Unity on Apple silicon and Big Sur: Known issues and workarounds

I read the post, then confused about target to M1 or running editor on M1. Just to clarify, I am using Unity 2018.4, and I want to open this project on the new M1 Mac mini.
Is that means I need to wait Unity 2018.4.30f1 release and use it to open my project / build to Xcode project?
I don't need any new feature.

 

Just downloaded and tested unity b12 and no hanging appears to be found. May I ask @Tautvydas-Zilys, if you will be working on the animation window bug as well? Thank you again for solving all these issues!

 

Quick test macOS 11.1 Beta 20c5048k. Unity 2020.2.0b12 Apple DTK and still screen freezing, may be the Animation bug still. Will test some more a little later as got some meetings to right now.

 

Is the rate at which your screen freezes the same as pre Unity b12? I am still on macOS 11.0.1 RC2 and I did not notice any screen freezes. Will have to try again later as well.

 

yes same as before from my quick test.

 

Can confirm, no screen freezes on macOS 11.0.1 RC2. Gosh, this screen freeze issue is rather persistent I must say. Not entirely sure that I want to update to macOS 11.1 now.

 

@Tautvydas-Zilys

Version 2020.2.0b12.3574 personal
Hub version 2.4.2 (beta channel)
macOS 11.1 Beta (20C5048k)

on play of scene it will work for a brief amount of time but will freeze, closing the project down and back open again makes it crash on play from then onwards.

Created a New Project and tested also the same crashes on play of scene.

BOTH need the screen turning off and on again to return Mac to working order.

Attached is a Crash Log for Hub ?? not sure if any help for you ?
I have the project file zipped up but a little large to attach to this post.

** Update spotted unity in the Windoserver logs also so attached

 

already backing up my data ready for system restore - will take a few hours

 

Hey, does anyone know if Unity plans on making the Editor a Universal app (native Apple Silicon support) in the future? I've done some compile tests, and my M1 Macbook Air exports Unity project into Xcode about the same time (sometimes slower) than my Mac Mini 2018 Core i5. However, once it's in Xcode, the compile speed of M1 is almost doubled. Would love to get improvements on the Unity export end for Apple Silicon.

 

Unable to restore the DTK to an older OS Stuck on 11.1

 

Perfect! Any ETA on this?? I'm putting out a YouTube video to compare development performances on different Apple machines. If the Apple Silicon Editor is coming soon I might hold off on the video. But if it's a couple weeks out, I'll just publish this vid and then amend it with a second vid with new performances or something.

Thanks for the quick reply!

 

Ahh thanks. Better late than never! Appreciate the info!

 

Got my M1 Mac Mini, the Unity build time is not very impressive. Somewhere in the press release of Apple it says 3.5X fast with Unity. I don't see that. It's only 20% to 30% faster to build my project in Unity into Xcode project (around 5-6 mins) on M1 vs (around 7 mins) on my old 2016 MBP. I'm using lastest 2019 LTS. I do see signification improvement in XCode build time on Unity generated project at least 3-4 times faster than before. So most likely the performance boost of M1 was mostly consumed by the emulation. Hope Unity with M1 support would come soon to take advantage of the new M1 chip.

 

hey @xhkong what is the target that you are building?

 

@vpacha iOS

 

Same here, vastly faster improvements on Xcode, about x2 faster. But compiling and exporting to Xcode from Unity is almost the same speed as my Mac Mini (2018). Running M1 Macbook Air, macOS 11.0.1, Unity Editor v2021.1.0a6

 

how is the general editor performance? also changing a line of code, save it and go back to unity and hit play - is that faster?

 

Hi,
Using an MBP M1, Xcode is building and deploying the Unity project to iOS just fine!
However, I was curious to see if I could build for the My Mac (Designed for iPad) target. While it seems to build and launch - I'm getting an error '
../Frameworks/UnityFramework.framework/UnityFramework, 0x0109): file system sandbox blocked open'
Any ideas / suggestions if there's anything that I can do do resolve this?
Thank you.

 

@Tautvydas-Zilys - hey, thanks for all your work on this!

