#archived-code-advanced

1 messages · Page 171 of 1

maiden turtle
#

Here's the link if you're interested

#

It works pretty well for me

sudden idol
#

I'm not sure that it's necessary since all I have to do is write something like this for new types of events

    public IntGameEvent Event;
    protected override GameEvent<int> GetEvent() {
        return Event;
    }
}```
but thank you
final steeple
#

Yeah ultimately I wouldn't use code generation for this myself

#

Unity actually does support serializing generics (i.e., using GameEventListener<int> directly instead of a subclass) but I don't think that applies to storing them as assets currently

#

Generic serialization support was added in... 2020.1 I think

sudden idol
#

What do you mean by serializing generics in this context? My IntGameEventListener is a monobehaviour That I need to attach to gameobjects. It there a way to do that without creating IntGameEventListner and using the base class? (GameEventListner<int>)

final steeple
#

Unfortunately it's not supported for MonoBehaviours or ScriptableObjects at the moment, just regular classes and structs

sudden idol
#

got it

final steeple
#

So no, to my knowledge there is no way around this other than coming up with another design

#

It's just an unfortunate quirk of Unity

granite viper
#

You may be able to use [SerializeReference]

final steeple
#

That wouldn't work for a component unfortunately

#

UnityEngine.Object types are already serialized by reference

#

[SerializeReference] is for custom class types

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Unity's whole serialization system is just a janky mess

compact ingot
#

Just do it like everyone else and make a nongeneric derived class like it has been suggested, this discussion is pointless

final steeple
#

I don't think it's a pointless discussion -- imo that pattern sucks and we only really do it because Unity doesn't give us many alternatives

#

So it can be worthwhile to discuss other ways to approach the design

compact ingot
#

it has been discussed 1000 times, we don’t need to know you think it’s crap

sudden idol
#

Thank you for your input @compact ingot we definitely needed to know what you think of this discussion

#

My problem is solved for now. Thanks for the help guys

compact ingot
maiden turtle
granite viper
#

just to annoy you

#

it's harmless, nothing happens

maiden turtle
#

What will happen tho?

granite viper
#

mimics a real delegate

final steeple
#

If it behaves like a regular C# event (i.e., Delegate.Remove) nothing should happen

maiden turtle
#

Is there a way to check if the delegate is in the delegate queue?

#

I want to debug.assert that

#

That method doesn't even return true or false indicating whether it removed one or not

granite viper
#

why does it matter

maiden turtle
#

makes 0 sense

final steeple
#

Normal C# delegates have GetInvocationList to allow you to do stuff like this

#

UnityEvent doesn't expose any public API for this, as far as I can tell

granite viper
#

if you want to prevent doubling up you can remove-then-add

final steeple
#

Okay so, UnityEventBase has an internal InvokableCallList field (m_Calls), gonna investigate what you can do with reflection here

maiden turtle
final steeple
#

Yeah, looking at this code it appears that if you remove a delegate that doesn't exist, it just ignores it. So it's at least consistent with expected C#/.NET behaviour

#

Here's the base code for UnityEvents

frozen crypt
#

hi, i just finished writing the server and client code for a chess game, everything works fine except when I try to disconnect the client, I get the debug.log message but an error after it regarding the native list
Can anyone help me fixing the issue?
https://gist.github.com/Winter-r/1ed80c577fd9703660b71ebbba27caf4 here's the code

#

here's the error

drifting galleon
frozen crypt
#

how can i fix the issue then?

#

also what differs a deallocated native list from just a native list?

#

hello?

final steeple
#

You can think of "deallocated" like "deleted"

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For all intents and purposes, the list no longer exists

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You tried to access it after something deleted it

frozen crypt
#

hmmmmm

#

do u see anything that might cause that issue in my code?

blissful peak
#

When I add a object to a list in a separate thread and then using it in the main thread the object is null! The Object is not null in the separate thread. Would love to get some help

unknown.png unknown.png unknown.png
#

Ok I fixed the problem by locking the list while modifying and using the list:)

undone coral
#

oh

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nevermind

frozen crypt
#

whats that?

undone coral
#

that's the modern multiplayer

#

you're using something alrightr

undone coral
maiden turtle
undone coral
#

reactivex like the rest of the world

#

use a parent constraint for interactions like this

#

try using cinemachine for cameras if you need custom camera behavior

#

i think you meant uint instID = UNITY_GET_INSTANCE_ID(v)

#

but i don't think you're doing this right

#

you're supposed to use UNITY_TRANSFER_INSTANCE_ID

hushed sparrow
#

hey how bad of an idea is this

unknown.png
zenith ginkgo
#

Don't cross post. Explain an actual problem

sly grove
humble leaf
#

@somber zodiac Stop crossposting.

regal olive
#

is it possible to get rid of this fog?

unknown.png
sly grove
regal olive
#

where should i put thist then?

sly grove
regal olive
hushed sparrow
sly grove
sly grove
#

You would do all your syntax-treeification up front

#

and that doesn't answer the question about why you have a useless parameter

hushed sparrow
#

because the string value in the function is part of an interface

sly grove
#

Clearly a poorly designed one

hushed sparrow
#

yes

spare lava
#

hi, I'd like to have a MeshRenderer masked by a SpriteMask. is there any way?

sly grove
spare lava
#

ok so no way with custom shader or anything. just not possible. okay thanks 😢

sly grove
#

You can get a similar effect - just not with a SpriteMask as you asked

#

SpriteMasks pretty explicitly only mask sprites

spare lava
#

ok I see. I'm making a custom particle system with persistent particles (using mesh renderer), so I wanted to mix it with masks

cerulean dune
#

How do I make an object in URP render behind everything?

hushed sparrow
flint sage
#

Another poorly designed thing :hidethepain:

maiden turtle
raw lily
#

Hey! So I'm trying to make a selection 3D "UI" that would allow the player to select one of multiple 3D GameObjects. It can have multiple options of a varying number. They will most likely always only one row horizontally but something more flexible than this could be nice. What are some of the more flexible ways to go about aligning them? The rest I can probably figure out!

unknown.png
sly grove
raw lily
#

@sly grove ohh thanks, definitely thought theses weren't usable for 3D Objects, I'll look into it!

valid flame
fierce oracle
# 
private float speed, newspeed, control;
    private float drop = 0.0f;
    private Vector2 vec;
    private void ApplyFriction()
    {
        vec = new Vector2(_moveDirection.x, _moveDirection.z); // Equivalent to: VectorCopy();

        speed = vec.magnitude;

        speed = Mathf.Sqrt(_moveDirection.x * _moveDirection.x + _moveDirection.z * _moveDirection.z);
#

should I use vec.magnitude or just manually calculate the magnitude of the vector?

#

which one would be faster?

#

I assume that vec.magnitude runs faster since unity's vector is a struct and written in c++

odd lodge
compact ingot
#

Should be noted that there is no intrinsic reason that makes c++ code faster than c# code, they compile to the same instruction and both can be equally fast with c++ merely providing supremely dedicated programmes the opportunity to optimise a program a bit more for very particular use-cases.

sly grove
misty glade
#

I want to automate my (development) build pipeline. It has to:

  • Build and deploy the Windows Unity client. Don't care where it's deployed, so long as it's accessible by the team (I currently manually zip this and drop it in Google Drive, share the link to the team in Slack).
  • Build and deploy a C# console app standalone to a VM in Azure (I currently copy and paste the files via RDP and restart the server myself). I need the ability to stop the running console app and start the new build.
  • Build and deploy a Razor app to an azure App Service (no VM). I currently do this via the "publish" button in visual studio.
  • Preferably notify the team via Slack (really nice would be an embedded link they could download the client with).

Any obvious candidate tools, aside from rolling my own batch file monstrosity?

#

github has something that can do this, yeah? Git Actions or something?

quartz stratus
valid flame
#

Anybody know how to allow Reshade access to depth or normal buffer?

jade rivet
# misty glade I want to automate my (development) build pipeline. It has to: * Build and depl...

stuff you need to sort out for a build pipeline, with terminology so you can do some googling, plus a few common examples (also unity themselves provide some of these as hosted services):

  1. version control. this is git or perforce or whatever
  2. artifact store / artifact repository. this is where you put your built stuff. this is artifactory, github releases, s3 buckets, and yeah even google drive works, it has an api you can us for automation.
  3. ci server. this runs your builds and tests and other tasks. this is github actions, jenkins, circleci, etc. github actions are pretty nice and simple and might be the way to go, at least initially. jenkins is the super popular open source thing that has plugins for everything, but it can also be a gigantic pain to administrate and can get very complicated very fast if you're not careful. basically all of these tools support sending slack notifications and such.
  4. build scripts. this is a makefile, or batch files, or some shell scripts, or python scripts, or whatever. these are the glue you put in between all the other tools. these can turn into a real mess, keep them as simple and minimal as possible.
  5. containers (optional). if you're deploying any sort of game server or services, its really convenient to build them into containers. you do this with a dockerfile usually.
  6. infrastructure as code. this is for when you deploy stuff. terraform, ansible, puluumi, etc. you use these to deploy stuff and control state and configuration. this is what you'd use for deploying an app to a VM and automatically restart it.

i recommend reading the Continuous Delivery book (https://martinfowler.com/books/continuousDelivery.html) for general concepts, plus just doing whatever other reading you can on continuous integration, continuous delivery, build engineering, infrastructure automation, etc. just don't go any deeper than you really need to, it's a bottomless pit of complexity.

wooden cedar
maiden turtle
# misty glade I want to automate my (development) build pipeline. It has to: * Build and depl...

