#archived-dots | Official Unity Discord | Page 210

gusty comet Mar 30, 2021, 7:23 PM

#

I think I can have 90% of the data for the characters in a corresponding entity but have the actual character you see in the world be a gameobject so I dont have to deal with ECS animation, ECS character controllers, ECS camera....and all the other ECS stuff that has been jurry rigged together and not really thought out well.

I'm a little worried about when ECS updates vs when gameobjects update but I guess we'll see what happens

ocean tundra Mar 30, 2021, 7:24 PM

#

yea probably a good idea

#

animation looks too rough for me

gusty comet Mar 30, 2021, 7:25 PM

#

I'm 100% for ECS but if they want to go back to the stone ages with code based animation systems...no thanks

ocean tundra Mar 30, 2021, 7:26 PM

#

i actully would prefer code based animation

#

but simple

#

like i always wanted to be able todo animationClip.Play(gameobject) in old MB world

gusty comet Mar 30, 2021, 7:27 PM

#

I think animation is one of the things I greatly prefer in UE4

#

Their interface is so easy to use

ocean tundra Mar 30, 2021, 7:27 PM

#

if they can make a way to add a component (so 1 component = 1 animation clip) i would love that

gusty comet Mar 30, 2021, 7:33 PM

#

I don't like dealing with code when you have to pull in a bunch of assets

#

But thats just my personal preference

ocean tundra Mar 30, 2021, 7:33 PM

#

That can be solved with code gen :p

gusty comet Mar 30, 2021, 7:35 PM

#

Like the input system does

ocean tundra Mar 30, 2021, 7:35 PM

#

Yup

#

Like configure your animations in a window/scriptable object, click generate, boom. Code

#

The worst part is code gen usually makes mods harder

#

But with dots being basically open source I'm sure there would be ways to extend for mods

gusty comet Mar 30, 2021, 7:40 PM

#

There is but some of the code is terrible. If you look at their character controller for instance it's written to be all-or-nothing. With gameobject character controller, you put it in and just use the .move function and don't worry about anything else. In the ECS version, it's all integrated in with gravity and other stuff that generally the user would implement themself

#

They really need to focus on making the open source code more modular and manageable.

#

The good news is my code works 🙂

sturdy rune Mar 30, 2021, 7:41 PM

#

digression from your topic: do you use a lot of custom conversion logic, or are the out-of-box conversion pretty acceptable? finally getting around to implementing some things

#

back on the topic: are you sying there are ECS character controllers out of the box?? I am on my first attempt at DOTS implementation so just learning tools.

ocean tundra Mar 30, 2021, 7:42 PM

#

@sturdy rune so ive started building more conversion stuff

gusty comet Mar 30, 2021, 7:42 PM

#

I think it feels more proper to make your own authoring code rather than relying on the default convertoentity script unless it's something very simple like a static object

ocean tundra Mar 30, 2021, 7:42 PM

#

unity has confirmed that the conversion workflow is here to stay, and i want to build some tools/assets so makes sence to support it

#

i started with using subscenes and IConvertToEntity

#

but have recently moved to custom ConversionSystems as i needed more control

gusty comet Mar 30, 2021, 7:44 PM

#

There IS an ECS character controller in the use cases. The code is really messy though so I would avoid it right now.

https://github.com/Unity-Technologies/EntityComponentSystemSamples/blob/master/UnityPhysicsSamples/Assets/Demos/6. Use Cases/CharacterController/Scripts/CharacterControllerAuthoring.cs

GitHub

Unity-Technologies/EntityComponentSystemSamples

Contribute to Unity-Technologies/EntityComponentSystemSamples development by creating an account on GitHub.

sturdy rune Mar 30, 2021, 7:44 PM

#

I still don't totally understand subscenes (sorry I am just getting to the gameplay documentation on unity site)

ocean tundra Mar 30, 2021, 7:44 PM

#

ummm so think of subscenes as Scenes for ECS 😛

#

but with none of the old scene limitations

#

and all the data within a subscene is already converted and optmized

#

so its FAST

gusty comet Mar 30, 2021, 7:45 PM

#

Subscenes are really simple - everything inside the subscene is converted to an entity and you can load and unload them from the world to create large open worlds or procedurally generated areas.

It's the single biggest reason to use DOTS - unity, for some reason, was basically incapable of being used for open world or procedurally generated games without you implementing all that functionality yourself (through gimmicky ways)

#

Subscenes aren't ECS scenes, they're INSIDE a scene.

#

They dont replace scenes

sturdy rune Mar 30, 2021, 7:46 PM

#

I will finish reading this doc before I ask too many questions - the concept is simple but I haven't used one or delved into it yet, I just was reading about them in the auithoring section last night

#

so it sounds like a scene within a scene but I have no reference for that

ocean tundra Mar 30, 2021, 7:46 PM

#

gusty comet Subscenes aren't ECS scenes, they're INSIDE a scene.

yea was just trying to keep it simple 😛

sturdy rune Mar 30, 2021, 7:47 PM

#

I am so simple 😦 haha

ocean tundra Mar 30, 2021, 7:47 PM

#

DOTS is alot 😛

#

way easier now

#

but still

sturdy rune Mar 30, 2021, 7:47 PM

#

https://tenor.com/view/homer-brain-monkey-brain-funny-gif-4988567

Tenor

#

actually I really get the concepts and philosphy of DOTS/ECS

#

it makes complete sense from engineering level

#

I am struggling to implement my first projects

ocean tundra Mar 30, 2021, 7:48 PM

#

yea that happened to me too

sturdy rune Mar 30, 2021, 7:48 PM

#

where to start, how to implement even something simple. I am spinning my tires on practical side

ocean tundra Mar 30, 2021, 7:48 PM

#

writing the first jobs was tough

#

then came foreach and i was like WOW

gusty comet Mar 30, 2021, 7:48 PM

#

Subscenes are pretty basic - basically this short clip I made is what they're for. You can imagine streaming them in for open worlds or loading them in/out for procedural generation.

https://streamable.com/guhf1u

#

I have had some issues with them and my lighting system but that seems to be a glitch and just me

ocean tundra Mar 30, 2021, 7:50 PM

#

yea full support for them thoughout the unity systems is still missing

#

like most of dots tho

#

😛

#

but its getting better

gusty comet Mar 30, 2021, 7:51 PM

#

I have had horrible issues with them in the past. Objects would flicker randomly in and out of existence with HDRP and now it seems (i just noticed) i have an issue with some objects being blacked out like they're not getting lighting they would normally get if they werent in subscene

ocean tundra Mar 30, 2021, 7:52 PM

#

yup

#

all that sounds very similar to my initial expenerences with them

#

this latest update feels like they are better tho

#

that lighting issue might be the hybrid renderer instead of subscenes

gusty comet Mar 30, 2021, 7:53 PM

#

I'm on 2020.3.1f1 I might have to go back to the betas....

#

My last issue only occured on HDRP - I would assume this is the same thing

#

Same but different

zenith wyvern Mar 30, 2021, 7:53 PM

#

I would not bother with subscenes if you're still learning. Just stick to IConvertGameObjectToEntity scripts until they have better support

gusty comet Mar 30, 2021, 7:54 PM

#

For open world content you don't really have a choice

zenith wyvern Mar 30, 2021, 7:54 PM

#

How so?

gusty comet Mar 30, 2021, 7:54 PM

#

Other than implementing a gimmicky workaround

ocean tundra Mar 30, 2021, 7:54 PM

#

yea was about to say depends on the game

#

for open world they will give you like alot out of the box

#

but for a 0.1 prototype yea you dont need them

sturdy rune Mar 30, 2021, 7:55 PM

#

gusty comet Subscenes are pretty basic - basically this short clip I made is what they're fo...

ahh ok so it is load data unload data, so a scene could include a sphere for a planet, but when you get within x units, load the subscene, unload others?

gusty comet Mar 30, 2021, 7:55 PM

#

Subscenes should have already been a thing before DOTS and should not be DOTS exclusive. The simple utility of using them for procedural loading/unloading should have already been integrated with basic Unity

ocean tundra Mar 30, 2021, 7:56 PM

#

it wasnt that hard to make scenes work like subscenes

sturdy rune Mar 30, 2021, 7:56 PM

#

I am not building an MMO astraight away but I want to start simple and build up to a multiplayer space shooter

zenith wyvern Mar 30, 2021, 7:56 PM

#

I didn't even think they had good/any support for runtime loading/unloading

sturdy rune Mar 30, 2021, 7:56 PM

#

I am patient but also slow 🙂

ocean tundra Mar 30, 2021, 7:56 PM

#

back in old unity, ie load additive and unload

#

worst was the lightmapping

zenith wyvern Mar 30, 2021, 7:56 PM

#

They were originally created for loading and unloading entity scenes in the editor specifically

gusty comet Mar 30, 2021, 7:57 PM

#

I think they were basically required to get megacity off the ground

#

@sturdy rune Not all open worlds are complicated. You can make indie open worlds with less effort than some 2D games - depends on the game

zenith wyvern Mar 30, 2021, 7:59 PM

#

You shouldn't need subscenes for a game like that for sure either

sturdy rune Mar 30, 2021, 7:59 PM

#

good point - I will learn as I go @gusty comet. It's an exercise to build something one system at a time.

ocean tundra Mar 30, 2021, 8:00 PM

#

@sturdy rune yea just pick a project you wanna make and start building it

#

1 bit at a time

gusty comet Mar 30, 2021, 8:01 PM

#

You need some form of level streaming.

sturdy rune Mar 30, 2021, 8:02 PM

#

once I finish this documentation passover, my project is starting with this goal: character controller for a space ship in a dotsnet project.

ocean tundra Mar 30, 2021, 8:02 PM

#

Ooo i did that

#

tho without dotsnet

#

i did it before physics too, was a PAIN to get the bullets to hit things

sturdy rune Mar 30, 2021, 8:03 PM

#

haha

gusty comet Mar 30, 2021, 8:03 PM

#

Character Controllers are fun...

ocean tundra Mar 30, 2021, 8:03 PM

#

mine was more of a rts controller

#

was pretty fun tho

#

and thats where version 0.1 of my networking tech got built

#

honestly supprized it worked

#

that whole project was like using gule to build a house

#

no clue what i was doing

#

but it worked

#

had like 10k bullets flying around at the end of it

gusty comet Mar 30, 2021, 8:08 PM

#

RTS like FF/Pokemon or like Starcraft?

ocean tundra Mar 30, 2021, 8:08 PM

#

more like starcraft

#

but "1" unit

#

one really really big space ship

#

the idea being you customize the ship, different guns, update insides ect

gusty comet Mar 30, 2021, 8:09 PM

#

Ah - I assume you did research on how networking is done in those kind of games? I know its totally different, something like all the inputs are replicated across the server and the server runs the game instead of each client running the game and replicating data to one another across the server

ocean tundra Mar 30, 2021, 8:09 PM

#

yup

#

lockstep

#

and decided its not worth it

#

😛

gusty comet Mar 30, 2021, 8:09 PM

#

Ah - I actually still have this bookmarked. It was a really interesting read on RTS networking - might be interested.

https://www.forrestthewoods.com/blog/synchronous_rts_engines_and_a_tale_of_desyncs/#.kt2uk2a89

Synchronous RTS Engines and a Tale of Desyncs - ForrestTheWoods

Explanation of how synchronous networking architecture is implemented and used by real-time strategy games.

ocean tundra Mar 30, 2021, 8:10 PM

#

yea read that

#

i went with curve networking

#

https://www.forrestthewoods.com/blog/tech_of_planetary_annihilation_chrono_cam/

The Tech of Planetary Annihilation: ChronoCam - ForrestTheWoods

Technical deeptime into the unique networking architecture of Planetary Annihilation.

gusty comet Mar 30, 2021, 8:10 PM

#

Oh same blog- neat

ocean tundra Mar 30, 2021, 8:10 PM

#

haha

#

didnt notice that

sturdy rune Mar 30, 2021, 8:11 PM

#

gusty comet RTS like FF/Pokemon or like Starcraft?

what do you mean FF here? Falling Frontier?

gusty comet Mar 30, 2021, 8:11 PM

#

Final Fantasy lol

#

Probably bad example considering they have like 10 different game archetypes

sturdy rune Mar 30, 2021, 8:11 PM

#

lol

#

my idea is more like.. squad + dreadnaught + star wars squadrons

ocean tundra Mar 30, 2021, 8:12 PM

#

i dont think ill be smart enough to implement determisitic + lock step

#

yea thats much more "twich" focused

gusty comet Mar 30, 2021, 8:12 PM

#

I've been working on character controllers for the last 6mo so

ocean tundra Mar 30, 2021, 8:12 PM

#

so netcode or dotsnet would probably be a better fit

sturdy rune Mar 30, 2021, 8:13 PM

#

yea I like the idea of a dotsnet for now where there's support and other transport options

ocean tundra Mar 30, 2021, 8:13 PM

#

it looks pretty good

sturdy rune Mar 30, 2021, 8:14 PM

#

but that is why I decided to learn eCS because it comes a system and could theoretically be decoupled

#

yea I liked the looks of it and very active developer

ocean tundra Mar 30, 2021, 8:14 PM

#

im using Unity.Transport as my underlying transport

#

yea if you build it right changing transport layer is pretty easy

sturdy rune Mar 30, 2021, 8:14 PM

#

I am sure for me it won't matter for a long enough time that, byt he time it does, I will know exactly what I am doing with it haha

ocean tundra Mar 30, 2021, 8:15 PM

#

i think for a steam game is probably the only case where you may want a different transport