I've seen you say not to expect an Apple Silicon native Unity Editor until the second half of next year, which is disappointing but understandable! Is there anywhere I/we can keep up to date on progress, and/or help test any super early versions?

 

Hello

Apple rejecte my macos app, they say it crashed and they run it with big sur 11.1, I had run it with big sur 11.0.1 in unity 2020.2.0b11 and there were no crashes.

Where can I download 2020.2.0b14? Unity Hub does not show it nor the beta website.

Thank you

 

2020.2.0b12 was only just released on 19th Nov. 2020.2.0b14 would probably take around 2 weeks after that to arrive, give or take.

 

Based on my tests for changing code and recompiling and hitting play, my i9 16" MacBook Pro is still faster than my M1 MacBook Air. The i9 MBP is still about 2x faster in Unity compilation than the M1.

Tested on 2019.4.15 LTS and 2020.2.0b12.

i9 16" MBP: 3.4 sec
M1 Air: 6.9 sec

I can also confirm that the screen freezing issue is gone as of 2020.2.0b12.

Very excited for the native unity editor one day. Keep up the great work @Tautvydas-Zilys and the team!

 

Apologies for the late response @Tautvydas-Zilys . It does not target apple's silicon, we're trying to work out the reason for the error apple sees, we still don't know

 

Hello @Tautvydas-Zilys , sorry I don't have a more meaningful update, we're a bit stuck and this is where we are today -> since moving to Big Sur an app crashes (1/10 times when we sign and open the app) when updating a build of an existing app, please see details below. We had released for Catalina and ofc didn't have a crash.

Tested for Big Sur 1.1 and 1.0.1, Unity 20201.1.15f1, 2020.2.0b12, 2020.2.0b13.

We can't figure out what com.apple.NSEventThread refers to. It seems NSEvent refers to events such as mouse clicks, but I don't interact with the keyboard/mouse before it crashes.

Any ideas where we can look into to dig further please?

thank you

Process: appName[1540]
Path: /Users/USER/Documents/*/appname.app/Contents/MacOS/appname
Identifier: com.co.appname
Version: 0.6 (0.6)
Code Type: X86-64 (Native)
Parent Process: ??? [1]
Responsible: appname [1540]
User ID: 501
Date/Time: 2020-12-02 17:19:00.790 +0000
OS Version: macOS 11.1 (20C5048l)
Report Version: 12
Bridge OS Version: 5.1 (18P53017c)
Anonymous UUID: ---
Time Awake Since Boot: 550 seconds
System Integrity Protection: enabled
Crashed Thread: 8 com.apple.NSEventThread
Exception Type: EXC_BAD_ACCESS (SIGSEGV)
Exception Codes: KERN_INVALID_ADDRESS at 0x000000000000555a
Exception Note: EXC_CORPSE_NOTIFY
Termination Signal: Segmentation fault: 11
Termination Reason: Namespace SIGNAL, Code 0xb
Terminating Process: exc handler [1540]
VM Regions Near 0x555a:
-->