I recommend you never do anything complicated in batch files or declarative config files. Always do scripts in a normal language. I like D for this, it's really convenient for scripts, the only problem with it is that if you need some specific API, you'll probably have to roll out your own thing, or link to C, there aren't enough maintained packages. Like, for example, if you need YouTube API, you'll probably have to work at a low level to integrate it, or link to C. Python sucks for scripts IMO, because the build process is not standardized and is usually super complicated, plus, I cannot take languages without static typing seriously.

maiden turtle
#

Is there a way to add a button to my component editor in the inspector that would execute a certain method? Let me give you an example too

# 
[InspectorFunction]
private void DeleteSaves()
{
    foreach (var prefabInfo in _carPrefabInfos)
    {
        var displayInfo = prefabInfo.prefab.GetComponent<DisplayCarInfoComponent>().info;
        var saveFileFullPath = GetFilePath(displayInfo.name);
        if (File.Exists(saveFileFullPath))
            File.Delete(saveFileFullPath);
    }
}
#

And the prefab infos are assigned in the editor

somber swift
maiden turtle
#

yeah

#

It has to be a non-static method tho

somber swift
maiden turtle
#

yes

#

I guess I could do a custom editor and inspect the serialized properties there, but that's too much work

#

For something this simple

#

I guess I could do a context menu, that should work too

somber swift
#

context menu could work too but that would not be that fast to access

maiden turtle
# 
[ContextMenuItem("Delete Saves", nameof(DeleteSaves))]
[SerializeField] internal CarPrefabInfo[] _carPrefabInfos;
unknown.png
somber swift
#

it would make more sense to have button there

maiden turtle
#

Context menu item works for me

maiden turtle
#

Ultimately, I'm planning to generate code to replace reflection anyway, I'm just curious

final steeple
#

It'd be nice if Unity made TypeCache available at runtime

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and I believe trimming will remove the attributes yeah, though you can tell the trimmer to preserve them

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For stuff like RuntimeInitializeOnLoadAttribute Unity stores a list of them inside _Data/globalgamemanagers rather than discovering them at runtime, you can use a similar mechanism using TypeCache to get all the type and member paths during the build process

maiden turtle
#

I did subclass InspectorNameAttribute which I'm also using, and I have applied UnityEngine.Scripting.PreserveAttribute to it, which should keep that one non-stripped. The problem with RangeAttribute is that they made it sealed

final steeple
#

Attributes should be sealed whenever possible

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If they're not sealed they come with performance penalties

maiden turtle
#

I'll read on the TypeCache thing, thank you

final steeple
#

TypeCache was added in Unity 2019.2, though it only supports getting attributes on methods there, support for fields was added in 2020.1

#

The editor caches the attributes and other information upon loading the DLLs, so it's nice and fast to access

maiden turtle
#

So does this code essentially do manual linking for fields marked with EditorImportAttribute? Looks awful lol

#

Fields which are delegates

final steeple
#

Yeah, this is for accessing internal Unity methods

#

As in, the C++ stuff

maiden turtle
#

Yeah makes sense

final steeple
maiden turtle
#

I'd definitely do it with a code generator tho

final steeple
#

Unity has internal callbacks (editor-only) you can listen to for when a component is created

#

A code generator can't help here

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You could certainly use one, but it wouldn't make it more performant or convenient

maiden turtle
#

Why not? Instead of marking each of the fields with that, you'd just have a static class marked with it, and then you'd generate code that would assign each of them

#

Each of the funtion pointers

final steeple
#

That would be even slower since you still have to scan for all the attributes in order to generate the code to begin with

maiden turtle
#

(delegates)

final steeple
#

And then you generate code on top of that

maiden turtle
#

I don't mean emitting IL

final steeple
#

I know

maiden turtle
#

And parsing with Roslyn is reasonably fast

final steeple
#

Right but it'd just be pointless for this

#

Since it would be doing more work than it is currently

maiden turtle
#

Even parsing everything every time from scratch is not that bad

final steeple
#

This is code that runs in the editor during initialization, the code generator would need to run there too

maiden turtle
#

Oh yeah right

final steeple
#

But it'd basically be doing the exact same thing but instead of assigning the fields, it'd be generating code to do the same thing

maiden turtle
#

Makes sense

final steeple
#

So it's just adding overhead

#

But if this was something supported at runtime, yes, code generation could be useful

novel plinth
novel plinth
maiden turtle
#

So is this code only runnable in the editor?

final steeple
#

Yeah

maiden turtle
#

right

final steeple
#

It works because the editor ships with PDBs, so it has access to the symbols

maiden turtle
#

I see

final steeple
#

It's possible to support it for builds, you'd just need to load the player's PDB, get the function RVAs and store them somewhere (probably in a ScriptableObject)

#

Though the APIs I generally need to call with this system don't exist in the player

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So I haven't had much reason to implement it yet

#

It could be useful for exposing the TypeTree API in the player though

#

Which is the internal C++ version of SerializedObject/SerializedProperty

maiden turtle
#

I'm wondering whether it makes any sense to use UnityEvent with readonly structs. I bet is does boxing / copying anyway, I bet there is no way to force it to pass it by ref, and I'm pretty sure it's impossible to achieve even in C# with generics, unless you do extension methods for firing the callbacks, which UnityEvent afaik does not

flint sage
#

I think in normal C# you can do Method(in struct input) which might make it work

#

No idea about UnityEvents though unfortunately

final steeple
#

in T value will pass by readonly ref but it has implicit copying whenever you do something that could mutate the value

#

readonly struct SomeStruct is basically just equivalent to marking everything inside the struct as readonly (sorta like C++ const functions), so it avoids the copies

flint sage
maiden turtle
# 
public readonly struct CarStatsChangedEventInfo
{
    public readonly CarProperties carProperties;
    public readonly int statIndex;

    public CarStatsChangedEventInfo(CarProperties carProperties, int statIndex)
    {
        this.carProperties = carProperties;
        this.statIndex = statIndex;
    }
}

[SerializeField] public UnityEvent<CarStatsChangedEventInfo> OnStatsChanged;

internal void TriggerStatsChangedEvent(int statChangedIndex = -1)
{
    var info = new CarStatsChangedEventInfo(
        carProperties: this,
        statIndex: statChangedIndex);
    OnStatsChanged.Invoke(info);
    _currentIsDirty = true;
}
final steeple
#

Yeah, you can't pass by ref in that example unfortunately

#

Well

#

As long as the values remain on the stack you could use pointers

maiden turtle
#

Yeah pointers are great, but I think those will look too freakin ugly in C#

final steeple
# 
public unsafe readonly struct Pointer<T>
    where T : unmanaged
{
    public readonly T* Value;

    public Pointer(T* value)
    {
        Value = value;
    }
}

public UnityEvent<Pointer<CarStatsChangedEventInfo>> OnStatsChanged;

var info = new CarStatsChangedEvent(carProperties: this, statIndex: statChangedIndex);
OnStatsChanged?.Invoke(new Pointer<CarStatsChangedEvent>(&info));
#

Pointer<T> can alternatively be:

public unsafe readonly struct Pointer<T>
    where T : unmanaged
{
    public readonly T* Address;

    public ref T Value => ref *Address;

    public Pointer(T* value)
    {
        Address = value;
    }
}
novel plinth
#

This is illegal 😀

maiden turtle
#

Yeah I was thinking about making everything unsafe and passing pointers directly

#

But this way it's better, beacuse the unsafe doesn't spread

#

I agree

final steeple
#

You have to use a Pointer<T> wrapper type if you want to use generics, since pointers can't be used as generic arguments

maiden turtle
#

Oh

final steeple
#

So it's less me trying to avoid unsafe, I'm just forced to 😄

maiden turtle
#

right

final steeple
#

If I could, I'd have just used UnityEvent<CarStatsChangedEventInfo*>

#

Which might actually be possible in .NET 7

#

As will UnityEvent<ref CarStatsChangedEventInfo>

maiden turtle
#

I guess the best bet here is to generate a non-generic pointer wrapper for every type that I want to use

final steeple
#

Is there a problem with it being generic?

maiden turtle
#

So that you don't have to do info.Value.whatever but simply info.Whatever with a getter

final steeple
#

I see

#

That makes sense

maiden turtle
#

It's too much noise basically

final steeple
#

At best you could add implicit casts to Pointer<T> but then you lose the ref-ness

maiden turtle
#

What for? I'd just take non-generic types in the events, it's totally fine

final steeple
#

Yeah I'm just talking about if you stuck to Pointer<T>

#

When transparent structs get added to .NET it'll be less of a problem

#

Since you can mark Pointer<T> as being transparent to T*

#

And then you can indeed just do info.Whatever

#

or rather, info->Whatever

maiden turtle
#

The arrow syntax is stupid legacy too btw

#

It should not exist

final steeple
#

It's an unfortunate syntax inherited from C due to operator precedence

#

C# didn't really need to inherit it, I agree

#

Fun fact: if you define extension methods on pointers, you call them via value.X()

#

You can't define extension methods on pointers in C#, but you can write them in IL and C# supports using them

maiden turtle
#

btw unmanaged

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Doesn't it mean it cannot contains classes?