#

i cant think of any other usecases to support many transport layers

sturdy rune Mar 30, 2021, 8:16 PM

#

I think some transports are more perfromant for different scenarios

#

but that's putting the cart before the horse for me

#

am a network/computer engineer but don't know enough about these specific transports 😛

ocean tundra Mar 30, 2021, 8:17 PM

#

yea neither

#

i just wanted a reliable UDP transport

#

used ENet for a bit

#

bit now with Unity.Transport having tight support with burst+jobs seems like a easy win

#

so much speed being able to use those

sturdy rune Mar 30, 2021, 8:20 PM

#

yea I think at this point it is most important part

#

soemthing that utilizes jobs + burst will be way more performant than anythign I have used so far

#

I have used mirror for a couple other projects and liked it so went with dotsnet as it was same author

ocean tundra Mar 30, 2021, 8:21 PM

#

yea hes a pretty smart guy

tight blade Mar 30, 2021, 10:33 PM

#

is Tiny the only thing in dots that has a Text module? Im trying to do, like UI text with entities

#

but all I ever hear about Tiny is frustration about how nothing in the ecosystem is compatible with it

ocean tundra Mar 30, 2021, 10:34 PM

#

yea theres no general DOTS ui

#

just Tiny UI

#

which is like exream DOTS

#

i would just use hybrid

#

get your ui data entities setup, pump your data into those and setup some sort of change detection (not sure if built in will be enough)

#

then use a nice system + querys to get the data

#

also when there is a dots UI, you can just add it to your ui data entities

tight blade Mar 30, 2021, 10:47 PM

#

blugh, I dont have much experience with hybrid, so I really dont... wannnnaaa

ocean tundra Mar 30, 2021, 10:48 PM

#

need to learn it sometime

#

so many bits still missing from dots

tight blade Mar 30, 2021, 10:49 PM

#

yeah, true. Its just that in this case what I was thinking of was a whole micro framework of text tooling, to create a little API for making animated text from a custom markup language that specified animation type/timing/effects, etc

ocean tundra Mar 30, 2021, 10:50 PM

#

that sounds like alot

tight blade Mar 30, 2021, 10:50 PM

#

wouldn't actually be that hard to prototype with an entities based thing, its just, like, a component that specifies shader values

#

but in this case I'd be writing more code to make it work with hybrid than the entire footprint of the prototype would have entailed

#

so, I think Im just gonna wait till theres native dots ui

ocean tundra Mar 30, 2021, 10:51 PM

#

im thinking its still ages away

#

been like no info about UI for dots

#

and they have just spent ages rebuilding UI for like the 3rd time

#

so i expect if they do make something it will be build on UIToolkit

tight blade Mar 30, 2021, 10:52 PM

#

UIToolkit?

ocean tundra Mar 30, 2021, 10:52 PM

#

UI elements?

#

they keep renaming it

#

not sure what it is now

#

basicly HTML + CSS

tight blade Mar 30, 2021, 10:53 PM

#

oh, right

ocean tundra Mar 30, 2021, 10:53 PM

#

but with different names

tight blade Mar 30, 2021, 10:53 PM

#

that sounds so fun

ocean tundra Mar 30, 2021, 10:53 PM

#

😛

#

it wasnt that bad

#

and that was during like super early beta

tight blade Mar 30, 2021, 10:53 PM

#

I love learning someone elses DSL for an already impossibly convoluted DSL

ocean tundra Mar 30, 2021, 10:54 PM

#

they stuck with most of css which is good

#

easy to reuse that

#

but the html (XAML) was different

tight blade Mar 30, 2021, 10:55 PM

#

huh. well, I guess as long as I can figure out what a <div> translates to, it will replicate the entirety of my business as usual usage of html

#

well. and attributes

#

so yeah, thanks; much appreciated. I guess I'll just play the long game on that project

ocean tundra Mar 30, 2021, 10:56 PM

#

yea thats what i usually do

tight blade Mar 30, 2021, 10:57 PM

#

brb check back with you in 3 years

ocean tundra Mar 30, 2021, 10:57 PM

#

😛

ocean tundra Mar 31, 2021, 5:05 AM

#

Has anyone been able to store a list of Subscenes in a MB?

#

I'm using subscenes as 'maps' and would like to be able to pass a list into my UI for a game lobby

#

so the player can pick a map

karmic basin Mar 31, 2021, 10:34 AM

#

Store a list of SceneGUID ?

#

metadata like name and such for display

stone osprey Mar 31, 2021, 2:32 PM

#

Ok soooo... Lets say we have some objets and some structs casted to objects in a List<object>. We want to Set/Add those all to an entity of our choice. How do we do that ? ( I actually found a way using reflection, but that one produces like 40 Bytes of garbage EACH call... so im looking for smarter ways )

#

Glad for any help and inspiration... this drives me crazy

zenith wyvern Mar 31, 2021, 2:49 PM

#

stone osprey Ok soooo... Lets say we have some objets and some structs casted to objects in a...

It's the same thing you were doing before. You're converting a value type into a reference type. Please do some reading on reference types vs value types and boxing. There's lots of resources online.

stone osprey Mar 31, 2021, 2:50 PM

#

Well of course. But thats not the problem here. Theres no other way i could deserialize my packet. At some point i need to store either a list of objects or a list of pointers. Well and i want to add those to an entity. Thats the main problem here

#

Because theres either a "SetComponent<KNOWNTYPE>(Entity entity, KNOWNTYPE T)" but none without those damn generics

#

The generics are the huge problem here

#

Well and a missing way to just insert a object or ptr to add/set a component

karmic pilot Mar 31, 2021, 2:54 PM

#

you cannot add without knowing the exact type. So while/after reading your packet, you need to store the actual types and then depending on the actual type, call the corresponding SetComponent<TYPE>(...) . If you have a List of objects, you would have to iterate, unbox, get their real type and then add... this is cumbersome and will allocate memory

#

And there are always possible alternatives. But without more information and actual data/structure of packets, we cannot really do anything except guessing

zenith wyvern Mar 31, 2021, 2:56 PM

#

stone osprey Because theres either a "SetComponent<KNOWNTYPE>(Entity entity, KNOWNTYPE T)" bu...

"The generics" are there because these functions operate on interface types, and burst can't work with reference types. So they use generic types constraints so the function resolves to the concrete type at compile time.

#

This is a common C# concept and is only related to dots insofar as burst can't work with reference types.

karmic pilot Mar 31, 2021, 2:57 PM

#

another important question: is your packet design/structure fixed and out of your control ?

stone osprey Mar 31, 2021, 2:59 PM

#

Yep it is... thats why i needed to write my own deserializer for it which... returns a List<object>. And i know why they use generics, but.... look at that beauty here. They actually JUST use it for getting the type index. And well, i bet they could actually do the same by calling TypeManager.GetType();. This way they could provide either the generics variant. Or just a variant for lazy people which dont wanna write a huge switch case or automatic generate code

karmic pilot Mar 31, 2021, 3:01 PM

#

you can do that yourself actually. unbox your value to its real struct and pass it as argument. you can also save your data instead of in a list as a dictionary/tuple of type + object and use that information to unbox and use the generic versions

north bay Mar 31, 2021, 3:03 PM

#

Isn't the main problem here that you do not have access to the internal SetComponent method that just asks for a type index and the raw memory?

stone osprey Mar 31, 2021, 3:03 PM

#

@karmic pilot But that would require a huge switch case... Or automatic code generation. And i actually wanna avoid both of them :/ But i think im just gonna try another way. Creating delegates n stuff to acess "EntityComponentStore" and similar other variables to "hack" myself into the EntityManager and CommandBuffer

#

@north bay Yep, but that asmref stuff still dont like me. So thats no option for me. I also updated unity. Nothing :c

north bay Mar 31, 2021, 3:04 PM

#

Oh damn 😦

#

I mean you can copy the actual package code into your project 🤷‍♂️

#

Everytime you update entities you would have to change the internal method to public

stone osprey Mar 31, 2021, 3:05 PM

#

Yeah... i also thought about that. But thats actually more work than writing some reflection code/delegate code ^^ But if my next attempt doesnt work... then i will really edit that damn package

coarse turtle Mar 31, 2021, 3:06 PM

#

oh what happens with the asmrefs @stone osprey ?

stone osprey Mar 31, 2021, 3:09 PM

#

@coarse turtle Rider just messes everything up. It just throws a bunch of errors ^^ For example, a partial classes didnt merged and it just used my partial class... but didnt merged with unities one. Or it tells me that some structs/classes are suddenly missing for whatever reason. Its very, very strange

coarse turtle Mar 31, 2021, 3:10 PM

#

Hmm - I had something similar, I just regenerated the solution and csproj files, you might need to tick one of these arguments in your prefs

#

well if that doesn't work - then yeah probably just copying the package locally to your project would work

stone osprey Mar 31, 2021, 3:21 PM

#

Wait... Thats interesstinf, you could probably saved my life. Im gonna try that out ! But where those arguments ? Player prefs ? ^^

coarse turtle Mar 31, 2021, 3:21 PM

#

Edit -> Preferences -> External Tools

#

You might need to clear Rider's cache also, usually I just delete the .idea/ directory - there's probably a function in Rider to do that (it's been a while since I looked at rider)

stone osprey Mar 31, 2021, 3:45 PM

#

Hmmm...

#

Mine is a bit... short

#

Two options... i now ticked the first one, excited if it works this time

stone osprey Mar 31, 2021, 4:01 PM

#

oh damn... i think this didnt worked :/

#

#

And suddenly the whole project forgot what Unity.Entities is

sturdy rune Mar 31, 2021, 4:06 PM

#

I have had that - vscode/vsce just forgot about being linked to unity

#

does it give errors in unity

#

I actually had to create a new project and copy things into it

#

it was very annoying

stone osprey Mar 31, 2021, 4:07 PM

#

The first time i tried this asmref stuff it did not... currently, it looks like unity really doesnt know that namespace anymore. Atleast theres a debug error inside unitys console

sturdy rune Mar 31, 2021, 4:07 PM

#

tried deleting all .meta and .csproj, but the .soln file I think is what needed fixing

stone osprey Mar 31, 2021, 4:07 PM

#

Hmmm... alright. Could this break the project ? xD

sturdy rune Mar 31, 2021, 4:07 PM

#

yea if ther'es an error in unity during compile it won't work until you're able to recpmile

#

no

#

csproj files are regenerated, meta files done by unity, and soln file is done during compile afaik

stone osprey Mar 31, 2021, 4:10 PM

#

Soo i guess i try that next. I just restarted and cleared riders cache. It still doesnt know all of that unity entities stuff

#

Now i dont even get such a little popup like in the last pic above

#

"Reference assembly Unity.Entities 0.0.0.0"

#

And thats in the console

coarse turtle Mar 31, 2021, 4:15 PM

#

stone osprey Soo i guess i try that next. I just restarted and cleared riders cache. It still...

If you only want the internals accessible, this is what I had done with my asmref. But yeah the sln file just needs some fixing, usually I delete that too and allow it to regenerate when opening the C# project.

stone osprey Mar 31, 2021, 4:20 PM

#

Thanks ! I will add those ^^

#

.meta, .csproj and .soln file...

#

So like those ?

coarse turtle Mar 31, 2021, 4:24 PM

#

yeah - I don't typically delete meta files since that's what unity uses to cross reference assets, usually I will just delete the *.csproj and *.sln files

stone osprey Mar 31, 2021, 4:27 PM

#

Hmmm... well that didnt worked :/

#

It still cant find that namespace

#

Now im gonna add that visible stuff

#

Hmm... adding InternalsVisibleTo didnt helped either. Still none of my scripts is able to find Unity.Entities or any of its structs, classes, methods

#

Kinda sad that theres no real tutorial for it

coarse turtle Mar 31, 2021, 4:33 PM

#

hmm yeah sorry - copying the package locally might just be a better option for you

stone osprey Mar 31, 2021, 4:49 PM

#

Oh well

#

I think i broke my project

#

Or rider, depends

north bay Mar 31, 2021, 5:10 PM

#

Those are the settings I use with which asmrefs work for me

stone osprey Mar 31, 2021, 5:19 PM

#

Thats interessting. I dont have those... I only have two 😮

remote crater Mar 31, 2021, 5:54 PM

#

I have an entity with icomponentdata public Entity me; How do I get that me to a static Monobehavior public Entity variable?

#

I tried this code: https://www.crystalfighter.com/code/code3.txt Apparently you can't set a singleton public variable from Systembase. You'd think they'd have a before and after batch processing of multithreaded that communicated with monobehavior so I figure this code would work, but it didn't. I'm stuck just being able to access my entity by monobehavior which is required to give it input.

remote crater Mar 31, 2021, 6:26 PM

#

figured it out

#

https://www.crystalfighter.com/code/code4txt from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XomlTHitAug&t=284s

YouTube

Code Monkey

Game Objects with Unity DOTS Pathfinding! (ECS mixed with MonoBehav...

✅ Get the Project files and Utilities at https://unitycodemonkey.com/video.php?v=XomlTHitAug
Let's mix normal Game Objects with DOTS in order to benefit from massive performance!

Pathfinding in Unity DOTS / ECS!
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzDRvYVwl53v55lu_TjC21Iu4CuFGQXVn

Pathfinding in Unity ECS!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ub...