Thread 8 Crashed:: com.apple.NSEventThread
0 UnityPlayer.dylib 0x00000001105a03a7 MemoryProfiler::RegisterAllocation(void*, MemLabelId const&, char const*, int, unsigned long) + 151
1 UnityPlayer.dylib 0x000000011000f4fe MemoryManager::RegisterAllocation(MemoryManager::AllocationLogDetails const&, BaseAllocator*) + 206
2 UnityPlayer.dylib 0x000000011000b7bb MemoryManager::Allocate(unsigned long, unsigned long, MemLabelId const&, AllocateOptions, char const*, int) + 1067
3 UnityPlayer.dylib 0x0000000110006c03 operator new(unsigned long) + 67
4 com.apple.SkyLight 0x00007fff24c0add5 CGSSnarfAndDispatchDatagrams + 368
5 com.apple.SkyLight 0x00007fff24ea9fba SLSGetNextEventRecordInternal + 278
6 com.apple.SkyLight 0x00007fff24d01719 SLEventCreateNextEvent + 9
7 com.apple.HIToolbox 0x00007fff2871176b PullEventsFromWindowServerOnConnection(unsigned int, unsigned char, __CFMachPortBoost*) + 45
8 com.apple.HIToolbox 0x00007fff28711706 MessageHandler(__CFMachPort*, void*, long, void*) + 48
9 com.apple.CoreFoundation 0x00007fff204b9684 __CFMachPortPerform + 250
10 com.apple.CoreFoundation 0x00007fff2048d188 __CFRUNLOOP_IS_CALLING_OUT_TO_A_SOURCE1_PERFORM_FUNCTION__ + 41
11 com.apple.CoreFoundation 0x00007fff2048d065 __CFRunLoopDoSource1 + 595
12 com.apple.CoreFoundation 0x00007fff2048b709 __CFRunLoopRun + 2402
13 com.apple.CoreFoundation 0x00007fff2048a6ce CFRunLoopRunSpecific + 563
14 com.apple.AppKit 0x00007fff22e26b76 _NSEventThread + 124
15 libsystem_pthread.dylib 0x00007fff20394950 _pthread_start + 224
16 libsystem_pthread.dylib 0x00007fff2039047b thread_start + 15


Thread 8 crashed with X86 Thread State (64-bit):
rax: 0x00000001122367c0 rbx: 0x000000011607d3a0 rcx: 0xffffffffffffffff rdx: 0x0000000111d3fd36
rdi: 0x00000001122c8460 rsi: 0x000000011607d3a0 rbp: 0x0000700010752b10 rsp: 0x0000700010752ae0
r8: 0x0000000000000018 r9: 0x0000000111d3fd36 r10: 0x0000000000000040 r11: 0x0000000000000206
r12: 0x000000000000555a r13: 0x00007fa2c90042c0 r14: 0x000000011237b640 r15: 0x000000011607d398
rip: 0x00000001105a03a7 rfl: 0x0000000000010206 cr2: 0x000000000000555a

Logical CPU: 2
Error Code: 0x00000004 (no mapping for user data read)
Trap Number: 14
Thread 8 instruction stream:
f5 a6 ff 48 85 c0 74 6d-48 8b 08 48 89 c7 48 89 ...H..tmH..H..H.
de ff 91 a0 00 00 00 48-85 c0 74 59 49 89 c7 48 .......H..tYI..H
8d 05 53 64 c9 01 48 8b-08 49 89 0f 4d 85 ed 74 ..Sd..H..I..M..t
44 41 8b 4c 24 08 83 f9-3f 74 3a 83 f9 08 7c 20 DA.L$...?t:...|
41 83 7c 24 04 ff 75 18-48 8b 0d 42 c0 df 01 65 A.|$..u.H..B...e
4c 8b 24 cd 00 00 00 00-4d 85 e4 75 03 49 89 c4 L.$.....M..u.I..
[4d]8b 34 24 4c 89 f3 48-c1 eb 20 b8 ff ff ff ff M.4$L..H.. ..... <==
48 39 c3 75 0f 48 83 c4-08 5b 41 5c 41 5d 41 5e H9.u.H...[A\A]A^
41 5f 5d c3 49 8d bd c0-01 00 00 e8 99 3c 28 00 A_].I........<(.
4c 89 f0 48 c1 e8 2a 49-8b 8d 18 02 00 00 48 8b L..H..*I......H.
04 c1 81 e3 ff 03 00 00-4c 8b 20 48 6b db 58 41 ........L. Hk.XA
8b 44 1c 48 f0 49 ff 8d-c0 01 00 00 44 39 f0 75 .D.H.I......D9.u

Thread 8 last branch register state not available.

 

HDRP and Standard comparisson, same shader in Intel CPU



Hi,

I have reports that HDRP in Silicon Mac is extremely slower than on Intel, e.g. 25fps than 100fps, and HDRP in general is much slower than standard where the same is 670fps !!!!!.

The shader is same in all tests, so should be 670 fps across the board. I post images of the HDRP and standard in my DELL laptop with Intel.

I see a fast spiraling extreme downgrade in Unity performance with every new step, is this something that will be addressed at some point ? Because is hard to work on so unoptimized base, is impossible to make anything substantial with these issues.