#

Is simply struct not going to work there?

#

where T : unmanaged

#

Cannot take the address of, get the size of, or declare a pointer to a managed type

#

Is there a way to get around this?

#

@final steeple

final steeple
#

unmanaged means a struct that does not contain reference types or references

#

So yes, you can't use a class for a type parameter constrained that way

maiden turtle
#

I can't even take the address of such a type

#

I've found this tho

final steeple
#

Got an example?

maiden turtle
#

You can kind of cheese it

final steeple
#

That particular example uses marshaling

#

It copies and converts the data

#

Rather than being an actual reference

maiden turtle
#

The second one

#

ah yes

#

I think it does

final steeple
#

So

#

there is a way you can do this

#

but it's only safe if you are really careful to never give it a reference to something that isn't on the stack

#

so

var someClass = new ...();

that someClass variable is safe, but if it was a field in a class it's not safe

#

You need access to the System.Runtime.CompilerServices.Unsafe class for what I'm about to suggest, note

# 
public readonly struct StackRef<T>
{
    public readonly void* Address;

    public ref T Value => ref Unsafe.AsRef<T>(Address);

    public StackRef<T>(ref T value)
    {
        Address = Unsafe.AsPointer(ref value);
    }
}
# 
var value = new SomeClass();
InvokeEvent(new StackRef<SomeClass>(ref value));
#

The event can even do stackRef.Value = new SomeClass(); and it will overwrite the value in the variable too

still glade
#

How can i trigger an animation thats inside a .fbx file from a a certain point inside a script?

sly grove
still glade
#

I did set up everything but i had problems accessing the animation clip from the script, but i had the wrong method, i took SetTrigger() but i was in need of Play()

#

I got warnings that the clips were not accessible with SetTrigger

maiden turtle
# 
using System.Runtime.CompilerServices;

public readonly unsafe ref struct StackRef<T>
{
    public readonly void* Address;

    public ref T Value => ref Unsafe.AsRef<T>(Address);

    public StackRef(ref T value)
    {
        Address = Unsafe.AsPointer(ref value);
    }
}

public class A
{
    public int i;
}

public readonly struct Info
{
    public readonly A a;
    public Info(A a) { this.a = a; }
}

public class Program
{
    public static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        var a = new A();
        var info = new Info(a);
        var stackRef = new StackRef<Info>(ref info);
        stackRef.Value.a.i = 5;
        System.Console.WriteLine(a.i);
    }
}

@final steeple this prints 5 under .NET 6, haven't tried it under Unity, but it should work. Note that I'm taking the address of the struct, and I made the struct itself into a ref struct (I think Unity has that) so that it doesn't escape from the stack. I'm not misunderstaning it, right, this should work for structs too?

final steeple
#

Yes, that will work for structs

#

And it'll work in Unity too (that StackRef is based on a type I have in one of my own internal libraries)

maiden turtle
#

What do you think the performance implications of this would be?

final steeple
#

It's about as fast as it can be

maiden turtle
#

Like that being unsafe and the casting

final steeple
#

Those casts are basically free

maiden turtle
#

Ok thanks

#

Very much appreciated

final steeple
#

btw, the Unsafe class isn't available out of the box in Unity, since it's not part of .NET Standard 2.0 or 2.1

#

But you can get the package from NuGet and copy the DLL in

#

(the nupkg file is just a zip file)

maiden turtle
#

Yeah I know that

#

thanks

final steeple
#

Just making sure 😄

#

NuGet in Unity is notoriously painful

velvet mirage
#

I’m working with a modding community, and due to limitations in asset ripping software not being capable of ripping scripts, there are a lot of things in our game that we’re unable to analyze in unity editor, which is causing some serious challenges with a few things

#

So what I’m trying to look into now, is there a way to serialize a gameObject hierarchy into a format which can be opened up by unity’s editor?

#

We work in a game that relies heavily on random generation to make levels, but when the game updates this random generation changes in a way that makes preserving custom levels impossible between updates

#

So what I’d like to do is export the entire level’s gameobject hierarchy into a serialized file which we would bypass level generation to load

final steeple
#

Sure, there are plenty of approaches you can take to that

#

You can even just generate the YAML for a Unity scene yourself

#

Grab the Scene and call GetRootGameObjects(), from there you just need to handle the bookkeeping of assigning GUIDs and LocalFileIdentifiers to things as you generate the YAML

#

You'll also need to have a way to determine the GUIDs of components on each game object, so you'll need some external database of sorts that the generator loads

velvet mirage
#

Alright, thanks a lot. I was having a difficult time finding any answers online, this is probably a very niche issue hahaha

final steeple
#

For sure lol

#

I've had to study this stuff a lot because I work on an official modding SDK for a Unity game

#

In my case it's even more painful though because I have to actively work against Unity half the time, since the modding SDK tries to be as detached from Unity as possible

velvet mirage
#

I’m probably not going to touch this for a little while, but when I do I’ll probably be back here with more detailed questions later. Just having a starting point for what to research here is extremely helpful though, so thanks

final steeple
#

Sure thing, no problem

final steeple
#

@maiden turtle I forgot to mention, for reference types you will also want to GC.KeepAlive them

maiden turtle
#

Why? aren't they on stack while this stuff is happening?

#

The references

final steeple
#

So instead of:

// store from field to local so it's safe to get a stack ref
SomeClass local = field;
var stackRef = new StackRef<SomeClass>(ref local);
InvokeEvent(stackRef);

You want:

// store from field to local so it's safe to get a stack ref
SomeClass local = field;
var stackRef = new StackRef<SomeClass>(ref local);
InvokeEvent(stackRef);
GC.KeepAlive(local);
#

The GC is free to collect an object mid-method if nothing is referencing it

#

StackRef is not seen as a root because it just stores a void*, the GC doesn't track it

maiden turtle
#

Oh you mean that

final steeple
#

Mid-method collection won't happen in debug mode but it will in release

maiden turtle
#

Well, I store the struct I want to pass on the stack

final steeple
#

Yeah for structs (as long as they contain no reference type fields) it's fine

#

It's just classes you need to do it for

#

(and any class fields of a struct)

maiden turtle
#

So what you're saying is that the temporary gets sort of inlined in release

#

And turns just into a pointer

final steeple
#

Moreso that the GC will look at where in the method it is referenced

#

And after the last reference, it will consider it free for collection

maiden turtle
#

oh yikes

final steeple
#

As soon as a reference type is converted to an unmanaged pointer, it's invisible to the GC, so StackRef won't count as a root

#

Which is why you need to GC.KeepAlive the object

#

The example you posted earlier is actually safe without KeepAlive because you have a Console.WriteLine call at the end which keeps it alive

maiden turtle
#

So what should I do with managed struct? Call keepalive for every managed field?

final steeple
#

If the struct is unmanaged, it contains no reference type fields

#

So you don't need to do anything special

maiden turtle
#

sorry

#

managed

final steeple
#

For a managed struct you need to keepalive the managed fields yeah

maiden turtle
#

ok thanks

final steeple
#

In .NET you can actually call KeepAlive on the struct itself and it will work (it's an intrinsic and no box will be created)

maiden turtle
#

I can do that with another autogened helper

final steeple
#

Not sure about Unity's Mono

#

It talks a lot about finalizers too but it applies to all objects, not just finalizable ones (finalizers are just an example of something that can go wrong)

maiden turtle
#

I could do this with a using, actually, and a Dispose method. It's the most friendly way, I think

final steeple
#

That will ensure things are kept alive, yeah

#

I don't think you need to even GC.KeepAlive anything when you do that

#

Keep in mind though that using expands to try/finally, which has a performance cost

#

Not a big enough cost to matter when you're just dispatching events though

#

It's more of a "try not to do that inside the body of a really performance-sensitive loop"

final steeple
maiden turtle
#

No I thought about putting the keepalives in the dispose method

final steeple
#

I'm not sure if it's necessary to do that since afaik the dispose call itself will keep the whole struct (and therefore its fields) alive

# 
[MethodImpl(MethodImplOptions.NoInlining)]
public static void KeepAlive<T>(ref T value)
    where T : struct
{
}

would also work

#

The GC will see that a ref to the struct was taken and thus the struct's fields will also be kept alive because the GC has to assume that they're also needed

#

(Strictly speaking, it doesn't need to even take a ref, passing by value would also work, but for a large struct it'd be less efficient)

maiden turtle
#

Yeah thanks, I'll figure it out now for sure when I do this.

final steeple
#

Np

#

(And just to make it extra clear: NoInlining is needed since KeepAlive could get inlined and since it doesn't actually do anything, it would no longer keep anything alive because there is no longer any call being made. That's why even GC.KeepAlive is marked NoInlining, so that it still works even on a runtime that doesn't have intrinsic knowledge about the function)

maiden turtle
#

Yeah I undertand that

final steeple
#

A Dispose method that does GC.KeepAlive calls would work though of course, it's just extra work since you need to generate it