▶ Play video

urban summit Mar 31, 2021, 6:49 PM

#

stone osprey Thats interessting. I dont have those... I only have two 😮

Update Rider package

ocean tundra Mar 31, 2021, 7:19 PM

#

@stone osprey Did you get asmrefs going?

#

still rereading it all

safe lintel Mar 31, 2021, 7:46 PM

#

how many kb is a chunk?

ocean tundra Mar 31, 2021, 7:48 PM

#

16 from memory

#

yea 16kb

safe lintel Mar 31, 2021, 7:50 PM

#

chunks are stored on the stack right? do you know what is supposed to happen when you run out of chunk space? it just uses heap memory or stuff crashes?

ocean tundra Mar 31, 2021, 7:51 PM

#

sooo i wouldnt quite say they are stored on the stack

#

not exactly sure where they are, but Unity manages them

#

when you fill a chunk you just get a new chunk

#

i dont know if theres a TOTAL chunk space limit

safe lintel Mar 31, 2021, 7:51 PM

#

ok so chunks are stored on the heap but icd stuff is stack then?

ocean tundra Mar 31, 2021, 7:52 PM

#

i think its all manually managed by unity, not really sure if that is Stack or Heap

#

theres pointers and crazyness inside dots

safe lintel Mar 31, 2021, 7:52 PM

#

i only just started to notice talk about chunk fragmentation or unoptimal chunk useage and it being ideal to "plan out your archetype usage" from the dots best practises thread

ocean tundra Mar 31, 2021, 7:53 PM

#

yea ive seen some of that too

safe lintel Mar 31, 2021, 7:53 PM

#

and i havent really done any planning 😩

ocean tundra Mar 31, 2021, 7:53 PM

#

like instead of having 1 huge player entity with all your components break it up into many

safe lintel Mar 31, 2021, 7:53 PM

#

just been throwing crap together and its been working so far but wondering if its gonna collapse at some point because of my poor planning

ocean tundra Mar 31, 2021, 7:53 PM

#

(player was a poor example as there likely wont be many of those

#

yea i do that too

#

tho ive nicely split out my networking stuff this time

#

what type of game are you making?

safe lintel Mar 31, 2021, 7:54 PM

#

making a retro fps

ocean tundra Mar 31, 2021, 7:55 PM

#

hmm

#

ok so i would say your Player can probably be left however it is, no point it worring about chunks for something you only have 1ish of

#

what do you have a TON of in your game? thats probably where you want to look into chunks

#

npcs?

safe lintel Mar 31, 2021, 7:56 PM

#

tbh i doubt it will be a problem, but im a bit concerned about this sudden recent talk of optimizing and planning ahead of your project given i doubt thats how 90% of unity users approach things, and I wouldve expected dots to be able to handle things better than current unity for free flowing game design

ocean tundra Mar 31, 2021, 7:56 PM

#

i think its more about another optimisation path for those who want/need that extra fps

#

i still think DOTS will handel 99% of stuff

#

but for something like Voxels for example

#

got todo extra thinking around those

safe lintel Mar 31, 2021, 7:59 PM

#

yeah im terrible at math so I stay away from stuff like voxels 🙂

ocean tundra Mar 31, 2021, 7:59 PM

#

haha yup

#

also VERY easy to full a chunk with a single entity if you dont think ahead

#

but how many games will have that much data

karmic pilot Mar 31, 2021, 8:02 PM

#

safe lintel ok so chunks are stored on the heap but icd stuff is stack then?

pretty much everything except local variables/temporary values/etc is on the heap

#

the separation components <-> systems just helps a lot with faster, linear access through data on the heap, as the CPU can prefetch more predictable into cache

ocean tundra Mar 31, 2021, 8:04 PM

#

karmic pilot pretty much everything except local variables/temporary values/etc is on the hea...

Unity controls it all tho right? Or leaves it to c#?

karmic pilot Mar 31, 2021, 8:04 PM

#

almost everything important is directly controlled

ocean tundra Mar 31, 2021, 8:04 PM

#

Yes makes sense

safe lintel Mar 31, 2021, 8:05 PM

#

oh ok this does make more sense i think

karmic pilot Mar 31, 2021, 8:08 PM

#

you can actually look at the source code doing all of this 🙂 except for the direct c++ calls into the engine at some points all the entities package content can be viewed directly

safe lintel Mar 31, 2021, 8:09 PM

#

i wouldnt have understood these concepts just from viewing source code 😉

ocean tundra Mar 31, 2021, 8:14 PM

#

yea i read alot of source code for my job, and Unitys DOTS packages are the most complicated i've seen

#

😛

#

mainly all the unsafe stuff

safe lintel Mar 31, 2021, 8:19 PM

#

i have no idea how the devs pack this stuff into their brain, but maybe thats why its all taking so long? 😀

ocean tundra Mar 31, 2021, 8:20 PM

#

yea its definitely next level c#

karmic pilot Mar 31, 2021, 8:24 PM

#

mostly it is actually "normal" c++ stuff in C#. It's a lot easier to read than equivalents in C++ 🙂 Especially Unity.Collections.Memory and all the memory management

ocean tundra Mar 31, 2021, 8:25 PM

#

i've never learnt c++

#

just never any time

#

and C# has been pretty much the only language ive needed for a while now

#

especially now, .net 5 runs everywhere on everything

karmic pilot Mar 31, 2021, 8:30 PM

#

using c++ efficiently forces you to learn about performance and modern processor architecture, as you are completely responsible for data access patterns

ocean tundra Mar 31, 2021, 8:35 PM

#

yea i get it can make me a better programmer

#

but time

#

😛

sturdy rune Mar 31, 2021, 8:40 PM

#

just fyi - I saw this call for unity tutorial authors, and I know there is a huge lack of content on DOTS/ECS that I would selfishly want filled 🙂 https://www.raywenderlich.com/21471252-open-call-for-applications-on-the-unity-team

ocean tundra Mar 31, 2021, 8:50 PM

#

ooo

#

but thats not Unity is it

#

some other company

sturdy rune Mar 31, 2021, 8:50 PM

#

no it isn't, it's a third party site I have been using tutorials from

#

there was a character controller on there, a pretty good dots/ecs one but it's a bit out of date now

#

if I should remove that's fine I got an email thought it might be of interest - no offense taken

ocean tundra Mar 31, 2021, 8:51 PM

#

yea thats the worst part about dots articles, all out of date in one update

sturdy rune Mar 31, 2021, 8:51 PM

#

lol

karmic pilot Mar 31, 2021, 8:52 PM

#

I don't rely on the official dots articles, only on changelogs in the repository... has the most up to date information you can get

ocean tundra Mar 31, 2021, 8:52 PM

#

yea same

#

tho the offical docs are getting better

#

they are still missing bits tho

karmic pilot Mar 31, 2021, 8:53 PM

#

it is still a LOT of work for technical writers to produce high quality content on such a different topic... even most devs can't wrap their heads around, and they have to explain it in an understandable and practical way

#

so I don't expect them to get everything done anytime soon 😦

ocean tundra Mar 31, 2021, 8:54 PM

#

yea im planning out docs for my networking packages

#

and it sucks 😛

sturdy rune Mar 31, 2021, 8:54 PM

#

I have been using https://docs.unity3d.com/Packages/com.unity.entities@0.17/manual/index.html#

#

but I am brand new

#

... to everything

ocean tundra Mar 31, 2021, 8:54 PM

#

yea thats the right place to start

karmic pilot Mar 31, 2021, 8:55 PM

#

https://github.com/needle-mirror/com.unity.entities if you want to track changes in more detail

#

this is also helpful for other packages, to see what changed

#

especially for those packages where documentation is even more sparse than for the entities one

stone osprey Mar 31, 2021, 9:24 PM

#

Uhmmm... Any ideas why it doesnt find DefaultGameObjectInjectionWorld ?

#

No i havent got asmrefs working :/

#

Currently splitting up my code into asmdefs

ocean tundra Mar 31, 2021, 9:25 PM

#

do you have any asmdefs?

stone osprey Mar 31, 2021, 9:25 PM

#

Now ^^

ocean tundra Mar 31, 2021, 9:25 PM

#

you might be missing a reference

stone osprey Mar 31, 2021, 9:25 PM

#

Well... that ASMdef references com.unity.entities already

ocean tundra Mar 31, 2021, 9:26 PM

#

thats all you need i think

stone osprey Mar 31, 2021, 9:26 PM

#

Oh a restart did the trick

safe lintel Mar 31, 2021, 10:19 PM

#

generally shouldnt need to restart for asmdefs, but it does introduce a lot of headaches if you havent included them

snow iron Apr 1, 2021, 12:05 AM

#

did you see the best practice guide? https://learn.unity.com/course/dots-best-practices

Unity Learn

DOTS Best Practices - Unity Learn

If you’re working on a game (or other real-time simulation) that requires the most efficient CPU usage possible, then Unity’s Data Oriented Technology Stack (DOTS) is a great way to get the performance you need. However, to use DOTS successfully, you can’t simply grab the API documentation and dive straight in. Before you begin creating a projec...

north bay Apr 1, 2021, 12:06 AM

#

safe lintel generally shouldnt need to restart for asmdefs, but it does introduce a lot of h...

Rider regularly breaks when changing asmdefs which fixes itself after restarting so..

#

At least in my experience

snow iron Apr 1, 2021, 12:07 AM

#

snow iron did you see the best practice guide? https://learn.unity.com/course/dots-best-pr...

@karmic pilot and @sturdy rune tagging sorry

sturdy rune Apr 1, 2021, 12:11 AM

#

I have - I am going through unity docs again but went through best practices previously, before I knew what things were :)

snow iron Apr 1, 2021, 12:13 AM

#

ha

#

you might want to read this also: https://forum.unity.com/threads/professional-service-dots-porting-postmortem.1064630/unread

Unity Forum

Unity - Professional Service DOTS-Porting Postmortem

Professional Service DOTS-Porting Postmortem

At Unity Professional Services, we help our users become more successful with their projects made with...

#

just keep in mind that DOTS is considered experimental so you're in some pretty untested waters, unless you want to just use Burst and Jobs

safe lintel Apr 1, 2021, 12:18 AM

#

@snow iron any chance of making that project public?

snow iron Apr 1, 2021, 12:19 AM

#

safe lintel <@!365932506727317505> any chance of making that project public?

unlikely but I can ask the team. It's based on a real world customer AFAIK hence me hedging

safe lintel Apr 1, 2021, 12:20 AM

#

i thought it said it was an internal project

snow iron Apr 1, 2021, 12:21 AM

#

sigh - let me double check with Victor, lol - I've been up for a while and not fully conscious

safe lintel Apr 1, 2021, 12:23 AM

#

I might have misunderstood the phrase Unity project to be internal/unity technologies authored rather than just implying it was an external customers unity project but I appreciate asking 🙂

snow iron Apr 1, 2021, 12:24 AM

#

I've sent him the ask

safe lintel Apr 1, 2021, 12:24 AM

#

thanks!

sturdy rune Apr 1, 2021, 3:01 AM

#

snow iron you might want to read this also: https://forum.unity.com/threads/professional-s...

I have read that it was awesome!! I'm just a slow poke :)

#

I'm reading page after page of docs and have taken a couple dots/ecs courses so I think I get the concepts, just trying to get through the basics before I start

sturdy rune Apr 1, 2021, 4:29 AM

#

Transforms are the most complicated docs page I have seen so far. Also the DOTS Animations link is dead on this page - is that normal? https://docs.unity3d.com/Packages/com.unity.rendering.hybrid@0.11/manual/mesh_deformations.html

snow iron Apr 1, 2021, 5:42 AM

#

sturdy rune Transforms are the most complicated docs page I have seen so far. Also the DOTS ...

thanks - will report to our docs team

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 11:39 AM

#

Sooo im trying to hook into Unity.Entities via asmrefs. This time i nearly got it. But its showing me "Missing MaterialOverride" errors... any ideas why ?

#

#

Once i remove the asmref to Unity.Entities that issue is gone

#

This probably is causing the issue

#

Hmmm... i think i just delete the hybrid render stuff. I dont even use it in my project

#

OMG praise the lord

#

it finally works

#

Thanks to the one who recommended to update the rider package

karmic pilot Apr 1, 2021, 12:02 PM

#

yeah keeping the rider/vs packages up to date has become important since packages have been introduced, as you might miss some project file generation otherwise

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 1:43 PM

#

Yeah ^^ but now finally... i could write a SetComponent for an ECB without having generics :

        public static void SetComponent(this EntityCommandBuffer ecb, Entity entity, object obj) {
            
            ecb.EnforceSingleThreadOwnership();
            ecb.AssertDidNotPlayback();
            ecb.m_Data->m_MainThreadChain.m_CanBurstPlayback = false;
            AddEntityComponentCommandFromMainThread(ecb.m_Data, ecb.MainThreadSortKey, ECBCommand.SetManagedComponentData, entity, obj);
        }

So... now im gonna test if its able to set a boxed struct as an component to an entity. Taking bets... either it works or it crashes

hollow sorrel Apr 1, 2021, 1:52 PM

#

why do you not wanna use generics?

#

or is that not possible here

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 1:53 PM

#

I cant use the generics because all of my structs are boxed when i deserialize them as a packet... and i dont know their type. So im trying to find a way without using generics ^^

#

So im basically trying to write a "SetComponent(Entity en, object boxedStruct)" method which is able to add them to an entity. The way above didnt worked... unity told me that the last method is only for managed classes.

