Question Which version of HDRP sucks the least?

Or even is HDRP worth spending time on for a game?

 

You can create your game on a old and stable version (2020 LTS), then you can upgrade into others in the future updates
You can't downgrade into the older version if you want to choose the latest version

 

If you want volumetric clouds and some new features, i suggest hdrp13,it's more stable than hdrp12.
if you want performance,i suggest hdrp10.

 

You're saying hdrp has regressed in performance alreay?
I'll just use built-in.

 

for HDRP its best to talk about api versions rather than unity versions

will not talk about anything below 10x aka Unity 2020_3 and best to forget all the pain and suffering

for 10x you may find the most stable however without the latest and greatest features such as clouds and stuff
in 10x best to just go with the latest api 10.8.1 or higher

for 12x it gets a bit more complex as its still changing
api 12x also has a few branches in the code that features added in 12.1.4 an higher are not all rolled down to api 12.1.3 and below so something you made in lower versions of 12x may break in the latest within its own cycle 12x

i currently use api 12.1.3 aka Unity 2021.2.8 as i feel its sucks the least for my workflow

12.1.3 = ok no major issues yet
12.1.4 = had a number of problems from Unity memory leaks and missing chunks of code in api
12.1.5 = is just now starting to fix all the issues from 12.1.4

i have not checked Unity 2021.2.16 yet as it was just released as i am typing this out


someone talked about 13x .. this will not likely happen and looks like it is skipped to 14x in the latest PRs
14x is beta and not likely to find definition "sucks the least" as it changes almost daily however a good place to play around to see what changes are coming

 

follow up 12.1.6 is out now
i have not tested this yet

 

Just some of my experience.
GPU Instancing still works in hdrp10,when you use it in hdrp12,ambient light will go dark.
without GPU Instancing,trees rendering is a performance nightmare if you don't rely on any third party plugin.
SRP batcher is a thing, but it won't automatically work like GPU Instancing.
and,many performance friendly third party plugin only work good in hdrp10,e.g Amplify Impostor(you will lost ambient lighting in hdrp12),GPUInstancer(billboard got some reflection intensity problem in hdrp12).

and maybe i have too much good memories with hdrp10 because my hdrp12 project has ruined it self.
i'm still building it back in hdrp13.

 

I used HDRP from day 1. And have shipped one game, and is about to ship another.

My experience so far, use the latest. Even if it says "beta", "alpha" or "preview"
Latest versions get the bug fix first, and usually the old "stable" versions get left behind.

I am literally fighting the devs about Virtual Texturing issue in the latest, but the old versions are not even under their evaluation. The next coming alpha has the fix already.

Just use the latest.

 

but this also means you need to use latest Unity build, are you saying that using an Unity alpha build for a shipping product is a good idea? I somehow even regret moving to the 2021.2 tech stream, so many breaking bugs…. And still not everything major fixed, even if we are shortly before the LTS.

 

Built-in deferred with a ton of assets like NGSS, ASE, and whatever that one is which adds volumetrics.

 

Stick with built-in. Nothing Unity ever makes is really finished until 2-4 years have passed after its initial release. Rendering pipelines are not production ready.

Use NGSS for HDRP-like soft shadows, ASE for shaders, Aura for volumetric fog and Bakery to replace Unity's half-baked (hehehe) lightmapper.

 

For me, upgrading from built in to HDRP allowed me to ditch a lot of assets for volumetrics, SSAO, lighting, clouds, decals... and just use HDRP's native counterparts while both increasing quality and almost doubling framerate.

 

As long as your game is going to target only PC/PS5/Xbox Series (or you have the know how to heavily modify HDRP), that's fine.

 

There is not a single version of Unity that just works, that has all the bugs fixed, and that meets your project requirements that meets modern standards. It is a constant fight against time. You have to make the choice. I just suggested my choice based on my experience. Similar bugs left behind on Unity versions as well so ultimately you have to make the choice. And hope it was the right choice.

 

Can you link the game?

 

I'd rather not for privacy reasons. Thanks