#

Just dumping as much info as I can lmao

#

But yeah, I think that's basically all that would need to be considered in order to use StackRef safely

maiden turtle
#

Essentially, I will need this struct only to dispatch the event, so I could just generate a wrapper that would take the UnityEvent and call Invoke, with all that keepalive business hidden within

final steeple
#

It being such a dangerous type is why I don't include it in my public libraries

#

One of these days I should write a Roslyn analyzer that catches unsafe usages of it, then I'd be more comfortable making it a public API

#

Shouldn't be too hard, just look for constructor calls and verify that the ref is on the stack or originates from a pointer

#

Properly catching cases where KeepAlive is needed would be a bit harder, but not impossible

maiden turtle
#

I could even make the construct private

#

And only create it in that function

final steeple
#

or internal yeah

#

Luckily it being a ref struct protects against the other problems

#

So as long as the API that hands out the StackRef values does the right thing, it should be safe

maiden turtle
#

Well, I bet I would've never encountered this problem myself in production. I tend to avoid heap allocating temporary objects, because why

#

Never -> small chance

final steeple
#

It's actually not as big a deal in .NET compared to Unity

#

Unity just has an awful allocator, GC and JIT 😔

gleaming hatch
#

Does anyone know how to parse this data in Unity? {"-MxA4Cq7qTGhQRWmqhOB":{"icon":127,"pos":{"x":0,"y":0,"z":0},"ring":-1},"-MxA4TC-ro6SdVLCFzWs":{"icon":62,"pos":{"x":0,"y":0,"z":0},"ring":-1},"-MxA5CJcA64oxVlPbJ1I":{"icon":131,"pos":{"x":0,"y":0,"z":0},"ring":-1},"-MxA5W5FSSZjy8OVdXrb":{"icon":22,"pos":{"x":0,"y":0,"z":0},"ring":-1},"-MxAHQ2sxth8ia7lDsxc":{"icon":75,"pos":{"x":0,"y":0,"z":0},"ring":-1}}

maiden turtle
#

If you plan to allocate these, you will likely need to pool them anyway

maiden turtle
gleaming hatch
#

Yes, but how to parse it in Unity? JsonUtility doesn't like it because it's multiple children.

final steeple
maiden turtle
#

People usually use Newtonsoft for this

final steeple
#

Had to go hunting to grab those

sly grove
maiden turtle
#

At least I feellike that one's the most popular

final steeple
#

JsonUtility is extremely limited, it's basically only useful for really simple serialization (or when you need to serialize a native object in the editor)

gleaming hatch
#

Any suggestions on a full featured package? There's a lot of options out there and it's hard to tell what's good.

misty glade
#

@quartz stratus @jade rivet @maiden turtle Thanks for the responses above (re: CI). For what it's worth, I already have version control (github) in place with workflow (gitflow) for branch management; but the rest is all manual (artifact repo, builds, and virtualization). I'm not going to build to containers right now - I think that's more complexity than I want to bite off, since the server itself is pretty simple - just requires dotnet 6. I'll look into TeamCity as well - although an early review of Github Actions seems really promising, especially since there's some unity client build support via "gameci".

final steeple
#

You'll want to use Newtonsoft.Json as suggested above, or System.Text.Json

#

Note that the latter currently has issues with IL2CPP, but Unity has a fix on the way for that last I heard

#

System.Text.Json is going to be the fastest if your input comes in the form of UTF-8 text

#

Newtonsoft.Json is otherwise a solid bet and is a proven library

gleaming hatch
sly grove
final steeple
#

I would not use asset store packages for this

sly grove
#

jillejr owns it

final steeple
#

You can download the assemblies from here and place them in your project

novel plinth
final steeple
#

The one in the package manager is also very outdated

#

And was only really intended for use internally at Unity

chrome vine
sly grove
novel plinth
#

@final steeple the standard Unity System.Text doesn't support Span<T> does it?

final steeple
#

It does

#

If you're on 2021.2 or newer

novel plinth
#

oh, good to know that

sacred orchid
final steeple
#

That's likely a better spot yeah

#

Simply because it's a specialized channel so people with specific knowledge will hang out there

sacred orchid
#

Thanks

gleaming hatch
#

I'm getting a conflict with "com.unity.nuget.newtonsoft-json": "2.0.0", which I don't see in the package manager.

sly grove
#

I often have that issue - and have to remove my manually installed newtonsoft

#

the bright side is you can just use it from there without any installation

gleaming hatch
#

I'm going to try simplejson.

#

It worked.

drifting galleon
frozen imp
drifting galleon
#

but i'm glad they'll be switching to System.Text.Json in the future

sleek gulch
lapis arch
#

Hey guys

#

I'm tryna make a dynamic level selector, that automatically counts how many levels exist inside a folder. Do you know how I could count that through script?

fresh salmon
#

A folder on your filesystem?

#

If yes, you can use the Directory.GetDirectories method that returns an array of the directories at the specified path. You can then get its length.

lapis arch
fresh salmon
#

Given that the path exists, yes

lapis arch
#

Because the player won't have the same file structure

fresh salmon
#

It's up to you to determine the path you want to feed to GetDirectories. As long as it's valid and it exists, it won't throw

lapis arch
fresh salmon
#

Well, that's inside a Unity project files

lapis arch
#

That folder does exist on my machine, but when I send it to someone who doesn't have the project, but only the build, it won't exist

fresh salmon
#

It won't exist after building as assets are packed up.

#

Even on your computer

lapis arch
#

Yeah, well, I need to find another way then

#

Maybe with addressables?

final steeple
#

Addressables or asset bundles in general are how you can solve this if you don't want to make your own level format, yes

lapis arch
#

@final steeple So this is what is usually done in bigger games with lots of levels?

#

I mean, I don't suppose they have a fixed "NumberOfAllLevels" variable somewhere

final steeple
#

For games that support DLC or need to download content (eg, mobile games) yeah

lapis arch
#

pfff I've been messing with addressables and it's so hard to understand

#

everyone talks about optimization

#

But this is not what I care about

final steeple
#

Addressables is quite a complex system, yeah

#

I'd recommend reading up on asset bundles and getting the hang of them first

#

Addressables is basically an extension of that

lapis arch
#

oh, alright, thanks for that

#

I'll go take a look at asset bundles first then

undone coral
#

if levels are text files, it's fine to read them from a folder

undone coral
#

normally JSON serialized stuff has a corresponding class / model, especially if it comes from e.g. a tile map editor

gleaming hatch
#

I just manually convert it to the class.

undone coral
#

yeah that's sort of your prerogative

gleaming hatch
#

I couldn't make it work the other way.

undone coral
#

you probably want to use newtonsoft json and resolve your issue

#

you probably just laready have a newtonsoft json dll in your assets directory somewhere

#

but if manually assigning fields is fine just roll with it, this stuff doesn't really matter 🙂

gleaming hatch
#

Yeah, it works well enough.

formal lichen
#

newtonsoft json dlls conflict with Unity on newer versions because they decided to include it inside unity

lusty sonnet
#

is there a way to make an empty ui gameobject which triggers EventSystem.IsPointerOverGameObject because i need to "blackout" an area of the mobile screen to make the joystick usable. otherwise ass soon as the player slips over the joystick with the finger the game is gonna trigger a tap. I already tried to make empty buttons with Event triggers on them but they just dont count.

unknown.png
granite viper
#

@lapis arch if all your levels will be baked into the game at runtime, there's nothing stopping you from indexing all of the levels when building using a build preprocessor

#

can create a scriptable object that just contains a list of levels

undone coral
hollow garden
#

since that's like

#

what they actually do

split sierra
#

oh sorry didnt see that channel

#

thanks

hollow garden
#

np

valid flame
# 
using System;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
using System.Runtime.CompilerServices;

public static class PInvoke
{
    [DllImport("user32", ExactSpelling = true)]
    public static extern IntPtr GetDesktopWindow();

    [DllImport("user32", ExactSpelling = true)]
    public static extern IntPtr GetDC(IntPtr hWnd);

    [DllImport("gdi32", ExactSpelling = true)]
    public static extern uint GetPixel(IntPtr hdc, int x, int y);

    [MethodImpl(MethodImplOptions.AggressiveInlining)]
    public static byte GetRValue(uint rgb) => (byte)((ushort)rgb & 0xFF);

    [MethodImpl(MethodImplOptions.AggressiveInlining)]
    public static byte GetGValue(uint rgb) => (byte)((ushort)(rgb >> 8) & 0xFF);

    [MethodImpl(MethodImplOptions.AggressiveInlining)]
    public static byte GetBValue(uint rgb) => (byte)((ushort)(rgb >> 16) & 0xFF);
}

@final steeple can you point me to the resources you found this/learn more about how to use it?

#

Like, is this just a boilerplate script or should I know how to make this lol

regal olive
#

Hi

#

Does anyone have a script for

#

A locked door and a key to open it

thin merlin
#

So, say I want to shoot an object to the right with x speed (in 2D). right vector 2 * the speed. Now say I want to shoot it in the same speed, but at a different aimed direction. How do I get that vector2?