#

So i basically just need to find a way to rewrite this here... to copy the object instead of a struct to that adress

hollow sorrel Apr 1, 2021, 1:57 PM

#

they already are boxed when you deserialize? 😱

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 1:58 PM

#

Yep... because... actually i never saw an Serializer/Deserializer which does not use boxing at some point ^^ I could just return pointers but that wouldnt make it any better... atleast for the entity command buffer

#

Some boxing is acceptable. Network packets are not being received every frame and it produces not that garbage

hollow sorrel Apr 1, 2021, 2:01 PM

#

it's possible if you use codegen, but yea idk if you're using that

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 2:02 PM

#

No i dont use code generation ^^ Meanwhile... its possible to copy an "object" to an ptr location... or ?

hollow sorrel Apr 1, 2021, 2:03 PM

#

yea should be able to pin it

#

fixed (byte* b = someObject)
{
  // do stuff
}

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 2:04 PM

#

Thanks ^^ Well this way i can pin it... but how do i copy the pinned objects to another pointer location ? :/

viral sonnet Apr 1, 2021, 2:05 PM

#

hey o/ When dealing with subscenes, gameobjects and its children are converted. Does anyone know how I can get the converted child entity or call from the children when only the parent has a component for it?

#

what I really want to do is convert a gameobject to a proper entity prefab in a subscene. sadly GOs in subscenes are not handled like that, they are missing a prefab comp for the parent and children and LinkedEntityGroup which is what I want to add now but it's seems complicated 😦

hollow sorrel Apr 1, 2021, 2:07 PM

#

not 100% sure if this works but if you can be sure it's a struct then maybe

fixed (byte* b = someObject)
{
  Buffer.MemoryCopy(b, dest, destSize, lengthOfStruct);
}

where lengthOfStruct = usually sizeof(T), dunno how you'd get that with object

safe lintel Apr 1, 2021, 2:08 PM

#

TryGetPrimaryEntity should yield thr child entity from the child gameobject

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 2:09 PM

#

@hollow sorrel Thanks, im gonna try that ! ^^

#

In typemanager/unsafeutility ... theres an method to get the length of a component by its pure type without generics

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 2:25 PM

#

@hollow sorrel So fixing is not possible... because its a object and we cant fix objects :/ But... we cant pin the adress via GCHandles.

#

#

            byte* data = (byte*)(cmd + 1);
            
            var objHandle = GCHandle.Alloc(component, GCHandleType.Pinned);
            var adress = objHandle.AddrOfPinnedObject();
            Buffer.MemoryCopy((void*)adress, data, sizeNeeded, sizeNeeded);

#

So i hope this works

hollow sorrel Apr 1, 2021, 2:28 PM

#

lmao

#

oh btw

#

@stone osprey if you don't care about boxing, can't you just pass in IComponentData?

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 2:53 PM

#

@hollow sorrel It works ^^ Atleast i get no errors with my internal written method... IComponentData does not work as far as i know :/ Because... its just an interface.

#

        public static void SetComponent(this EntityCommandBuffer ecb, Entity entity, object obj) {

            if (!obj.GetType().IsValueType) {
                
                ecb.EnforceSingleThreadOwnership();
                ecb.AssertDidNotPlayback();
                ecb.m_Data->m_MainThreadChain.m_CanBurstPlayback = false;
                AddEntityComponentCommandFromMainThread(ecb.m_Data, ecb.MainThreadSortKey, ECBCommand.SetManagedComponentData, entity, obj);
            }
            else {
                ecb.EnforceSingleThreadOwnership();
                ecb.AssertDidNotPlayback();
                ecb.m_Data->AddEntityComponentCommand(&ecb.m_Data->m_MainThreadChain, ecb.MainThreadSortKey, ECBCommand.SetComponent, entity, obj);
            }
        }

#

Pretty cool 😮 acessing internal stuff is great

hollow sorrel Apr 1, 2021, 2:55 PM

#

nice 👍

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 3:34 PM

#

Hmmm... or probably it does not work as intended

#

I get no errors... but i get the feeling that it doesnt set the components right

karmic pilot Apr 1, 2021, 3:36 PM

#

got tests for that?

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 3:38 PM

#

What do you mean ?

#

A unit test ?

karmic pilot Apr 1, 2021, 3:39 PM

#

either that or one step higher, integrating your deserialization to the component add

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 3:39 PM

#

Not yet, i just played around with it a bit and i saw that my game isnt working as intended anymore... the component values are not being set. So probably im still doing something wrong in there

karmic pilot Apr 1, 2021, 3:40 PM

#

since you know the data, arranging these tests is pretty straightforward and you can run them after each change to see if it still works as intended

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 3:51 PM

#

So yeah... well... i think my own internal method does not work

#

The components neither get setted or added

#

But there no errors 😮

#

Not exceptions

#

nothing

#

Anyone here knows what this code block does normally ? Or whats a "Entity fix up" is ?

snow iron Apr 1, 2021, 4:04 PM

#

safe lintel thanks!

sorry - it was a collaboration with a customer so we're unable to share the full project

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 4:12 PM

#

Anyone here with an idea why this throws no error... but the component does neither get added or set on the entity ?

       internal static void AddEntityComponentCommand(this EntityCommandBufferData ecbd, EntityCommandBufferChain* chain, int sortKey, ECBCommand op, Entity e, object component){
            
            var ctype = ComponentType.ReadWrite(component.GetType());
            if (ctype.IsZeroSized) {
                ecbd.AddEntityComponentTypeCommand(chain, sortKey, op, e, ctype);
                return;
            }

            var typeSize = UnsafeUtility.SizeOf(component.GetType());
            var sizeNeeded = EntityCommandBufferData.Align(sizeof(EntityComponentCommand) + typeSize, 8);

            ecbd.ResetCommandBatching(chain);
            var cmd = (EntityComponentCommand*)ecbd.Reserve(chain, sortKey, sizeNeeded);

            cmd->Header.Header.CommandType = (int)op;
            cmd->Header.Header.TotalSize = sizeNeeded;
            cmd->Header.Header.SortKey = chain->m_LastSortKey;
            cmd->Header.Entity = e;
            cmd->ComponentTypeIndex = ctype.TypeIndex;
            cmd->ComponentSize = typeSize;

            byte* data = (byte*)(cmd + 1);

            var objHandle = GCHandle.Alloc(component, GCHandleType.Pinned);
            var adress = objHandle.AddrOfPinnedObject();
            var ptr = adress.ToPointer();
            Buffer.MemoryCopy(ptr, data, typeSize, typeSize);
            objHandle.Free();
            
            if (ecbd.RequiresEntityFixUp(data, ctype.TypeIndex))
            {
                if (op == ECBCommand.AddComponent)
                    cmd->Header.Header.CommandType = (int)ECBCommand.AddComponentWithEntityFixUp;
                else if (op == ECBCommand.SetComponent)
                    cmd->Header.Header.CommandType = (int)ECBCommand.SetComponentWithEntityFixUp;
            }
        }

#

So i can call it without any problems... no exceptions or warnings. But it simply does not set/add the passed "object component".

#

And the part where i copy the object into the ECB buffer... works fine *(MyStruct*)data shows the that the object was copied sucessfully

#

Glad for any help here

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 5:25 PM

#

Anyone ?

safe lintel Apr 1, 2021, 5:59 PM

#

@snow iron thanks for the clarification

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 6:20 PM

#

Uhmm... i heard that its not possible to "copy" managed objects into unmanaged memory. Is this true ? Cant find anything online about it

#

This would explain why my stuff above does not work as intended

coarse turtle Apr 1, 2021, 7:51 PM

#

stone osprey Uhmm... i heard that its not possible to "copy" managed objects into unmanaged m...

The closest would be marshaling an object to a pointer. Function call should be Marshal.StructureToPtr.

cobalt dagger Apr 1, 2021, 8:03 PM

#

So I would like to have mesh based pathfinding in Project Tiny. Anyone know what my best option would be? Are there any that do not require monobehaviours that you know of? Or should I roll my own..?

#

I don't need fancy avoidance or anything like that just agents finding a path in a mesh...

safe lintel Apr 1, 2021, 8:32 PM

#

theres a few user made solutions, out there, but Im not sure if any specifically targeted tiny

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 9:25 PM

#

@coarse turtle Well i asked around a bit... and its possible : https://stackoverflow.com/questions/66910174/copy-struct-from-its-boxing-into-allocated-memory/66910448#66910448

Stack Overflow

Copy struct from its boxing into allocated memory?

Background
Lets say i have a struct. Lets also pretend that we dont know its type. Thats why we have it boxed and we cant unbox it.

public struct Player{
public float hp;
public float maxHP...

#

It doesnt copy the boxed object... it copies the struct itself into allocated memory

#

So my self written method for adding/setting components by its boxed value should work

#

But it does not... atleast i dont see my components being added/set... their values do not change

#

        internal static void AddEntityComponentCommand(this EntityCommandBufferData ecbd, EntityCommandBufferChain* chain, int sortKey, ECBCommand op, Entity e, object component){
            
            var ctype = ComponentType.ReadWrite(component.GetType());
            if (ctype.IsZeroSized) {
                ecbd.AddEntityComponentTypeCommand(chain, sortKey, op, e, ctype);
                return;
            }

            var typeSize = UnsafeUtility.SizeOf(component.GetType());
            var sizeNeeded = EntityCommandBufferData.Align(sizeof(EntityComponentCommand) + typeSize, 8);

            ecbd.ResetCommandBatching(chain);
            var cmd = (EntityComponentCommand*)ecbd.Reserve(chain, sortKey, sizeNeeded);

            cmd->Header.Header.CommandType = (int)op;
            cmd->Header.Header.TotalSize = sizeNeeded;
            cmd->Header.Header.SortKey = chain->m_LastSortKey;
            cmd->Header.Entity = e;
            cmd->ComponentTypeIndex = ctype.TypeIndex;
            cmd->ComponentSize = typeSize;

            byte* data = (byte*)(cmd + 1);
            Marshal.StructureToPtr(component, new IntPtr(data), false);
            
            if (ecbd.RequiresEntityFixUp(data, ctype.TypeIndex))
            {
                if (op == ECBCommand.AddComponent)
                    cmd->Header.Header.CommandType = (int)ECBCommand.AddComponentWithEntityFixUp;
                else if (op == ECBCommand.SetComponent)
                    cmd->Header.Header.CommandType = (int)ECBCommand.SetComponentWithEntityFixUp;
            }
        }

This is my modified version, which now uses StructorToPtr

#

And the ecb still does not add/set my components using that method. No errors... debugging also looks right. It just wont... do it

coarse turtle Apr 1, 2021, 9:46 PM

#

stone osprey <@!187031753502752768> Well i asked around a bit... and its possible : https://s...

Right you can pin your object and grab the address - forgot about that.

#

Hmm what about setcompenentdataraw?

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 9:47 PM

#

@coarse turtle Well i guess the copy of that object into the ecb works now. But do you have any idea why the component wont get add/set ? The copy process looks valid... even when debugging...

#

Is this available for ECB ?

coarse turtle Apr 1, 2021, 9:47 PM

#

Oh, through ecb. No it's an Entity manager thing

ocean tundra Apr 1, 2021, 9:48 PM

#

what does component.GetType() return

coarse turtle Apr 1, 2021, 9:48 PM

#

Guess technically you can write your own kind of CommandBuffer which uses that EntityManager.SetComponentDataRaw(...) When you do a playback.

ocean tundra Apr 1, 2021, 9:48 PM

#

the right type? or object?

#

cause its all boxed and stuff

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 9:49 PM

#

Componen.GetType() returns the struct type :/ which is boxed of course... but the struct type is the right one

#

The right type

#

I also debugged that code

#

And when i dereference data it shows the the copied raw struct

#

But it seems like that the ECB ignores my call

#

But it gets weirder :

#

ecb.SetComponent<Velocity(entity, velo);
ecb.SetComponentOnMyOwn(entity, boxedStruct);

Works !! But only when i call that generic method before
only
ecb.SetComponentOnMyOwn(entity, boxedStruct);
Does not work :c

ocean tundra Apr 1, 2021, 9:54 PM

#

does it work with 0 sized components?

#

tags

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 9:54 PM

#

My own variant ? Never tested it... but wait... im gonna create a tag component real fast

#

@ocean tundra No it does not... when i just use my own method on its own ecb.SetComponentMyOwn(entity, new Tagg()); it wont get set or added... when i use one of unitys generics ecb methods to set a component before, then call mine afterwards... it works ecb.SetComponent<Velo>(entity, new Velo()); ecb.SetComponentMyOwn(entity, new Tagg());

ocean tundra Apr 1, 2021, 10:00 PM

#

well that points to the first line right?

#

that get type must be wrong

#

hmm wait your saying its a order depened thing?

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 10:01 PM

#

Im gonna debug this... but it should be right. Yes it is... thats totally weird. My methods alone do not work. But if i use unitys generic before mine... mine do work

#

Its like... i dont know. Its just strange

#

I have never seen such a behaviour

ocean tundra Apr 1, 2021, 10:02 PM

#

god no clue

#

that code is way over my head 😛

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 10:03 PM

#

#

Thats the debug from .GetType(); and the ComponentType

ocean tundra Apr 1, 2021, 10:04 PM

#

is it somehow different when calling unitys code first?

