using old techniques to create GUI. that is why it is so preformence hungry, what they do sometimes is optimizing it but not "fixing bugs".

 

Can I understand this as I have these things because of my fault?

 

Well, there are issues no matter you have it or not, they just exist

 

Yes. To go to the 4.0 page, you need to click on the Store link after activating the Unity 4 info panel on the homepage.

 

Even show the roadmap like that, the most important thing is how long the upgrade cycle would last.

 

While I've already upgraded all my licenses to v4.0 I clearly understand why most of the people are complaining here. I believe isn't the lack of features (or broken promises) in v4.0 but the higher upgrading price. The price model worked in the past for two reasons: Three years back, economic wasn't that bad (there was also less platforms to develop for, which means less money to spend). People are now looking for cheaper ways to develop games quickly. Now Unity community have become pretty large (close to 1million or more) and you have a big chunk of those guys who are totally broken. My suggestion is, lower your prices, you'll sell gazillions copies of Unity pro even to broken developers...
Also, add more alternatives ways of licensing Unity. Lower upfront cost and some net % shares is also pretty attractive to smaller developers.

 

Actually I don't understand if the upgrade cycle is that fast, why not change to a subscription base licensing. That is beneficial to UT and developer on cash flow planning.

In that case I prefer MonoTouch, Corona SDK licensing model.

 

Indeed. Different licensing models is what's Unity needs right now (not just the fixed upfront cost).
They still have the time to fix that and insert it in the coming months/weeks (before Unity4 launch), hopefully they will do it. I don't like the negatives responses from the community but that's the way it is.

 

I don't think it's so much the increase in upgrade prices, as that they shortened the upgrade cycle time AND they increased the upgrade prices AND they did away with the pre-order discount. If they'd done just one of those things, maybe even two, I think there would have been rather fewer complaints. (And, yes, there were just two platforms last time.) But this does undeniably leave one with a bit of an "all your monies are belong to us!" feeling, even though objectively it's not a massively huge difference for most people. And I am very much in favor of Unity ninjas not trying to live on air alone (to reference an earlier post), but I think this could have been handled a little less bluntly.

--Eric

 

Agree.

 

So why did Unity not put that into 3.6?
Simply because they need the money now. So what's the point about complaining? Unity gives away so much for so few money.

Upgrades like Asset Store? Well, sounds cute but is inherently flawed. Unity can keep this low price only because everyone pays it. Like with student tickets for public transportation ^^. If only the ones would pay for it who actually use the feature, the price would need to quadruple or even more for it to be reasonable. What Unity does is social. All pay the whole stuff even if they don't need it, so that they can offer it at comparatively low prices. Development costs would be even higher for a selective upgrade. Return would be much lower, since only few people need all features. Bottom line is that these selective upgrades would be so expensive that everybody who doesn't just need one or two major features better buy the full package anyway.

And if you are hobbyists or causual developers who just do it for fun, you certainly have no right to complain about the price. What do you contribute? Just don't use the pro version... Everyone else better think twice, because 1000 EUR every one or two years is practically nothing for any sane business.

 

Agree !!!
don't bite the Hand that feed's you....

Well my Problem is: if i upgrade to 4 i need 2550$ only for Mobile Pro !!! Android iOS = that's too much just for Mobile Shadow and some bug fixes.... i never will need all the DX11 PC stuff never.... but i always have to Pay for....
I'm sure that the most Money is made by the Mobile Dev's and Unity is most used on Mobile Dev i think ....
So why is the focus only on PC ???? It was a Mac only tool before.... i'm afraid that one time like others did they stop the Mac Programms and doing only PC AAA Android stuff......

it feels too me as a first time user i loosing my best friends !!!

Why is the focus on PC DX11 useless on Mobile Mac Linux ??? and Flash ??? That only works on Performant PC's ????
The future is Mobile not PC Gaming or Linux Gaming or Flash export duhhhh
Never understand these decisions .....

If you look on the Numbers of Platforms where People Play Games today you see less PC, less Console PS3 X-Box and more and more Mobile Game Players.....
And in the future there will be much more because of the Power of Devices.... see iPad 3 2048 x 1536.... most of us don't have a Monitor with these Resolutions.... connect the iPad3 to a HD TV and you have a perfect Gaming situation.... same with Android !!!
Look @ the Sales of Games that come out .... only the Hardcore Gamers play on PC.... the rest go Mobile or Console....
So for me the focus should be on Mobile Market !!!
There we need the performance and optimizations that are missed with 3.5.... 3.4 still is faster on Mobile....
You can test it by yourself... just use the AngryBot's Example and export it to iPad 1 with 3.4.2. and with 3.5.2.... if you see the fps then you see the difference..... still !!!
Forget the new GUI.... there are so many possibilities in the Store... i prefer EZGUI since the beginning... and i use Sprite Manager for my 2D stuff as well... but i need more optimizations on Mobile .... since Unity 1.8.x it feels every release slower on Mobile.... don't know why...
So where is the Mobile Part in Unity 4 ???