#

ie, the object is rotated and I want to shoot it in the "forward" direction according to the rotation

valid flame
regal olive
#

Dam

sacred orchid
#

@regal olive also I would ask for help with a script you're trying to make not just asking for one.

regal olive
#

I did

#

Many times now

#

No one helps me

valid flame
regal olive
#

I fixed it

#

Took me 5 hours

valid flame
#

you've also crossposted across 3 different channels after vertx told you not to

thin merlin
#

I feel like there's an easy solution to my question, I just can't seem to find it on my own.

valid flame
#

where are the brackets??

#

oh god i didn't even look up

wooden cedar
regal olive
#

@valid flame I’m stupid lol that’s why I need help

#

:AZCat_spincolorsfast:

#

Dam my nitro is gone

valid flame
wooden cedar
regal olive
#

I’ve took so many tutorials

valid flame
#

and definitely shouldn't be in this channel

valid flame
thin merlin
# wooden cedar Well, usually, you have a gun & bullet spawn. So the rotation of the gun is han...

The fun thing? I'm not trying to fire a projectile (yet, but I will at some point so that's still good info), I'm making a Sonic-like game and trying to make a dash move that dashes in the player's current direction when grounded. I'm using the Ge2D engine from the asset store as a base, so basic movement is in. I have a dash move in place, but it doesn't account for when the player is running up/down a wall, etc. That's what I need to know how to do.

regal olive
#

I’m a bit I’m going to try again and I’ll see if I fix it

thin merlin
valid flame
regal olive
#

Yea I’m taking

#

C

#

In my class

wooden cedar
valid flame
regal olive
#

I meant to put c#

#

I’m also doing c++

valid flame
#

so sorry for your compiler

wooden cedar
#

It's hard to explain over discord :D.

#

And it depends a lot on the parent object

thin merlin
thin merlin
#

the project isn't super far along that I wouldn't mind sharing the files for the purpose of figuring this out, if that would help

valid flame
#

Expected: Color not always white
Actual: Color always white
Last time it worked: never

Tried: moving windows around, making sure nothing on my screen is white

private void SampleScreenColors()
    {
        uint[] rgbs = new uint[4];

        for (int i = 0; i < rgbs.Length; i++)
        {
            rgbs[i] = PInvoke.GetPixel(PInvoke.GetDesktopWindow(), 500 + (i * 100), 500 + (i * 100));
        }

        for (int i = 0; i < rgbs.Length; i++)
        {
            colors[i].r = PInvoke.GetRValue(rgbs[i]);
            colors[i].g = PInvoke.GetGValue(rgbs[i]);
            colors[i].b = PInvoke.GetBValue(rgbs[i]);
        }

        for (int i = 0; i < colors.Length; i++)
        {
            Color color = colors[i];
            color.a = 1;
        }
    }
#

I can post PInvoke if needed

wooden cedar
thin merlin
#

hrm

valid flame
#

I think my problem might be too specific for anyone to help..

#

except maybe @final steeple

sacred orchid
#

I need to add a prefab to a script at runtime I'm placing this here because it is using photon

    void Start()
    {
        GameObject[] players = GameObject.FindGameObjectsWithTag("Player");

        foreach(GameObject player in players)
        {
            if (photonView.IsMine)
            {
                this.playerCharacter.transform.position = player.transform.position;
                break;
            }
        }
    }

That's my code to get the player and attach it to the camera, but it's not working for me. Any ideas?

sly grove
#

Are you meaning to check your own PhotonView or the player object's PhotonView?

#

Because right now it's checking the one on this script's GameObject

sacred orchid
#

Yeah so I guess that's where I'm getting confused, maybe I'm overthinking it. I need to add the prefab player to the camera at runtime. Let me show the inspector

sly grove
#

What's confusing you?

#

Also you're assigning the position in your code, not the player character reference

#

Which obviously won't work if the ref is starting as null

sacred orchid
#

I mean kind of, but the Photon view has to be specific to the player that it gets

#

There is more than just grabbing the player which is why I placed it here.

sly grove
#

It's a simple GetComponent call

sacred orchid
#

Right, which isn't working for me at the moment.

#

Wait let me move the Get call

#

and try another way

sly grove
#

Most likely you're just calling it on the wrong object.

#

You're currently looking at the wrong photon view so you're likely making a similar mistake with GetComponent

sacred orchid
#

Been a long day lol, so maybe. I'm taking a look now

sacred orchid
#

@sly grove I got it working, had to switch up some logic and move a couple things around. One thing was being called on the wrong object

#

Forgot to message back, figured I'd update at least lol

final steeple
final steeple
#

Generally you should write blittable P/Invokes but I don't know of a central resource to explain what that means

#

As for how I wrote that example, I looked at the documentation pages for those functions to see what their parameters were, and the Windows header files for GetRValue, GetGValue and GetBValue

valid flame
final steeple
#

If you want more information on writing P/Invokes I recommend joining the C# Discord and hopping into the #lowlevel channel, stuff like that is regularly covered there

valid flame
#

I was actually really close to finding that out but I was like one mistake away

#

Works perfectly now

final steeple
#

Nice

undone coral
#

and find sample code

#

oh

#

it worked

#

nvm

final steeple
#

I wouldn't recommend doing that, myself

#

A lot of people write really bad or wrong P/Invokes

#

So random sample code isn't super reliable to look through

#

I also recommend never going on the pinvoke.net site, almost everything on there is wrong or inefficient

placid robin
#

I'm looking for a way to hook up to the build-process for Windows Standalone. I'd like to add a target in the Assembly-CSharp.csproj or add a .props file to the project but changes seem to get ignored and the file gets restored when opening the editor. I'd like to avoid having to export the VS project and doing it there. Is there a way?

green rock
#

are there any recommendation for software architecture specifically for ui frameworks?

compact ingot
green rock
# compact ingot There is MVC, MVP, MVVM, Layers, OOP in general, immediate mode GUI, retained mo...

Thanks for this list. I'm actually trying to find the right combinations of architecture styles to work with. We have this window based ui for our real-time 3d application (made in unity) and the current one we're only using is MVC whereas views are the ones attached to one UI (for example, an inspector tab). However, this rendered all developers to create each of their own handlers when selecting an object in the 3d scene (and some other things) and have seen a lot of repetitive codes around which rendered the already existing architecture useless or misused.

#

I'm thinking of a command based approach where when UI events are dispatch, we fire an event to execute a command that does a small thing (adding element to a list view for example) and can be reused in other ui windows.

#

however I kind of see it blowing up if we get into like, if we get a thousand specific commands to perform small tasks

#

then we're back to the same problem all over again

compact ingot
maiden turtle
#

moreover, msbuild is trash anyway, don't tie yourself to that

#

You can call the build from the console though, I've seen it done somewhere

maiden turtle
#

wdym?

compact ingot
cursive horizon
# green rock I'm thinking of a command based approach where when UI events are dispatch, we f...

It sounds like you might not be fully splitting data from rendering it (which I do advise), but otherwise what you propose here is basically how 'flux' inspired ui state management libs work. Look at Redux for the immutable functional version and Vuex for the mutation version to see how they handle it. It's simpler in unity though since a lot of the difficult stuff those frameworks have to reason about is 'when to rerender' and since unity is already rendering anyway, you might be able to skip a lot of that initially.

This is where the caveat about 'putting all your state one one big store' is bad goes, but I don't think it holds much water. Do it if it makes sense for your project. You will have a lot of 'commands', but redux also lets you build stores as 'modules' so that you can keep things more organized, which you could reproduce. Just remember that local state should also exist and makes more sense for some things, even if it's not your default. e.g. 'form' style interactions can be nice to encapsulate and submit when 'ready' rather than being data bound to the store itself.

If what you're building is less 'scattered views into some data' and more 'tree where siblings might want shared data' you can look at how react context works. The idea is to insert 'contexts' at different points in your tree and 'inject' their data into components beneath who request it. This pattern can be nice in unity because you can represent a context as a Monobehavior and just attach it to the parent at the point in the tree where that state should 'live'. Then you have something which keeps your contexts in sync once and your rendering code can read from each synced context accordingly.

green rock
# cursive horizon It sounds like you might not be fully splitting data from rendering it (which I ...

Ah, believe me data is heavily spit with the views. The only concerning would be other developers handling those data and presenting it in the view (say a list of words to a text view). I have thought of doing a 'context' based approach like how android development would do it (can't quote me on this though because I can only vaguely remember it). Thank you for defining it as well, I do know that there's already tech that is similar, I just don't know what they are called. I believe handling ui in a functional sense is a brilliant idea, I'll look into those things that you mentioned.

As per the caveat of having many commands, we are basically making a runtime version of unity editor (I have seen some editor in the asset store and didn't quite like it). But then, I haven't really defined these 'commands' or even tried to abstract it. I just assumed that since we have a big scope, then it will correlates to how many commands we will need.

cursive horizon
# green rock Ah, believe me data is heavily spit with the views. The only concerning would be...