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 10:06 PM

#

@ocean tundra Thats the same debug point... but this time unitys ecb method was called before mine

#

I see no difference here

ocean tundra Apr 1, 2021, 10:07 PM

#

sorry man

#

no clues

#

any of the other opperation parameters?

#

(chain, sortKey, op, e, ctype);

#

theres not really alot that can be different

#

whats that chain thing?

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 10:09 PM

#

Is it possible because i do not pass my objects via "IcomponentData" ? I have no clue what that interface is for... but probably it has an internal meaning

#

Im gonna check that chain thing

coarse turtle Apr 1, 2021, 10:10 PM

#

stone osprey Im gonna debug this... but it should be right. Yes it is... thats totally weird....

Hmm what do you mean by if you use unity generics before your own?

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 10:10 PM

#

@coarse turtle Oh great question... it will blow your mind... one moment

#


            // First unitys method, then the second SetComponent ( which uses the method posted above ) is mine... then mine ( The second one ) does work !
            var random = Random.value*100;
            var testCMP = (object)new TestCMP{test = (long)random};
            cmd.SetComponent<Location>(test, new Location{pos = new Vector2d(20,20)});
            cmd.SetComponent(test, testCMP);

            // Only mine.... without unitys one before... does NOT work
            var random = Random.value*100;
            var testCMP = (object)new TestCMP{test = (long)random};
            cmd.SetComponent(test, testCMP);

#

@coarse turtle Mine selfmade method for the ECB does ONLY work... if Unitys ECB method is used before

coarse turtle Apr 1, 2021, 10:12 PM

#

oh

#

interesting

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 10:12 PM

#

And i have never... ever... seen such a behaviour

ocean tundra Apr 1, 2021, 10:12 PM

#

can it be that SetComponent is not capturing stuff right

#

did you touch that?

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 10:13 PM

#

Capturing ?

coarse turtle Apr 1, 2021, 10:13 PM

#

something I'm curious about is whether or not the TypeManager is returning a valid index for your type

ocean tundra Apr 1, 2021, 10:13 PM

#

like SetComponent needs to record a bunch of stuff so playback will work

#

@coarse turtle yea I thought the same thing

#

but looks right

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 10:14 PM

#

Im gonna compare both typemanager calls... the generic and the type based one... one moment

#

@ocean tundra Shouldnt be the case 😮 but wait... let me change the order of the calls

ocean tundra Apr 1, 2021, 10:15 PM

#

Ooo interesting, good idea

#

that will help point if its the capture to command buffer or playback

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 10:15 PM

#

Oh boy... its getting better.

#

When i first call my method... then the unity one. It does not work at all

#

So 1. Mine, 2. Unitys = Does not work

#

Unitys, 2. Mine = Works

coarse turtle Apr 1, 2021, 10:16 PM

#

that's interesting lol

ocean tundra Apr 1, 2021, 10:16 PM

#

does unitys work if yours is first?

#

PS make sure your building Tests for this

#

😛

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 10:17 PM

#

@ocean tundra See above 😄 it does not work when mine is first... but if unity is first it does work

ocean tundra Apr 1, 2021, 10:18 PM

#

yea i mean the Location component

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 10:18 PM

#

Oh and TypeManager.TypeIndexOf<TestCMP>() and .TypeIndexOf(testcmp.getType()) is the same

ocean tundra Apr 1, 2021, 10:18 PM

#

not your boxed component

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 10:19 PM

#

@ocean tundra What exactly do you mean ? ^^ I think thats what i meant by "Unitys first, then mine"... or do you mean i should try to set the location via mine method ?

ocean tundra Apr 1, 2021, 10:20 PM

#


            cmd.SetComponent(test, testCMP);
 cmd.SetComponent<Location>(test, new Location{pos = new Vector2d(20,20)});```
Does location still get added?

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 10:20 PM

#

Ahhh... wait...

#

It does not 😮

ocean tundra Apr 1, 2021, 10:21 PM

#

ok...

#

so what does that mean 😛

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 10:21 PM

#

So somehow the order matters... and when mine gets called at first... it somehow breaks the ecb

ocean tundra Apr 1, 2021, 10:22 PM

#

the whole SetComponet capture broke? not playback?

#

have you modified SetComponent?

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 10:22 PM

#

Yeah... somehow it breaks the capture mecasim. Of course ^^ wait... time for a pastebin

ocean tundra Apr 1, 2021, 10:22 PM

#

haha

coarse turtle Apr 1, 2021, 10:23 PM

#

would be interesting to see what happens to the EntityCommandBufferChain if it's broken - maybe an iteration broke and it's not linked properly

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 10:23 PM

#

https://pastebin.com/qU9xLXdm

Pastebin

// Those are mine /// /// An internal method which -...

Pastebin.com is the number one paste tool since 2002. Pastebin is a website where you can store text online for a set period of time.

ocean tundra Apr 1, 2021, 10:24 PM

#

how does that chain thing work? points to the next command?

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 10:24 PM

#

I provide my own SetComponent methods... and unity ones.

#

Mine are first

coarse turtle Apr 1, 2021, 10:24 PM

#

Yeah it's pretty much a linked list of commands

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 10:24 PM

#

You should see that its actually some sort of direct copy

coarse turtle Apr 1, 2021, 10:24 PM

#

EntityCommandBufferChain* m_Next; would just store the next recorded command

#

each element in the node contains an integer flag which tells the ECB which operation was recorded

turbid sundial Apr 1, 2021, 10:25 PM

#

In a standard chunk/points/voxels style terrain generation - if I iterate through chunks using Entities.ForEach but also want to parallelize the block generation as well - is that possible? Job within ForEach? Or are there other ways to do something like this

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 10:26 PM

#

@coarse turtle Thats interessting to know 😮 But i havent changed anything regarding the chains... so i think those arent a problem. I get the feeling that one of the generic calls probably... activated something which its type based counterpart is not able to activate

#

Would be great if anyone could take a look at those methods in the pastebin ^^

coarse turtle Apr 1, 2021, 10:28 PM

#

byte* data = (byte*)(cmd + 1);
Marshal.StructureToPtr(component, new IntPtr(data), false); // For this here, data must be reserved to equal the size of your component when you use Marshal.StructureToPtr

ocean tundra Apr 1, 2021, 10:28 PM

#

any changes in AddEntityComponentCommandFromMainThread?

#

hmmm but your code shouldnt go down that branch...

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 10:29 PM

#

@ocean tundra Yeah... but you can ignore that ^^ Its not getting called because the boxed struct is a value type

ocean tundra Apr 1, 2021, 10:29 PM

#

100% sure?? 😛

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 10:30 PM

#

@coarse turtle Well it should... some command before that call should reserve enough space

coarse turtle Apr 1, 2021, 10:30 PM

#

Ah right didn't see that.

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 10:31 PM

#

@ocean tundra Very, very, very sure 😄 It never goes down that branch

ocean tundra Apr 1, 2021, 10:31 PM

#

cool

#

😛

#

just trying to rule everything out

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 10:32 PM

#

I just tested it again... the debug point does not get called ^^ so that branch is fine

#

Im now gonna test the generic methods and their type based counterparts... probably theres something wrong in there

ocean tundra Apr 1, 2021, 10:34 PM

#

can you confirm the size of your component?

#

UnsafeUtility.SizeOf(component.GetType());

#

the typesize

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 10:34 PM

#

SizeOf is a lil different... the generic variant uses "sizeof" and the type based some external dll

#

😄 hehe wait

#

@ocean tundra Nope :c

#

Would be too easy

#

Annnddd thats all... T is actually used two times in unitys method

#

For size... and for type

#

And both are the same with their type based counterpart

coarse turtle Apr 1, 2021, 10:37 PM

#

hmm and the data stored in the data ptr is correct too right 🤔

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 10:37 PM

#

Im gonna check that again ^^

#

A bit difficult... because those are two different assemblys... so i need to have a exact copy of the TestCMP inside my internal stuff

ocean tundra Apr 1, 2021, 10:39 PM

#

and can you capture sort key for the different orders?

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 10:40 PM

#

@coarse turtle I check it... it looks right :

#

@ocean tundra On my way ^^

#

My method first : 2147483647 for my set cmp

#

And unity method first : 2147483647 for my set cmp, after unitys

coarse turtle Apr 1, 2021, 10:44 PM

#

hmm what if you debug the playback - if it looks like the data is all correct

ocean tundra Apr 1, 2021, 10:44 PM

#

yea digging around that looks right

coarse turtle Apr 1, 2021, 10:44 PM

#

then playback might seem like a good culprit 🤔

ocean tundra Apr 1, 2021, 10:44 PM

#

yea time to check out the playback methods

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 10:45 PM

#

Hmmm... i opened the playback method and it looks... awfull xD Where the hell is the part where the entity receives its cmps ?

ocean tundra Apr 1, 2021, 10:45 PM

#

lol

#

im reading it too

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 10:45 PM

#

Damn... so ugly xD

ocean tundra Apr 1, 2021, 10:46 PM

#

oh is burst on or off?

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 10:46 PM

#

Good question

ocean tundra Apr 1, 2021, 10:46 PM

#

maybe just make sure its globaly off for now

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 10:46 PM

#

I assume its off

#

I never understood that window anyways

ocean tundra Apr 1, 2021, 10:47 PM

#

yea i think so

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 10:47 PM

#

So i found this part here... but then it gets worse

ocean tundra Apr 1, 2021, 10:47 PM

#

yea its crazyness

#

can you find AddComponentWithValidation

#

and breakpoint on that

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 10:49 PM

#

Damn... the poor person maintaining this... Wait, im gonna take a quick look at that

coarse turtle Apr 1, 2021, 10:49 PM

#

I'd look at PlayBackChain(...)

ocean tundra Apr 1, 2021, 10:49 PM

#

maybe the playback is trying to play, but the validation is failing

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 10:49 PM

#

I think i found it

ocean tundra Apr 1, 2021, 10:49 PM

#

yup

#

wait thats for add component sorry

#

your doing set right?

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 10:50 PM

#

Yep ^^

ocean tundra Apr 1, 2021, 10:50 PM

#

oh it still calls that method first

#

😛

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 10:50 PM

#

Woww... the naming is great

#

@coarse turtle Im gonna do that next ^^

ocean tundra Apr 1, 2021, 10:51 PM

#

honestly the playback looks ok to me

#

go to EntityCommandBuffer.cs line 2203

#

i think that needs the breakpoint

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 10:51 PM

#

Uhmmm

ocean tundra Apr 1, 2021, 10:51 PM

#

and confirm that the cmd has your data

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 10:52 PM

#

That method... AddComponentWithValidation never gets called

#

The breakpoint does not get invoked

#

@ocean tundra Could you write whats in that line ? ^^ My line just returns a true in there

ocean tundra Apr 1, 2021, 10:53 PM

#

Try ECB,cs line 2039

#

            UnsafeList* managedReferenceIndexRemovalCount,
            ref EntityComponentStore.ArchetypeChanges archetypeChanges,
            ref ECBSharedPlaybackState playbackState,
            ECBChainPlaybackState* chainStates,
            int currentChain,
            int nextChain,
            bool isFirstPlayback,
            PlaybackPolicy playbackPolicy)```

#

thats looks like the non bursted playback

#

except rider tells me it is bursted....

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 10:55 PM

#

Lines arent working here i guess... that method is somewhere else 😮

ocean tundra Apr 1, 2021, 10:55 PM

#

what

#

so weird

#

dam this code is full on insane

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 10:56 PM

#

Im inspecting that method _PlaybackChunk

#

But i dont see data anywhere xD

ocean tundra Apr 1, 2021, 10:56 PM

#

this call

#

PlaybackUnmanagedCommandInternal

#

takes the chain data

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 10:56 PM

#

Ahh the chain data... thought the ptr data of the component ^^ thats what i looked for

ocean tundra Apr 1, 2021, 10:57 PM

#

the command contains the ptr data somewhere

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 10:57 PM

#

Guess what

ocean tundra Apr 1, 2021, 10:57 PM

#

never called?

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 10:57 PM

#

It never runs into that breakpoint

ocean tundra Apr 1, 2021, 10:57 PM

#

wtf

#

must be taking the other branch

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 10:57 PM

#

Dude... i bet this could get qualified as an olympic sport

ocean tundra Apr 1, 2021, 10:57 PM

#

oh no

#

it disappears into some magic unity code

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 10:58 PM

#

Where ? 😮

ocean tundra Apr 1, 2021, 10:58 PM

#

try this

#

            EntityDataAccess* mgr,
            UnsafeList* managedReferenceIndexRemovalCount,
            ref EntityComponentStore.ArchetypeChanges archetypeChanges,
            ref ECBSharedPlaybackState playbackState,
            ECBChainPlaybackState* chainStates,
            int currentChain,
            int nextChain,
            bool isFirstPlayback,
            PlaybackPolicy playbackPolicy)```

#

find that and breakpoint that

#

it switchs based on bustable

#

the bursted branch looks.... confusing

#

can you force CanBurstPlayback OFF?

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 10:59 PM

#

It doesnt even run into that method at all

ocean tundra Apr 1, 2021, 10:59 PM

#

wtf

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 10:59 PM

#

And yes... i have the rider debugger attached xD

#

But wait...