Thanks in advance for any insight on the above.

 

Hi,

thanks for the reply. I agree HDRP is expected to be slower, but the difference is massive, so i was hoping that would be some way to scale it back to be fast or near as fast as the standard, because standard can do similar effects with much faster speed, making the HDRP use very questionable unless need some exotic thing like ray tracing or something very specific.

Unfortunately i got the report about Silicon issue from a user of my assets, so i cant provide any further information, but the user was upset to see the same system running in my 4 years old DELL 4x faster than his brand new Mac, which is understandable.

 

Hi,

I just got reports from the user that also sees various bugs with Silicon, e,g, my clouds sometimes appear and some times not, while are stable in Intel CPU. So i suppose there is a big number of issues with Silicon.

I will surely add a warning to my assets to avoid getting a Mac for use with Unity, because seems to be too many problems and i think would take years to address them in a sure to work manner sadly.

Also would be great if Unity issued a warning about buying a Mac for using it with the platform, as would help save users a lot of frustration.

I have to say this is huge mistake on Mac side that decided to not go with the proven Intel, so that is definitely not a Unity issue, but still users should know what to expect when using it with Silicon. I understand Mac administration wants a 4th Ferrari for their executives and need to cut back costs, but they made their platform unusable in the process as it seems, i would now not use a new Mac even if you paid me to after what i see happening.

 

Its a big mistake to assume your experience so far is typical, so the idea of warning people about Macs in such a broad way is a very bad idea to me.

I love the M1 Macs already and have been having a good time with using HDRP and a 3D fluid simulation (using compute shaders) on this platform, its much faster than my previous Intel mac mini. The GPU performance is better than other integrated solutions, and I didnt expect this version of the GPU to compete with higher end discreet cards because they have started off with low-end models. But the switch to apple silicon has made me more optimistic about the medium-long term future of GPU performance in Macs than I have been for many years.

 

Also what is the screen resolution of your dell laptop? If your users are using M1 laptops then be aware of the full resolution of the displays of those machines, and what impact that could have on performance compared to your Dell.

There are also differences between Windows DX11 performance and Mac metal performance in general, long before Apple Silicon was added to the mix.

I believe I own one of your assets so I may try it on this Mac and see what happens. I'll let you know if I learn anything that may be useful to you.

 

thank you @Tautvydas-Zilys , I sent you message with bug report, hope that helps

 

Thanks a lot, any insight would help as is a strange situation

 

If there are any specific demo scenes in Sky Master Ultimate that I can use for quick testing purposes that might reveal similar issues to what your users report, then let me know which ones. And which Unity version if applicable. I have both an intel and a M1 mac mini so I should be able to establish whether there is actually a M1 problem or if its something more generally mac/metal-specific. Assume your users issues were not using HDRP, as HDRP version of Sky Master not available yet? Let me know if these assumptions are wrong, and I dont have lots of time to learn how your asset works so I need to be pointed in a more specific direction.

And probably best if you start a private forum conversation with me about this, so we dont clog up this thread. Will post again on this thread if something M1-specific does emerge as the issue.

 

Hi,

The user used my hdrp pre beta, i can send it over to test, plus can send the latest beta that i will upload tomorrow.

I will send in pm as soon as is uploaded and a test scene to test with

Thanks a lot

 

Yo, I'm thinking of going with one of the M1 mac options. Is it worth it? Or are there still major difficulties with the editor?

 

I dont have any editor problems at the moment, but that doesnt mean nobody else will find any.

I'd say whether its a good development platform for Unity depends on your unity project complexity, and what platforms and framerate you are targeting. eg if you are targeting pcs with more powerful graphics than these M1's offer then the development experience may feel rather underpowered. If you are targeting mobile and people with Apple M1 computers then its a much better match. The ideal apple silicon computers for Unity developers will come later, but I'm still quite impressed with how well the current models manage to cope.

 

i'm not experienced, and rather new. So I'm pretty sure I'm sticking to low-poly 3d/2d games. The M1 handles that nicely right?