If your data is already split, it sounds like the first step is just an abstraction around 'reading data'. Either "Selectors" which take in some context (like a store or module) and return a subset of it, or some more kind of query builder. To me the start of solving a problem of 'devs are fetching the same data in different ways' should be 'make queries nameable, composable, and reusable'. From there it's much easier to cache or memoize them if repeated queries start to be an issue. First make sure they are all fetching the same thing in the same way, then optimize those cases.

#

for smaller projects I literally have a static class called Selectors which contains pure selector functions that take in the GameState and return some information

#

(but you could just as easily use extension methods or plain old methods on the state class for that if you wanted, since reading data is pretty safe)

#

also remember that you are using C#, so you can use partial classes and/or extension methods for organization

final steeple
magic vigil
#

If I store procedurally generated mesh data in a prefab, do instances of this prefab present in the scene add the size of this data to the scene size or do they just say "use what the prefab has"

#

the mesh data is a struct since unity doesn't serialise meshes in mesh filters/colliders when they're on prefabs

final steeple
#

If you want to have shared data between objects you'll need to mess with [SerializeReference] or use a scriptable object

magic vigil
#

its weird for it to duplicate the structures for each instance because they are all exact copies so I'd have assumed prefabs only store the changes

final steeple
#

Structures are in-line in memory, it could not share them regardless

magic vigil
#

its just a class storing the mesh's data

#

not a struct as I said earlier my bad

final steeple
#

In the case of a Mesh reference it will share it, yes

#

Those arrays will be duplicated though

magic vigil
#

so if I have a script on my prefabs:

unknown.png
warm glen
#

Quick question. Does MonoBehaviour come from the Mono Scripting Backend or am I just getting confused?

final steeple
#

If you want to serialize a mesh as part of a prefab, it needs to be a sub-object

magic vigil
#

this will copy the SerialisableMesh for each identical instance?

final steeple
#

That will share the references between the instances yeah

#

But then you need somewhere for that reference to exist to begin with

#

Which puts you back at square one where you wanted to embed a Mesh object

#

When you create the prefab you can do AssetDatabase.AddObjectToAsset(mesh, pathToPrefab)

magic vigil
#

ah, I assumed that when unity saves the scene, prefabs are just serialised as references + changes

#

my situation might make that difficult

final steeple
#

If you have [SerializeField] Mesh someMesh;, that is treated as a reference to an existing mesh

#

So if the mesh isn't also stored as an asset like the prefab is, that reference will be lost

magic vigil
#

pretty much this is used for any part of my game where meshes are pre-generated in the editor, so for example destructible walls, procedurally generated fences/walls/roofs/etc, and so on. Sometimes they are unique objects saved as part of the scene and other times they are saved to prefabs for re-use.

#

so I should save the mesh as an asset?

final steeple
#

Yes

#

As long as the mesh exists somewhere as an asset, the reference will save properly in the prefab

#

and instances will share it

magic vigil
#

okay, so now I need to figure out how to properly remove those assets once they are no longer being used

#

also I'm not sure if it's a good idea to store each mesh as an individual asset

#

since a single building might be composed of let's say 1000 chunks

final steeple
#

That's why AddObjectToAsset exists

#

It stores it as an embedded asset within another asset

magic vigil
#

aah, I see

final steeple
#

That's how, for example, an .fbx has materials, textures, etc contained in a single asset

magic vigil
#

so I'd have one asset for the building and all its generated meshes would be stored inside that

final steeple
#

Yeah

#

Note that I'm not actually sure if prefabs can have sub-assets, so you may still need to store the meshes on something else

#

But either way, the only way to ensure the mesh is saved and stored is to keep it around as an asset

magic vigil
#

so the plan is:
-when a mesh is generated, use GetComponentInParent to figure out if we are part of a saved mesh collection or not
-if yes, make the collection get or create its asset and then add our mesh to it or replace the existing old mesh
-if not, add the saved mesh collection component to ourselves and do the same thing

radiant pasture
#

Hey.
is there a way to export manifest.json file to custom .unitypackage package?
I am trying to create dependency to some UPM packages from .unitypackage .

I know I can link ProjectSettings files, but it seems I can't link manifest.json

placid robin
maiden turtle
#

It just lists the files there

#

so that ides could work correctly

placid robin
# maiden turtle Unity doesn't use msbuild to build the thing tho

It has

<!-- To modify your build process, add your task inside one of the targets below and uncomment it. Other similar extension points exist, see Microsoft.Common.targets.
<Target Name="BeforeBuild">
</Target>
<Target Name="AfterBuild">
</Target>
-->

at the end of the Assembly-CSharp.proj so I was thinking they were there for exactly that kind of stuff.

final steeple
#

That's just part of the default csproj template

#

They have plans to switch to the new csproj format so maybe they'll finally use the proper .NET SDK stuff to build projects eventually

#

I'm really looking forward to that, the new csproj format is so nice to work with

#

having full control over the build will be a godsend

carmine agate
#

So, since my last question has been answered so fast, i'll try my next.
I have a problem with a compute shader. I want to model individual agents moving on paths, but everything just goes crazy and the objects are jumping all over the place.
The odd thing is, that i tested my logic already in C# (since debugger=love), translated it 1:1 twice and it works there flawlessly. So my guess is that the error is coming from somewhere else. My setup is this : I have Structs to manage the agent data. For the Path i have an edge array per agent that is flattened to it fits into a structuredbuffer (i tested the flattened accessing and writing as well) and (of course) on buffer to hold the original array lengths. My theory is that the buffers maybe mess with the order of its content. It sounds silly but i have no other explanation at the moment. Do you have any idea ? Code provided if needed.

placid robin
undone coral
#

are you doing something out of the literature?

carmine agate
#

No, or not as i know specificly

sly grove
undone coral
#

yeah

#

i mean it's not going to be out of order, but you will probably have an issue reading/writing them

#

also yeah you could still have a logic problem

#

some things are called X and really do Y

carmine agate
undone coral
#

hard to say though what moving on paths means without a specific algorithm to talk about though

#

that's why it will be sort of hard to look at your code and understand what's going on

#

are you just saying you are doing N tweens with time t and list of vertices Path

#

in a compute shader?

#

so Vector3 MoveOnPathPure(float time, float constantSpeed, List<Vector3> path)?

#

except, N invocations of that?

carmine agate
# undone coral except, N invocations of that?

Yes the idea is the same.

The Shader Code : https://pastebin.com/UKqfGnM9
Shader managing code : https://pastebin.com/VWjHqBJA

But i am 99% percent sure that it is something with reading and writing the data, sice i tested the same code with a jobsystem (just replaced distance(a,b) to Vector3.Distance, normalize and float3 to Vector3)

Pastebin
HLSL Code - Pastebin.com

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.

Pastebin
HLSL Invocation - Pastebin.com

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.

#

To the marshalling suggestion, i am using

System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.SizeOf(typeof(TC));

To get the size of by structs that i pass into the buffer

sly grove
carmine agate
final steeple
#

You shouldn't use Marshal.SizeOf, it gives you the size of the struct when used for marshalling which isn't the same as the actual size of the struct

#

You can just use sizeof

#

In this particular case the marshalled size and the normal size should actually be equivalent, but it's something to keep in mind

#

Hmm, I don't see any obvious issues here, can you post the full C# code?

carmine agate
#

i will try sizeof asap - currently im not on my ide. i postet anything related to the shader

#

but thanks for the idea

final steeple
#

I don't see the objectData field in that code

#

sizeof probably won't make a difference in this particular case

carmine agate
#

well if you want i can post all classes in full with base classes

final steeple
#

Basically just seeing the full class for the example above should be enough I think

carmine agate
#

ok

final steeple
#

If you constrain T to unmanaged, you can use sizeof(T) in an unsafe context

# 
public abstract class HLSLSimulationRunner<T> : SimulationRunner
    where T : unmanaged
{
    // ...
}
#

Then you can initialize the ComputeBuffer like:

public unsafe virtual void Start()
{
    shaderBuffer = new ComputeBuffer(objectAmount, sizeof(T));
    // ...
}
carmine agate
#

ok i will check that

#

no same result

final steeple
#

Also you're just immediately querying the data in LateUpdate, there's no guarantee that the shader has actually finished running by that point

#

You need to use a graphics fence to ensure that it's done

carmine agate
#

that might be a thing

sly grove
final steeple
#

It is not synchronous, no

sly grove
#

How do you wait then? I have a whole project where I'm assuming it's synchronous 😱 (which works fine 🤔 )

final steeple
#

A graphics fence

#

Okay it appears I'm slightly mistaken -- Dispatch is not synchronous, but GetData will forcefully wait for completion

sly grove
#

Oh in my project I don't ever read the data back. I just use it later in a shader

final steeple
#

Yeah generally GetData shouldn't be used

#

Unfortunately I'm not experienced enough with compute shaders to really know what's going wrong here though

undone coral
#

okay

#

@carmine agate so what i'm a little confused about is

#

can your cars change speed? can they change paths?

#

it sounds like you have something of the form

#

well

#

it's really complicated

#

can i see your C# version?