#

Im still calling my own method to set the component before i call unitys one

#

So i assume that my own one is breaking that code before it even reaches that point

ocean tundra Apr 1, 2021, 11:00 PM

#

hmmm

#

yea i would agree

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 11:00 PM

#

Im gonna switch those real quick

ocean tundra Apr 1, 2021, 11:00 PM

#

so back to void PlaybackInternal(EntityDataAccess* mgr)

#

and step though that chain state crazness 😛

#

            // Only chains with non-null Head pointers will be included.```

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 11:01 PM

#

So... meanwhile i switched the lines. First unity, then mine and now it does run into that PlaybackChain method you posted above

ocean tundra Apr 1, 2021, 11:01 PM

#

non null head pointers....

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 11:01 PM

#

#

And it takes the... burst way ?

ocean tundra Apr 1, 2021, 11:02 PM

#

ok in your setcomponent

#

theres some branch setting canbustplayback

#

copy that to the other one

#

force it the other way for now

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 11:03 PM

#

You mean this here ?

#

ocean tundra Apr 1, 2021, 11:03 PM

#

yea

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 11:03 PM

#

But it gets never executed 😮

ocean tundra Apr 1, 2021, 11:03 PM

#

copy that for the other branch

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 11:03 PM

#

Ahh copy

#

and set it to true ?

ocean tundra Apr 1, 2021, 11:04 PM

#

no keep it false

#

sorry need some food

#

try that

#

and then look at the chain state crazyness

#

😛

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 11:05 PM

#

Sooo that didnt worked either xD thanks... go and get some food ^^ Im gonna step now the internal playback

#

So... i think i have something here

#

Something which could solve the issue

#

Im debugging that chain hell in playback/playback_internal

#

And well...

#

When i first call my method... it seems like it... never playbacks ANYTHING

#

Why ?

#

Let me show you

#

This... is the block where we start executing the chains. Great 🙂 But... when i use my method before unitys... then recorded chain count is... zero

#

So it... jumps to the end of the playback and exits it

#

m_Data->RecordedChainCount is... simply 0 when i use my method first

#

So i still have no clue... how i could fix this... but hey. Atleast we know why it happens

coarse turtle Apr 1, 2021, 11:21 PM

#

Look at the Reserve call @stone osprey in your SetComponent, check if its incremented there.

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 11:22 PM

#

@coarse turtle On my way ^^ It actually looks like it gets incremented :

#

#

But wait

#

Interesting

#

The second call... which uses the same ECB... starts at zero again

#

In this case, the unity method call is zero at that point... after it was incremented by my method

coarse turtle Apr 1, 2021, 11:24 PM

#

for the same ecb or a new one? 🤔

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 11:24 PM

#

Its the same i guess

#

coarse turtle Apr 1, 2021, 11:25 PM

#

seems odd that it would start again at zero

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 11:25 PM

#

Yeah 😮

#

theres only one place where it gets resetted

coarse turtle Apr 1, 2021, 11:26 PM

#

so m_RecordedChainCount starts again zero when you call SetComponent again in the EntityCommandBufferData?

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 11:26 PM

#

Yep. It seems like this

#

This is where it gets reset

ocean tundra Apr 1, 2021, 11:27 PM

#

Ooo nice progress

coarse turtle Apr 1, 2021, 11:27 PM

#

hmm

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 11:27 PM

#

Thats the constructor i assume

coarse turtle Apr 1, 2021, 11:27 PM

#

yeah

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 11:27 PM

#

Which doesnt make sense either

coarse turtle Apr 1, 2021, 11:27 PM

#

yeah i dont think that's the case here 🤔

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 11:27 PM

#

Im gonna debug that xD

ocean tundra Apr 1, 2021, 11:28 PM

#

ok dumb question

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 11:28 PM

#

Yeah ?

ocean tundra Apr 1, 2021, 11:29 PM

#

is var cmd = (EntityComponentCommand*)ecbd.Reserve(chain, sortKey, sizeNeeded);

DIFFERENT to

var cmd = (EntityComponentCommand*)Reserve(chain, sortKey, sizeNeeded);

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 11:29 PM

#

Thats actually a good question

#

But i think not

#

I checked the namespace... theres one internal

#

:/

#

And it makes sense

#

Because i have my debug points in that one method... and my own method and unitys are entering it ^^

ocean tundra Apr 1, 2021, 11:31 PM

#

i only see a internal one

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 11:31 PM

#

This one here ^^

#

But i dont see another one

#

So i assume its the only one called Reserve

ocean tundra Apr 1, 2021, 11:32 PM

#

how are you calling a internal method?

#

you got asmrefs working?

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 11:32 PM

#

Yes finally xD

ocean tundra Apr 1, 2021, 11:32 PM

#

oh nice

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 11:32 PM

#

Long story... but i just needed to update the rider package ^^ In external tools and it worked

ocean tundra Apr 1, 2021, 11:32 PM

#

nice ill keep that in mind

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 11:32 PM

#

😄

#

So besides that... that record count...

#

Its definitive the same damn ECB

#

I checked the constructor and this one is only called ONCE

#

So where the heck does that value reset ?

ocean tundra Apr 1, 2021, 11:33 PM

#

in reserve it gets incremented

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 11:34 PM

#

And it does... My method comes first, increments it... and it stays incremented. Then unitys method comes and boom

#

its zero

ocean tundra Apr 1, 2021, 11:34 PM

#

ok so...

#

dumb question 2

#

internal static void AddEntityComponentCommand(this EntityCommandBufferData ecbd, EntityCommandBufferChain* chain, int sortKey, ECBCommand op, Entity e, object component)

#

this is a extention method?

coarse turtle Apr 1, 2021, 11:34 PM

#

only methods I find where it assigns m_RecordedChainCount

#

yea @ocean tundra

ocean tundra Apr 1, 2021, 11:35 PM

#

what happens to structs and extention methods?

#

specifically EntityCommandBufferData?

coarse turtle Apr 1, 2021, 11:35 PM

#

this EntityCommandBufferData believe it is a copy

#

so if you want by reference

ocean tundra Apr 1, 2021, 11:35 PM

#

does it copy?

coarse turtle Apr 1, 2021, 11:35 PM

#

you should do

#

this ref EntityCommandBufferData

#

i do this often for custom extension methods

ocean tundra Apr 1, 2021, 11:35 PM

#

Oooo

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 11:35 PM

#

Wait...

coarse turtle Apr 1, 2021, 11:35 PM

#

so if that's the case then

#

the copy is being passed and set

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 11:36 PM

#

this REF ENTITYCOMMANDBUFFER DATA ?

#

If this works... im gonna kill myself

coarse turtle Apr 1, 2021, 11:36 PM

#

but the recorded ECBData

#

is just a copy.

ocean tundra Apr 1, 2021, 11:36 PM

#

🤞

coarse turtle Apr 1, 2021, 11:36 PM

#

yeah change it to this ref

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 11:37 PM

#

...

#

@coarse turtle I love you

#

It works xD

ocean tundra Apr 1, 2021, 11:37 PM

#

WOOO

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 11:37 PM

#

Such a stupid mistake

#

im gonna cry

#

I hate structs

coarse turtle Apr 1, 2021, 11:38 PM

#

honestly i wouldn't have noticed unless @ocean tundra mentioned it was an extension method

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 11:38 PM

#

😄

ocean tundra Apr 1, 2021, 11:38 PM

#

teamwork!!!

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 11:38 PM

#

Oh damn... thanks a lot... both of you ❤️ Otherwhise i might have spend the whole night on that damn mistake

ocean tundra Apr 1, 2021, 11:38 PM

#

all good

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 11:38 PM

#

If this should ever generate some cash... im gonna pay you xD

ocean tundra Apr 1, 2021, 11:38 PM

#

was a interesting problem 😛

#

sweet ill be here

#

😛

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 11:39 PM

#

😄 So... finally... i can rest in peace...

ocean tundra Apr 1, 2021, 11:39 PM

#

the best feeling

stone osprey Apr 1, 2021, 11:40 PM

#

Im gonna go and take a nap 😄 thanks a lot again... you guys are the best

ocean tundra Apr 1, 2021, 11:53 PM

#

sigh

#

how do we get hybrid renderer working again?

coarse turtle Apr 1, 2021, 11:55 PM

#

not sure 👀 I haven't touched it yet lol

ocean tundra Apr 1, 2021, 11:55 PM

#

😛

#

my fault

#

have it disabled from the default world

remote crater Apr 2, 2021, 2:22 AM

#

I'm at a loss. I tried for hours on this. How do I capture an entity into a monobehavior variable: public Entity myEntity; ?

#

day3 lol

odd ridge Apr 2, 2021, 2:39 AM

#

how does someone queries for entities by the value of a shared component?

remote crater Apr 2, 2021, 2:50 AM

#

If I have a single entity in a scene. How do I get a reference to that entity?

#

I want to change it's acceleration by monobehavior script. I have the entityManager, but no reference to the entity.

#

I am stuck. Gonna go to bed I guess. I hope someone helps me. Maybe day 4 I'll be able to access an Entity to change it's acceleration.

odd ridge Apr 2, 2021, 2:55 AM

#

that should work public Entity myEntity;

#

you assign myEntity by fetching the actual entity from the entity manager

#

then you do what you want with myEntity

remote crater Apr 2, 2021, 2:57 AM

#

I have the entityManager, but how do I fetch?

#

Is there a find, an indexing or ?

odd ridge Apr 2, 2021, 3:06 AM

#

you would use a Query . I suppose you are using a ConvertToEntity script on your game object?

remote crater Apr 2, 2021, 3:07 AM

#

Yes. Just digging through autocomplete, I found: Unity.Collections.NativeArray<Entity> aaa;
aaa=GameBoardModel.entityManager.GetAllEntities();

#

It seems like every entity has an index. This is a good system. How do I find the index of the Entity I have in my scene? Can I search by name like GameObjects? I only knew two ways to access a gameobject and that is through linking em in scene(unavailable so far), and doing GameObject.Find();

#

I was able to find 5 entities in my scene, but no way to tell between them.

odd ridge Apr 2, 2021, 3:13 AM

#

I'm not sure if there's a better way, but the first thing that comes to mind is putting a tag component on your entity, then you can get this entity by the tag

remote crater Apr 2, 2021, 3:16 AM

#

That's not terrible for a temporary solution. How do I do that? I know how to set a tag, how do I reference it?

odd ridge Apr 2, 2021, 3:22 AM

#

I asked on the forum if there's a better solution. I'll tell you if there's a better way

remote crater Apr 2, 2021, 3:24 AM

#

Thanks bro, we look like we're both trying to make heads or tails about this

#

I have this really realy really super awesome game

#

And I already spend 5000 hours on it

#

But I just need to be able to change velocity/acceleration etc of the Player's Entity and I'll have a new mode in one week or so.

#

This is exciting, but I'm just standing staring at a brick wall

#

Maybe I should put on some Pink Floyd, lol.

odd ridge Apr 2, 2021, 3:25 AM

#

did you say 5000

#

😮

remote crater Apr 2, 2021, 3:26 AM

#

yes, if I talk about it tho, people help me less because they tell me it isn't posisble

#

I'll whisper you a key

odd ridge Apr 2, 2021, 3:28 AM

#

cool

zenith wyvern Apr 2, 2021, 4:08 AM

#

odd ridge how does someone queries for entities by the value of a shared component?

https://docs.unity3d.com/Packages/com.unity.entities@0.17/api/Unity.Entities.EntityQuery.SetSharedComponentFilter.html https://docs.unity3d.com/Packages/com.unity.entities@0.17/api/Unity.Entities.LambdaJobQueryConstructionMethods.WithSharedComponentFilter.html

odd ridge Apr 2, 2021, 4:09 AM

#

thanks Sark

zenith wyvern Apr 2, 2021, 4:10 AM

#

remote crater If I have a single entity in a scene. How do I get a reference to that entity?

You should take a step back and go through the ECS samples and a carefully read the accompanying readmes. It will save you a lot of time in the long run. https://github.com/Unity-Technologies/EntityComponentSystemSamples/tree/master/ECSSamples/Assets/HelloCube/1. ForEach

remote crater Apr 2, 2021, 4:28 AM

#

Yah I have that, it rocks.

#

But it does not answer how to assign an entity to a monobehavior singleton.

#

Here's a video I showed the other day because I was impressed with it, to show you how long I've been stuck on this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ws-7rqluv6w

YouTube

GoodNewsJim

This ECS demo really impressed me. Unity DOTS.

ECS DOTS lets you have 10-1000x as many poly on screen by unlocking cores. So as more and more people play these games, they'll buy CPUs with more and more cores. Maybe in 6 years we have 1024 cores and stuff, so then we are able to render 1000x-100,000 more objects.

Download ECS examples that you can import right into your UNITY hub, from th...

▶ Play video

#

Guess I've been stuck on this for well over 8 days now. I just wish someone could help me with syntax because it is so so hard to find documentation online that isn't outdated. I'm just trying to assign a reference to a DOTS/ECS entity to a monobehavior singleton: public static Entity playerEntity;

zenith wyvern Apr 2, 2021, 4:35 AM

#

remote crater Guess I've been stuck on this for well over 8 days now. I just wish someone cou...

Create an entity query and access your entity through that

#

https://hatebin.com/wicymposum

#

I guess you want something like that?

remote crater Apr 2, 2021, 4:39 AM

#

Maybe... Let me try,

#

Thanks for trying also! God bless ya Sark.

#

I used to have a matchbox car that looked like a Tron Shark. I called it the Sark car.