@ Eric: i really miss the old times in the forum where we could discuss the art of code.... i really learned a lot from your answers !!!

 

Stupid answer from a kid.... i think you really have noooo idea...
What is with other Software you use??? Do you buy the Master Bundel from Adobe because you want support them but only use Photoshop ??? or do you buy a Mercedes SLS because you want it all but only use this Car in the City ????

 

While we are at it ... Does dynamic batching now support deferred rendering? Or is it still only applicable for mobile devices? Because it is just a pain in the ass to code that yourself, and it is also not really at a peak performance, giving Mono 2.6, or any script language for that matter. This needs to be done in the rendering pipeline.

 

Are shadows still pro only?

 

Lol that's funny.You disarmed yourself already. No need to comment on that. Well okay I do.

Ever looked at the prices of the Master Collection ^^. Obviously not, since otherwise you know (or maybe with your gifted sense not) that almost any of the numerous items in theres costs about a third of the entire collection when purchased alone. That's exactly what I said about what would happen... But some people semm to lack the ability to read. And to the mercedes SLS ^^. Its more like buying Unreal Engine 4... because you want it all.

 

Thank you Aras for clearing me up !
Now i feel better
Don't get me wrong.... I LOVE UNITY because it changed my Life !
and my fear is that i loose my best friends in the Digital World sooner as later....

P.S. today is Midsummer and i'am in a other World.

 

AND failed to deliver GUI AND failed to communicate well with the community.

I like unity, but it's managed to step on a fair few peoples toes.

 

3.5.3 is really a very very good news!

thanks

 

EDIT: Here is the thread "http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/102739-How-to-get-Dynamic-Batching-to-work"

That's new. Because in Unity 3.4 we had a thread about this but I can't find it anymore... The bottom line was that it doesn't work at all, and you also said that with deferred rendering it is not supported, because of artifacts that may arise. But even with any shader and rendering mode except VertexLit and non-deferred rendering, the dynamic batching feature did not kick in. Sad, that I can't find the thread, it was a while back somewhere around october 2011.

 

Much as I love Unity, $850 is excessive for an upgrade. The upgrade price used to be 50% of the full price. But with this release, there's a definite shift in how Unity is starting to treat their loyal user base. Granted, the new animation stuff is fantastic, but there are bugs and missing stuff that's been promised for the 3.x series.

You are starting to feel a little greedy, Unity. I'll upgrade, but I won't be happy about it. You've just started to erode your customers' trust in Unity as a company. Especially with statements like "order now and save $200", which is false advertising, plain and simple.

 

Will they change something about terrains and manage them better?

 

Not for 4.0 as far as I know.

 

To be honest, nobody promised anything, there was just roadmap what is planned and what might be. For me is far more concerning direction of developement. Memory management rewrite is something what I consider absolutely critical bug fix and thus it is good news (even if anybody has to pay for this bug fix), on the other side real value of other 4.0 features is almost zero. I dont understand what logic is behind upgrade of animation system (which is currently OK) and not uprading terrain system, which was obsolete 4 years ago...GUI is other example. There are nice 3rd party solutions, so it does not look like big problem, but usable GUI system is from the principle core feature, and dependency on 3rd party in case of core features is very dangerous.
Adding support of other platfom is very bad news too, because it will mean even more bugs and limitations. And especially Linux is one of most useless gaming platforms. It is no coinscidence, that almost nobody is publishing on Linux. They know why...

 

The animation system isn't OK! And it's far more essential than a terrain system (whose main use is for Fantasy RPGs).

 

Unity had an animation system? Phew yeah, guess it was that fancy dialog with all that curves stuff I dreamed about lately... As far as I can recall I woke up screaming. So good thing they now finally have something decent, hopefully.

Screw the terrain system. In its current incarnation it is more like a child's toy, to satisfy the feature list.Something that doesn't exist can't get an update .

 

The new Animation System is indeed a very important addition
And if you look at it, its implementation really shows that they *do* listen to users feedback wishlists :
http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/66504-Animation-system-wish-list

 

Yes according the version comparision list none of the current pro features will be offered to freebie hunters with unity 4. But there is a host of new additional features to pro to make it an even larger incentive to finally invest in the tool people work with on a day to day base

 

Oh well one day maybe shadows will be free when that day comes i will be happy

 

The issue has been reproduced and there's someone looking into it.

The answer from Kim is not a work around, it's how it's supposed to be done currently. That said -- we'll see if we can make the cleanup more automatic.

 

Actually we do both. But I personally feel Diablo III is passé by now.
And we do have an office in Korea.