#

i think the error is probably in that you are holding onto state in your C# version that you're not communicating to the computebuffer

#

so the logic is indeed wrong

#

because what you're really trying to do - have a bunch of cars move around with possibly changing paths, and animate them frame by frame

#

is really complicated

#

creating a pure function for that is complicated

#

by the way, you're reinventing particles... i think you should just use VFX graph for this

#

but that could be even harder

#

this is super challenging

#

you can encode the path in the form
rows: vehicles
columns: zero zero zero, followed by a list of path position x, path position y, total time to arrive here

then generate a texture that is the gradient of those positions (i.e., "lerping")
rows: vehicles
columns: position at time v

then, the particle will sample its position with time = u on that texture, particle id = v on that texture

so for example, your path buffer

[0 0 0], [1 3 4]
[0 0 0], [3 2 2], [5 2 4]

two vehicles of differently length cycling paths? are they cycling? maybe not 0 0 0 then

then you'd get a gradient
[0,0,0] [.1,.3, .4] [.2, .3, .8] ... [1, 3 4] [1, 3 4] [1, 3 4]
[0,0,0] [.3, .2, .2] [.6, .4, .4] ... [5 2 4] [5 2 4] [5 2 4]

then sample it

#

going from the path encoding to the gradient is challenging

#

otherwise you should really find something in the literature / preexisting for this

#

because particles can already sample paths this way

#

you woul dhave to consult a shader cookbook @carmine agate

inland halo
#

having this error cant find what i dit wrong

gh.PNG g.PNG
carmine agate
# undone coral okay

Wow, thats a long answer... no they do not change path. they have one path generated on start and then cycle through this
I can give you the c# implementation in a bit if you want also with the runner

#

the thing is, i want to compare different types of computation of an algorithm to each other, so monobehaviours vs jobs vs hlsl vs cuda vs .... so if i change the approach or model completely the comparison becomes obsulete. My other (simler) models work fine with this model - i hope cuda doesn't bitch as much around as the shader

sly grove
#

But maybe enemyManager.enemiesInTrigger is null or something

undone coral
#

do you have a research advisor?

inland halo
carmine agate
#

But i guess i will wrap this up for today and get my head free maybe i will have a diferent idea tomorrow. Thanks for the effort, if you want i can keep you updated

undone coral
#

sure, good luck!

carmine agate
#

thanks good evening for you

thin mesa
# inland halo

most likely the enemy is null from whatever enemyManager.enemiesInTrigger is

#

what is enemiesInTrigger and how is it populated?

inland halo
thin mesa
#

so what is calling those methods?

inland halo
#

the gun script

#

made in the gun script a public EnemyManager enemyManager;

#

so i can reach to EnemyManager

thin mesa
#

you should share the entire Gun class, see #854851968446365696 for how to correctly share code. because you haven't actually shown where those methods are being called

inland halo
thin mesa
#

you spelled your OnTriggerEnter/Exit methods wrong

inland halo
#

ow really 😬

#

what line if i may ask

thin mesa
#

the only lines where those two methods are declared

inland halo
#

so

#

this private void OntriggerEnter(Collider other)

thin mesa
#

yes

inland halo
#

but how do i fix it if i take a look i wont see a problem

thin mesa
inland halo
#

ooow i see thanks so much

#

really appreciate your help

thin mesa
#

make sure VS Code is properly configured using the steps linked in #854851968446365696 so that it will autocomplete stuff like that so you don't misspell it again

inland halo
#

i have followed that yes

#

should it auto correct?

devout hare
#

VS Code doesn't autocorrect those method names, at least not with the default configuration

inland halo
#

okay

#

does this error means that it is it cant find the object it is suppose to look for

#

when i press shoot button error only Occurss

devout hare
#

If the code is the same as earlier, it means enemiesInTrigger has some empty slots

#

or destroyed gameobjects

inland halo
#

all the enemy's should be in the enemyManager?

thin mesa
#

show the Gun object's trigger collider since that is what determines which enemies are added to the list

devout hare
#

if you're following a tutorial, see what it does

inland halo
thin mesa
#

looks like there are no enemies in that collider

inland halo
#

i think i should add a new enemy layer

#

Layermask

devout hare
#

Sounds good

snow flint
#

hi guys, im going to have a json file that represents different stuff for my game for example..

  "tiles": [
    {
      "id":"BAC5F3F9-9030-460A-B0E7-239387D4C7DB",
      "tileName": "grass",
      "movementSpeedFactor": 1.0
    },
    {
      "id":"7B3D4075-D0E5-4C2B-9131-2825F701264A",
      "tileName": "stone",
      "movementSpeedFactor": 1.3
    }
  ]
}```

a json that represents tiles and various stats about that... the tutorial i followed from what i could tell just had hard coded GUIDS, wondering what the best way the generate them and reference them would be? hoenstly probably could just no use them..
undone coral
#

i don't know if you need them though

snow flint
river musk
#

I need to cast a ray forward from the player. However, we are using no root animations so the transform.forward is always in 1 direction. How do I work around this?

thin merlin
# 
public class LevelScriptableObjectEditor : Editor
{
    public override void OnInspectorGUI(){
        serializedObject.Update();

        LevelScriptableObject levelScriptableObject = (LevelScriptableObject)target;

FloorScriptableObject[] floors = new FloorScriptableObject[levelScriptableObject.numOfFloors];

        for (int floorIndex = 0;floorIndex<levelScriptableObject.numOfFloors;floorIndex++){
            // Draw floor
            GUILayout.Label("Floor "+(floorIndex+1).ToString("00"), new GUIStyle { fontStyle = FontStyle.Bold });
            floors[floorIndex].tiles = new TileScriptableObject[levelScriptableObject.floorWidth,levelScriptableObject.floorHeight]; // Getting an error right here where it says Object reference not set to an instance of an object. 
        }
        serializedObject.ApplyModifiedProperties();
    }```
```[CreateAssetMenu(menuName = "Serializable Objects/Level")]
public class LevelScriptableObject : ScriptableObject
{
    // [Header("Graphics")]
    public Sprite floorTileSprite = null;
    public Sprite wallTileSprite = null;

    public int numOfFloors;
    public int floorWidth;
    public int floorHeight;

    // [Header("Floors")]
    public FloorScriptableObject[] floors;
}```
```public class FloorScriptableObject : ScriptableObject
{
    public TileScriptableObject[,] tiles;
}```
```public class TileScriptableObject : ScriptableObject{
    public ScriptableTileType tileType;
    
    public Sprite tileSprite;

    public bool isDoor;
}

public enum ScriptableTileType { Floor = 0, Wall = 1, Hole = 2, Door = 3 }
``` Trying to figure out why I'm getting an error at the floors[floorIndex].tiles line. Can anyone help me out?
undone coral
#

it's null

#

i don't think you can serialize public TileScriptableObject[,] tiles;

#

what's your objective?

#

this stuff already exists

thin merlin
#

I'm trying to make a game with grid-based movement and small levels to be stored as data. I'm working on an editor to accomplish this.

granite viper
#

unity can't serialize multidimensional arrays

thin merlin
#

so I need to make a tilerow class after all ...

granite viper
#

have you narrowed down which variable is causing the null reference exception

#

@thin merlin you do not

#

you can encode a 2d array linearly

# 
// create your 1d array:
TileScriptableObject[] tiles;

// to retrieve the tile at x, y
var tile = tiles[ y * gridWidth + x ];
thin merlin
#

for what I'm trying to accomplish, picture this. Now imagine each tile can be modified to have a different type. Optimally, you'd be able to click on the tile and have it pop open a small window where the tile's data can be edited, but I'm not sure how to do that yet

unknown.png
granite viper
#

I'm picking up what you're putting down

#

you don't need a 2d array

thin merlin
#

yeah, it's a case where I knew what the error was but the situation prevented me from getting a good grasp on the error

granite viper
#

mk

kind sigil
river musk
kind sigil
thin merlin
#

transform.forward

kind sigil
#

Yes.

river musk
thin merlin
#

I know that because I was dealing with that, up, and right earlier 😛

river musk
#

So it needs to be on an animation part, got it. let me try this. Thanks

#

Because I have it as a child, but its not part of the animation body parts

kind sigil
#

It doesn’t matter if it is part of animation parts or not. Only thing that matters is the object that you are choosing is accurately “facing” the way you want to use as forward for your player facing direction.

river musk
#

I'll explain a bit more. So I'm using transform.forward for the direction of the ray and it seems to be casting it always in Vector3.forward direction. Then I looked at the player as I rotate him, the transform.forward is not rotating with the player.

kind sigil
#

The script is sitting on the player root?

river musk
#

The script is a child of the player GameObject

kind sigil
#

Ok, then create a game object to represent your forward anchor. Child that object to a part of your character that will visually face the direction you want your player forward to represent.

#

Create a reference field in your player script to that anchor.

#

Then use that anchorForward.transform.forward as your forward in your ray cast.

river musk
#

awe interesting ok thanks!

snow flint
#

hi guys, not sure if this is advanced or not.. but im trying to associate tiles with some data... by adding them to a dictionary and i get this error.. ArgumentException: An item with the same key has already been added. Key: TX Tileset Grass 15 (UnityEngine.Tilemaps.Tile)
here is my code.. i think i need to break that inner for loop?