#

Do I put that in a monobehavior attached to the gameobject that will convert to Entity? Also, what goes in whatever?

zenith wyvern Apr 2, 2021, 4:45 AM

#

Put it wherever you want, it's querying for an entity so it's not limited to any scope. All that matters is that the entity exists before you query for it. I'm assuming conversion would happen before GameObject Start but I'm not sure

remote crater Apr 2, 2021, 4:45 AM

#

I'm streaming on twitch.tv/goodnewsjim if you wanted to watch me monkey this, lol.

#

Well if it doesn't exist at first, I can do it during update...

#

I don't know any query syntax at all. This page is not helpful to me: https://docs.unity3d.com/Packages/com.unity.entities@0.0/manual/component_group.html

zenith wyvern Apr 2, 2021, 4:47 AM

#

That's an ancient version of the manual - note the "0.0". There should be a blue button at the top to "view latest version" if you're on desktop.

remote crater Apr 2, 2021, 4:47 AM

#

oooh

#

ty, see where this rabbit hole goes

#

Small note: Start and update in that monobehavior cannot run because when attached to a gameobject that gets converted to an entity, the entity no longer can run monobehavior scripts attached. I'm not stuck yet tho. From: #archived-dots message

#

I got it working! Ooooh! Navy Seals!

#

So uh i'll post code.

#

So here's my code: https://hatebin.com/tyvodupuhs

#

It has to be done when converting from gameobject to Entity

odd ridge Apr 2, 2021, 5:22 AM

#

wait a minute

odd ridge Apr 2, 2021, 5:26 AM

#

remote crater So here's my code: https://hatebin.com/tyvodupuhs

does this do what you want to do?

#

I mean, have you tested it?

ocean tundra Apr 2, 2021, 6:47 AM

#

@remote crater Yea that code is about converting GOs into Entities

#

not sure that use is a good idea

#

instead put that code into Start of a MB somewhere

#

or even better put it into your game loading code somewhere so you have exact control over when it runs

#

I'm using the event entities pattern, i often create, process and destory the entity within a frame or 2, BUT it makes my entity inspector useless,
Is this just a bad pattern?

odd ridge Apr 2, 2021, 7:08 AM

#

ocean tundra I'm using the event entities pattern, i often create, process and destory the en...

it's a good pattern. if you want to be able to inspect your events in the inspector, you would put a Completed tag on your events instead of destroying them

ocean tundra Apr 2, 2021, 7:09 AM

#

oh yea... the inspector

#

if i used streams or queues or something wouldnt be able to inspect

#

Anyone know what the rules are around self promotion and team finding/collaboration on this Discord?
I've got a few more items TODO on my networking tech then would like to try find a alpha user to work with to add it into their game

turbid sundial Apr 2, 2021, 7:46 AM

#

Hey, having an issue with some DOTS generated terrain and hybrid renderer V2. UVs are set, but looks like everything is one big silhouette. What obvious step am I missing here?

karmic basin Apr 2, 2021, 10:32 AM

#

ocean tundra Anyone know what the rules are around self promotion and team finding/collaborat...

what the rules are around self promotion and team finding/collaboration on this Discord
This part is handled on the official Unity forums.

#

Otherwise you can try other discords. Guess I cant promote here.

acoustic spire Apr 2, 2021, 4:36 PM

#

Speaking of Burst optimizations, is it correct to suppose that structures are zero overhead abstractions?
I.e. I can wrap an integer into 5 nested structures and the performance would be the same as if I used the integer directly. Or mb it's built-in optimization for any .net platform, not aware of it

torn hollow Apr 2, 2021, 4:54 PM

#

A while ago I talked about optimizing my boids program on here and someone suggested keeping GPU Instancing for gameobjects and jobifying the rules of each boid. I am stuck on how i make JOBs and gameobjects talk to each other in a way i can use .transform.
So far I have eliminated:

IJOBParallelForTransform → get unboxing problems
IJobParallelFor → cannot use .transform
NativeArray<GameObject> → not allowed since NativeArray cannot contain non nullable types
Coroutines → run from main thread

Based on this link: https://www.reddit.com/r/Unity3D/comments/8i91dl/using_new_job_system_to_perform_actions_on/

my next plan would be to write a dictionary that contains refrences to the gameobjects.

Anyone have any ideas on this?

Note: I am working in a team and the project is OOP based, so I would like to keep the gameobjects as they are.

hollow sorrel Apr 2, 2021, 5:11 PM

#

@acoustic spire should be yeah
i think part of the reason burst only supports value types like structs is it's a 1:1 representation in memory

#

and struct with 1 int should be identical to just 1 int in memory

amber flicker Apr 2, 2021, 5:24 PM

#

torn hollow A while ago I talked about optimizing my boids program on here and someone sugge...

I think you're most likely looking for TransformAccessArray and friends. I think it's a little out of date but here's a reference: https://medium.com/@5argon/unity-ecs-how-to-use-transformaccessarray-correctly-disposing-e7e574d18d0c

#

Note that you can read transforms in parallel and set them on a single thread that's off main

#

Another note: <= 100 transforms, manipulating regular Unity .transform on the main thread is quite a bit quicker than just the job scheduling overhead in my testing - though ymmv

sharp flax Apr 2, 2021, 5:38 PM

#

torn hollow A while ago I talked about optimizing my boids program on here and someone sugge...

IJobParallelForTransform should def. work, the only "but" IIRC is that is not using friendly data for the mathematics lib (float3, quaternion), but if you're not hardcore about it is more than enough. You could also have your own representation of the transform using nativearrays, apply the boids rules in job/s and then apply the result in the IJobParallelForTransform

torn hollow Apr 2, 2021, 6:40 PM

#

thank you all for the feedback :) will work on it tonight

ocean tundra Apr 2, 2021, 7:35 PM

#

karmic basin > what the rules are around self promotion and team finding/collaboration on thi...

Thanks, I was afraid of that. Dont feel ready enough for a forum post yet 😛

odd ridge Apr 2, 2021, 10:33 PM

#

acoustic spire Speaking of Burst optimizations, is it correct to suppose that structures are ze...

there will be zero overhead but if you have that much thing packed inside a single struct only to access one int, you will have a poor cache hit rate

acoustic spire Apr 2, 2021, 10:36 PM

#

odd ridge there will be zero overhead but if you have that much thing packed inside a sing...

Sure. I took exacerbated example. Usually there is no need to wrap
primitives more than 1 time.

odd ridge Apr 2, 2021, 10:36 PM

#

gotcha

robust scaffold Apr 3, 2021, 12:56 AM

#

Internal: deleting an allocation that is older than its permitted lifetime of 4 frames (age = 5)
Hrm. Surprisingly caused by lack of vsync on game window.

calm edge Apr 3, 2021, 4:25 AM

#

So apparently I'm supposed to be using build configurations if I'm using DOTS? Is there any info on how to set it up properly? I'm getting a crash at startup in GameAssembly.dll!GameObjectSceneUtility_AddGameObjectSceneReferences_mCA24ACDDBE1FB3CE50403880BFA3FC7D85564C27 currently

turbid sundial Apr 3, 2021, 6:42 AM

#

Trying to apply a material with RenderMeshDescription in an Entities.ForEach - this loop happens to be one of the biggest slowdowns in my procgen code. Unfortunately it requires a Material as an argument, but materials are not reference types so I get the Entities.ForEach Lambda expression captures a non-value type 'baseMaterial'. This is only allowed with .WithoutBurst() and .Run() - is non-burstable the only way to go here?

lusty otter Apr 3, 2021, 10:03 AM

#

How's AllocateWritableMeshData comparing to the good old managed API like SetVertexBufferData in terms of performance?

#

I have recently upgraded from 2019 LTS to 2020 LTS, wondering if I should switch.

#

The thing I've noticed is that to apply mesh data you must use ApplyAndDisposeWritableMeshData which also disposes the data

#

I need to do mesh generation every frame, which means I need to do AllocateWritableMeshData call every frame, and in docs it says:

Creating a MeshDataArray has some overhead for memory tracking and safety reasons, so it is more efficient to make a single call to Mesh.AllocateWritableMeshData and request multiple MeshData structs in the same MeshDataArray than it is to make multiple calls to Mesh.AllocateWritableMeshData.

#

Does that mean I should just stick with the old API instead?

sharp flax Apr 3, 2021, 10:29 AM

#

lusty otter How's ``AllocateWritableMeshData`` comparing to the good old managed API like ``...

I had no idea this existed. Only used the "new" mesh api once, but it looks like a convenient way to wrap the stuff you had to do manually. My guess is that if you have a somewhat big mesh its faster to have your own persistent buffers and set the length of vertices/indices with what you call "the old api" (which to me is the new one xD)

lusty otter Apr 3, 2021, 10:37 AM

#

That's my guess as well, but then I also don't know how SetVertexBufferData works internally. For example, although SetVertexBufferData can take NativeArray, but if it still internally has to copy it to managed memory, then it's no different from just calling AllocateWritableMeshData every frame to allocate new memory.

#

I don't know why ApplyAndDisposeWritableMeshData forces you to dispose it, I'd like to modify the mesh data that's already built (or even at the very least, reuse the same memory so I don't have to allocate again) for better performance.

#

In comparison I can simply have _vertices = new NativeList<VertexBufferData>(...), operate it however I like including using it in bursted jobs, have it persist across multiple frames and no need to reallocate unless list size exceeds previous capacity (if you have a good estimate on how many vertices you have then it will never happen), and whenever I need to apply to mesh I can do _mesh.SetVertexBufferData(_vertices.AsArray(), ...)

#

It just seems better in every way possible, except the applying to mesh step which I have some question marks about, and there seems to be no information online comparing the two.

sharp flax Apr 3, 2021, 10:45 AM

#

I'd let the profiler speak, try both, compare results 🙂

#

But yeah if its doing what we think it'd be nice to have a way to prevent disposing

karmic basin Apr 3, 2021, 11:01 AM

#

calm edge So apparently I'm supposed to be using build configurations if I'm using DOTS? I...

https://docs.unity3d.com/Packages/com.unity.entities@0.17/manual/install_setup.html#standalone-builds

frosty siren Apr 3, 2021, 3:52 PM

#

When A's component refers B's component then after conversion i have null ref on A's component. Is there a way to avoid such results?

#

pulsar jay Apr 3, 2021, 4:17 PM

#

frosty siren When A's component refers B's component then after conversion i have null ref on...

AFAIK there is no way to reference components directly. They can only be referenced via their entity

sharp flax Apr 3, 2021, 4:38 PM

#

Are FixedLists allocated on the stack?

#

Also, intrigued about if there's some technical reason for the missing pow2 gaps

frosty siren Apr 3, 2021, 4:47 PM

#

pulsar jay AFAIK there is no way to reference components directly. They can only be referen...

It is also not possible to use GetComponentsInChildren, because hierarchy exists only on entity side

pulsar jay Apr 3, 2021, 4:48 PM

#

frosty siren It is also not possible to use GetComponentsInChildren, because hierarchy exists...

Yes in these cases I store a reference to the child entity and then use EntityManager.GetComponent on it

hollow sorrel Apr 3, 2021, 4:56 PM

#

sharp flax Are FixedLists allocated on the stack?

yes

#

dunno why they have missing gaps tho, maybe they didn't wanna clog up the namespace with more than necessary

calm edge Apr 3, 2021, 4:58 PM

#

karmic basin https://docs.unity3d.com/Packages/com.unity.entities@0.17/manual/install_setup.h...

Yeah, I've seen that, but it doesn't really explain how to actually set up the builds

hollow sorrel Apr 3, 2021, 4:59 PM

#

also it seems fixedlists don't support resizing thonking seems weird to call it fixedlist instead of fixedarray then

sharp flax Apr 3, 2021, 5:02 PM

#

docs say its "resizable list", there's add and addnoresize, why have both if its not resizable? maybe it is actually resizable ?

north bay Apr 3, 2021, 5:07 PM

#

It keeps track of it's current length, the capacity is fixed

karmic basin Apr 3, 2021, 5:12 PM

#

calm edge Yeah, I've seen that, but it doesn't really explain how to actually set up the b...

Mine is as simple as that at the moment. Enough to launch a build and see stuff moving. You can click add component and explore yourself I guess. Never searched if there's a resource with some doc about it 🤷‍♂️

#

There's a LiveLink one which is promising, but I removed it as my machine struggles a bit when I try.

#

ANd I'm sure I miss cool ones

hollow sorrel Apr 3, 2021, 5:17 PM

#

sharp flax docs say its "resizable list", there's add and addnoresize, why have both if its...

ah yea you're right, docs do say that
looking at the code itself tho, I don't see how that is the case?
AddNoResize just calls Add:

#

Add just calls a set:

#

and set is just a writearrayelement without resizing:

sharp flax Apr 3, 2021, 5:18 PM

#

Maybe its placeholder for the future? I was testing it, nice to see that it is actually the same lol

hollow sorrel Apr 3, 2021, 5:19 PM

#

yeah that could be the case

zenith wyvern Apr 3, 2021, 5:22 PM

#

AddNoResize is only there because it implements the "INativeList" interface

#

It's "Fixed" because the list always takes up the same amount of memory regardless of how many elements it has, there's no actual resizing

stone osprey Apr 3, 2021, 5:32 PM

#

When i call "system.CreateCommandBuffer();" does this allocate memory ? Like 32B ? I get the feeling that it does :/ Does anyone know more about this ?

zenith wyvern Apr 3, 2021, 5:33 PM

#

It shouldn't. Show the code

hollow sorrel Apr 3, 2021, 5:33 PM

#

ye but then why is it called fixedlist and not fixedarray

zenith wyvern Apr 3, 2021, 5:34 PM

#

hollow sorrel ye but then why is it called fixedlist and not fixedarray

FixedList gives you a "fake" container that lets you treat it as a resizable list, even though it's technically not one. So you can do things like nest these "resizable" lists and it would work even in jobs/burst

stone osprey Apr 3, 2021, 5:35 PM

#

@zenith wyvern Well... it does call some allocs under the hood when you take a look at the .Create method... but im not sure about it because i dont understand it that good. Never the less... this is the method that generates 32B of garbage. Deep profiling just tells me that this method generates 32 B of "Gc alloc" but it doesnt show me what exactly it causes.

 public Entity Process<T>(ref EcsCommand<T> command) where T : struct, IComponentData {
            
            var opcode = command.Opcode;
            var entity = command.Entity;
            var data = command.Data;
            var type = data.GetType();

            // Create buffer and filter possible layers
            ref var commandBuffer = ref CreateCommandBuffer();
            var operationProcessor = OperationProcessor[opcode];
            var manualProcessor = ManualProcessors.ContainsKey(type) ? ManualProcessors[type] : null;
            var exists = entity != Entity.Null && Manager.HasComponent(entity, type);

            // Prevent a null entity from add/update/remove operations
            if (entity == Entity.Null && opcode != Operation.CREATE) return Entity.Null;

            var operation = new ECSOperation<T> {
                command = command,
                entityManager = Manager,
                ecb = commandBuffer,
                ecsManualProcessor = manualProcessor,
                type = type,
                exists = exists
            };
            return operationProcessor.Process(ref operation);
        }

#

Probably a bit difficult... but actually everything is a struct

zenith wyvern Apr 3, 2021, 5:36 PM

#

Basically it's not an array because you can treat it like a list - you can add elements or clear the "list". That works how you would expect it to work even though it's not technically a list

stone osprey Apr 3, 2021, 5:36 PM

#

Besides operation & manual processor

north bay Apr 3, 2021, 5:36 PM

#

ECSOperatoin is a class?

stone osprey Apr 3, 2021, 5:36 PM

#

A struct... my own one

#

Like ECSCommand

#

Thats why i dont know what exactly produces garbage here... im just using a bunch of structs and i dont box anything

#

So i assume its the CreateCommandBuffer call which creates or reuses a command buffer

#

thats why i asked

#

    /// <summary>
    /// An ECS command getting applied to the ecs. 
    /// </summary>
    public struct EcsCommand<T> where T : struct, IComponentData {

        public Operation Opcode{ get; set; }
        public Entity Entity { get; set; }
        public string TypeID { get; set; }
        public T Data { get; set; }
    }
    /// <summary>
    /// A struct which describes a ECS operation. <see cref="IOperationProcessor"/> do take of those to execute the described operation on an entity
    /// </summary>
    public struct ECSOperation<T> where T : struct, IComponentData{

        public EcsCommand<T> command;
        public EntityManager entityManager;
        public EntityCommandBuffer ecb;
        public IECSManualProcessor ecsManualProcessor;
        public Type type;
        public bool exists;
    }

If someone wants to know how those are looking

zenith wyvern Apr 3, 2021, 5:37 PM

#

I've used commands buffers a lot and never had an issue with it generating garbage

#

So I would assume it's something else

stone osprey Apr 3, 2021, 5:38 PM

#

Hmmm... but what ? :/ The deep profiler doesnt help either... it justs lists it as "Gc alloc" in that method shown above.

zenith wyvern Apr 3, 2021, 5:39 PM

#

I have no idea, you have too much going on there. Reduce your problem

stone osprey Apr 3, 2021, 5:40 PM

#

Ok besides that. What does it mean when theres something listed as "GC alloc" in the deep profiler ? I would assume that its either a direct alloc call... or a boxing operation... or am i wrong ?

zenith wyvern Apr 3, 2021, 5:40 PM

#

It could be anything that's allocating on the heap

stone osprey Apr 3, 2021, 5:40 PM

#

Hmmm... but doesnt an EntityCommandBuffer allocate memory on the heap ?

#

zenith wyvern Apr 3, 2021, 5:41 PM

#

No. It's a native container.

mint iron Apr 3, 2021, 5:41 PM

#

mmm, i thought if a struct contains a class it gets allocated on the heap

stone osprey Apr 3, 2021, 5:42 PM

#

@mint iron I never heard of that... but im gonna look into it. Probably thats the case here 😮 but it would be weird

hollow sorrel Apr 3, 2021, 5:42 PM

#

zenith wyvern Basically it's not an array because you can treat it like a list - you can add e...

ye i guess that makes sense

mint iron Apr 3, 2021, 5:43 PM

#

i remember it from many years ago on a StackOverflow answer but i can't remember the details, i could be wrong, or maybe it doesn't apply to Unity.

hollow sorrel Apr 3, 2021, 5:47 PM

#

does it actually contain a class?

zenith wyvern Apr 3, 2021, 5:47 PM

#

string

#

That would only allocate if you were doing typical string operations that do allocate, like concatenation

hollow sorrel Apr 3, 2021, 5:48 PM

#

oh it's his own struct

zenith wyvern Apr 3, 2021, 5:48 PM

#

Also "Type"

hollow sorrel Apr 3, 2021, 5:48 PM

#

in that case yea

stone osprey Apr 3, 2021, 5:50 PM

#

Hmm... im already searching, but i think thats not the case. A struct should not allocate memory when you pass a already allocated class into it

#

And .GetType(); returns the same object every time... its cached

#

Oh damn

#

Well ok... according to this article... it does

#

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/14220812/are-structs-available-for-garbage-collection

Stack Overflow

Are structs available for Garbage Collection?

struct a
{
public string str;
}

a bb = new a();
class a
{
public string str;
}

a bb = new a();
Is it correct to say that classes are always garbage collected? Are structs kept in memory (

#

Or wait... it does not... damn im confused

zenith wyvern Apr 3, 2021, 5:57 PM

#

ref CreateCommandBuffer() what is this function doing?

stone osprey Apr 3, 2021, 6:00 PM

#

@zenith wyvern Oh ^^ Its a little method which looks like this...

        public ref EntityCommandBuffer CreateCommandBuffer() {

            if (!entityCommandBuffer.IsCreated || !StartCommandBufferSystem.ActiveEntityCommandBuffer(ref entityCommandBuffer)) {
                entityCommandBuffer = StartCommandBufferSystem.CreateCommandBuffer();
                return ref entityCommandBuffer;
            }
            return ref entityCommandBuffer;
        }

It only creates a new entity command buffer when a new one is required. .ActiveEntityCommandBuffer checks if the command buffer is still "pending" and valid.
This one does not create garbage... so i think the command buffer in total does not create garbage. Otherwhise the deep profiler would list CreateCommandBuffer

zenith wyvern Apr 3, 2021, 6:01 PM

#

Well I have no idea if it would be generating garbage but you shouldn't be caching command buffers between frames

stone osprey Apr 3, 2021, 6:01 PM

#

It does not ^^

#

I just cache it FOR the frame... difficult to explain. My layer just receives ECS operations and executes them. But it doesnt know when a new frame is starting and when its ending. Thats why i designed it that way. Its just some sort of utility

#

So i receive a ECS Command... which creates a new ECB and once the next one comes it checks if the ECB is still valid and reuses it. When i receive a ECS Command in the next frame, the previous cached ECB is out of order and it generates a new one

zenith wyvern Apr 3, 2021, 6:09 PM

#

It could be ManualProcessors[type]

#

I've had issue with dictionary key access generating allocations if I don't pass in a custom comparer

stone osprey Apr 3, 2021, 6:11 PM

#

Thanks, im gonna look into this ! ^^ This could probably be the case... because i didnt gave my enum an equals or comparator.

stone osprey Apr 3, 2021, 6:30 PM

#

Besides that... can we use one ECB for multiple operations ? Like having one that adds a few components, then sets a few afterwards ?

cerulean forge Apr 3, 2021, 7:11 PM

#

Is there anything like a 'reactive system' in the Unity ecs? Which triggers when components are added/removed

night venture Apr 3, 2021, 8:03 PM

#

Hi.

Trying to understand pure ECS and avoid using monobehaviour/gameobjects.
I'm able to move an object on my scene, using a gameobject with DOTS create entity component attached...but i'll like to create entities 100% from code.

So far, this is what I got:

    protected override void OnStartRunning() {
        Debug.Log("OnStartRunning...");
        Entity car= CarSystem.manager.CreateEntity(CarSystem.archetype);
        manager.AddComponentData(car, new Translation {
            Value = new float3(-10f, 0.5f, 0f)
        });
        manager.AddSharedComponentData(car, new RenderMesh {
            mesh = this.mesh,                                   //<------------------------------THIS IS WANT I WANT TO CHANGE
            material = new Material(Shader.Find("Standard"));
        });
    }

Similar to Material...is there a way to easily attach a Cube mesh or something similar to make my "hello world"?

karmic basin Apr 3, 2021, 8:47 PM

#

cerulean forge Is there anything like a 'reactive system' in the Unity ecs? Which triggers when...

Systems are based on queries (and filters). If the query (/filter) returns nothing, your system update won't execute. I guess you can call that reactive.

#

So if you're looking for an already set callback, I don't think so, but you can easily add your own system to react when a specific component is present.

cerulean forge Apr 3, 2021, 8:50 PM

#

I don't want to react when a component is active, I want to react the frame it is added (or perhaps changed). The component might persist for many frames after that.

night venture Apr 3, 2021, 8:52 PM

#

cerulean forge I don't want to react when a component is active, I want to react the frame it i...

https://docs.unity3d.com/Packages/com.unity.entities@0.10/manual/ecs_entities_foreach.html docs mentions something similar

#

"...In cases where you only want to process an entity component when another entity of that component has changed since the last time the current SystemBase instance has run..."

#

perhaps that could help you

cerulean forge Apr 3, 2021, 8:53 PM

#

Ah, that's exactly what I am looking for

night venture Apr 3, 2021, 8:53 PM

#

🙂

cerulean forge Apr 3, 2021, 8:53 PM

#

I thought I remembered that it existed, but couldn't find it anymore

#

thanks 🙂

night venture Apr 3, 2021, 8:54 PM

#

perhaps you could help me in return 😇 🥴 ?

karmic basin Apr 3, 2021, 8:57 PM

#

cerulean forge Ah, that's exactly what I am looking for

Yeah so that's a filter

#

@night venture RenderMesh.Mesh is a UnityEngine.Mesh, so you can create one from code like usual

#

dots physics package also added some BoxGeometry thing, could be even easier. But I never tried, only saw them use it in their unit tests

night venture Apr 3, 2021, 9:05 PM

#

let me try that render thing...

karmic basin Apr 3, 2021, 9:06 PM

#

unless there's some conversion involved, hope I'm not mistaken

#

I assume you do it for learning purposes ? Otherwise it's really recommended to go hybrid, and ignore pure ECS at the moment

night venture Apr 3, 2021, 9:06 PM

#

is RenderMesh.Mesh correct?

karmic basin Apr 3, 2021, 9:06 PM

#

.mesh

night venture Apr 3, 2021, 9:06 PM

#

yes, pure ecs for learning

#

RenderMesh does not have those properties/methods

karmic basin Apr 3, 2021, 9:07 PM

#

It's like you wrote, in your RenderMesh struct

night venture Apr 3, 2021, 9:07 PM

#

perhaps MeshRenderer?

karmic basin Apr 3, 2021, 9:08 PM

#

this.mesh should be ok to be a UnityEngine.Mesh if I'm not mistaken

night venture Apr 3, 2021, 9:09 PM

#

but how i create that mesh?...that the question...if you look following line, material is created by a static method Find.

#

is there any way to create a "cube" mesh from code?

karmic basin Apr 3, 2021, 9:10 PM

#

yep, but nothing to do with dots

#

like the usual way

#

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

night venture Apr 3, 2021, 9:11 PM

#

...at #💻┃code-beginner they said gameobject, but as far as i know, that's not DOTS but mono

#

i mean...are "visible objects" gameobjects and everything else is dots?

light mason Apr 3, 2021, 9:12 PM

#

Question for the group, anyone used Dots in VR project for oculus quest 2

night venture Apr 3, 2021, 9:14 PM

#

I'll try asking other way: DOTS paradigm is built around Entities (collection of components) and Systems (handle components)...but object show on screen are "gameobjects"?

light mason Apr 3, 2021, 9:16 PM

#

That depends I guess

zenith wyvern Apr 3, 2021, 9:17 PM

#

night venture I'll try asking other way: DOTS paradigm is built around Entities (collection of...

Entities rendered via the hybrid renderer, which is the dots way to render right now, do not use gameobjects in any way

night venture Apr 3, 2021, 9:18 PM

#

probably my questions are clear enough to get a clear answer...my fault.

#

does unity provide something similar to Mesh m=new Mesh("Cube"); to get a 3D cube mesh ?

zenith wyvern Apr 3, 2021, 9:20 PM

#

For a cube gameobject, yes, for a cube mesh, no

#

https://docs.unity3d.com/ScriptReference/GameObject.CreatePrimitive.html