        {
            _dataFromTiles = new Dictionary<TileBase, Tile>();
            var tiles = unitOfWork.Tiles.GetAll();
            
            foreach (var pos in map.cellBounds.allPositionsWithin)
            {
                if (map.GetTile(pos) == null)
                {
                    return;
                }
            
                foreach (var tileData in tiles)
                {
                    if (map.GetTile(pos).name.Contains(tileData.tileName))
                    {
                        _dataFromTiles.Add(map.GetTile(pos), tileData);
                    }
                }
            }
        }```
sly grove
#

So having a Dictionary<TileBase, Tile> is not going to work - it will only let you store one Tile reference per tile type in your tilemap

#

Dictionary<Vector2Int, Tile> would be more reasonable

snow flint
#

ohh shit... sorry thats obvious sorry, i forgot about that

#

yep yep

snow flint
sly grove
#

pos should already be a Vector2Int

#

it's just a coordinate

snow flint
sly grove
#

possibly a Vector3Int because unity is funny like that

#

so presumably you already have a Vector3Int

#

use that

#

(this is the hazard of using var everywhere - you have no idea what types your variables are)

snow flint
#

just transform it into a vector2?

sly grove
#

no

#

just use Vector3Int

snow flint
#

sorry was confused for a sec, got it all working, thank you!

carmine agate
#

@undone coral Good morning : I had a look at my shader code problem again and changed my logic to test if its that or something with the passing of the edges and i guess its that.
My new logic looks like this :

Edge edge = GetPathEdge(cars[id.x], cars[id.x].pathIndex);
cars[id.x].position = edge.from;
cars[id.x].pathIndex++;
if (cars[id.x].pathIndex >= pathLengths[cars[id.x].id])
  cars[id.x].pathIndex = 0;

The result should be that each car jumps to the next path node each frame. Since i only assign passed positions of my edges the result should be that they stay on their paths. If the order is messed up they might jump across paths but should have a position on any path anyway. But my result is that they land on very odd locations that have nothing to do with any path positions. So the passed edges are completely wrong inside of the shader

warm glen
#

quick question. What's the use of a first pass assembly script on unity? I read it can only communicate with other first pass scripts but whats the use for it?

compact ingot
warm glen
#

alright, thanks

raw lily
#

So I put a Grid Layout containing 3D Objects within a Scroll Rect. Nothing happens when I try to drag, what step am I missing?

unknown.png unknown.png
#

(the viewport should read Collection Scroll)

shadow seal
#

I don't see how your scroll rect issue is even remotely related to code

raw lily
undone coral
austere agate
#

Hey there! I have a question about architecture. I am using a system where i use the Animator state machine to transition between Idle, Move, Jump, Attack etc states and then handle the game logic of those states via the Built-in State Behavior scripts. Its a system i found out about via a tutorial online but it seems a bit fragile cause messing up the animator transitions slightly can break the entire project apart. Do you think a system like that can work or should i abandon it and try something else now that its still early in the project?

undone coral
austere agate
# undone coral what kind of game is it?

Its a metroidvania type but its only the prototype so for the moment i plan on doing just one big level but i m trying to do it in a clean expandable manner in case i want to create a full game out of it

#

it will have chained combo attacks, movement skills etc

undone coral
#

to see the scope of this

austere agate
#

i do have the asset, but didnt want to use it for now cause i m still learning and feels like cheating myself

undone coral
#

for a lot of metroidvania-style behaviors you are going to be controlling animations frame by frame in your own scripts

austere agate
#

but looking into it

#

might be a smart thing to do

austere agate
#

do you have a link so i can check what do you mean by controllinmg them frame by frame?

undone coral
#

it really depends on how traditional you want to get

#

there isn't really a link, but what i'm talking about is

#

Application.targetFrameRate = 60, and then in an Update you increment an integer and set the sprite renderer's sprite to the next image

#

because that's how SNES games work

austere agate
#

i should mention its a 2.5d game cause i could find 3d assets easier

#

can i still do that in 3d?

#

like playing the next frame of the animation like that?

undone coral
#

yeah, anything is possible. it really depends on what your goals are

#

personally i think writing things this way is really cantankerous, but personally i don't like metroidvania games

#

i don't find that kind of frame-by-frame gameplay interesting

#

so if someone put a gun to my head and said, make a platformer, i'd use corgi engine

#

and it wouldn't have a lot of those extremely nuanced hardcore metroidvania details

#

because i don't find them interesting at all

#

corgi engine already does everything except the super hardcore details

#

maybe you're not aware of them

austere agate
#

well to be honest it has most features i would like to have in the game

undone coral
#

there's stuff like, the exact frame of samus and the exact height needed on that particular frame to connect with an edge or whatever

#

to people who play these games, that stuff is really important

#

just like how people who are really into super smash play with a 20 year old controller

austere agate
#

yeah i havent thought into that part

undone coral
#

and talk about the exact frames and glitches and stuff

austere agate
#

i guess you are right

undone coral
#

well that's the biggest factor in the engineering

#

if those super hardcore details aren't important, you should definitely use the tools unity provides

#

for animation and such

austere agate
#

cool so what i ll keep from this is to better check the corgi engine thoroughly first

#

and probably try to expand on that if i need specific things

undone coral
#

yes, it already does "everything but the super hardcore metroidvania details"

austere agate
#

cool thank you very much for the chat

lavish plume
#

How could I get the value of the enum selected in a dropdown to use as an argument for the GiveMaterialsFootstep function? Thanks!

using System.Collections;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using UnityEngine;
using UnityEditor;

[CustomEditor(typeof(FootstepModifier))]
public class FootstepModifier : Editor
{
    public GameObject WorldGameObject;
    public List<Material> MaterialsForThisFootstep = new List<Material>();

    public enum MaterialToUse{
        Concrete = 0,
        Wood = 11,
        Metal = 26,
        Grass = 7,
        FallGrass = 31,
        Bark = 8,
        MinesDirt = 14,
        Snow = 32,
        Pillow = 3
    }

    public override void OnInspectorGUI()
    {
        base.OnInspectorGUI();

        

        if(GUILayout.Button("Generate Footsteps For This Material"))
        {

        }
    }
}

public class FootstepModifierFunctions: Editor
{
    void GiveMaterialsFootsteps(GameObject WorldGO, List<Material> MaterialsForThisStep, ResultOfEnumDropdown?)
    {
        Renderer[] Mats = WorldGO.GetComponentsInChildren<Renderer>();

        for(int I = 0; I < Mats.Length; I++)
        {
            for(int X = 0; I < MaterialsForThisStep.Count; I++)
            {
                if(Mats[I] == MaterialsForThisStep[X])
                {
                    if(Mats[I].gameObject.GetComponent<GorillaSurfaceOverride>())
                    {
                        Mats[I].gameObject.GetComponent<GorillaSurfaceOverride>().overrideIndex = 2;
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}
undone coral
#

that you assign

lavish plume
#

Sorry I'm a bit new to lists and stuff. How would that work?

#

So just something like

#

(int)MaterialToUse?

undone coral
lavish plume
#

Dang I didn't think it would be beginner coding

#

Alright thanks

ancient pilot
#

hmnmm how could i fix this

unknown.png
thin mesa
frozen imp
ancient pilot
#

thank you

#

tbh.. this is quite advanced for me.. cuz i havent worked with servers tillt his point

thin mesa
#

also from what i see, driver.BeginSend() doesn't have an output param but does return DataStreamWriter that was older documentation actually i was wrong

frozen imp
ancient pilot
thin mesa
#

that's where it is being declared. it is supposed to be defined by the BeginSend method, but since it is returning null that means the connection is likely not successful. You'll probably want to print the value returned by BeginSend() so you know why it is erroring

frozen imp
ancient pilot
#

would be handy if I write code on the correct class

frozen imp
#

@ancient pilot Make sure you have intellisense installed ( #854851968446365696 ) That you should've had straight up warning for from IDE.

sinful fossil
#

Hey, does anyone know if there is a way to determine if the accessor of a class field is outside the class or inside the class?

public class Test1
{
    public float x;
    public void Update()
    { 
        x += 9; // INSIDE THE CLASS
    } 
}

public class Test2
{
    public Test1 test1;
    public void Update()
    { 
        test1.x += 9; // OUTSIDE THE CLASS
    } 
}

I need to do this in code. I could explain why but that will make this too confusing for now, even for me.
Thanks

Also I am not sure if "accessor" is the right word. I just mean the scope maybe

sly grove
sinful fossil
#

This copy would be created at the start of each frame

#

My goal is to make a system where the programming stays the same in workflow but the result is that all the objects run code in parallel (sudo parallel)

#

so like if you have a(1) and b(0) and a looks at b and says if b is 0 than set myself to 0, and b looks at a and says if a is 1 then set myself to 1. Then when you run it, only a will switch

sly grove
#

something like this?

#

properties are your friend

#

not really clear on your goals here

sinful fossil
#

so no thats not what I mean, and yes, properties are my friend, and thats where I am trying to get it to determin whos accesing it

sly grove
#

you can't dettermine who is accessing it unless you force a parameter

sinful fossil
# 
    private float x;
    private float _x;
    public float X
    {
        get
        {
            // I want in here to return x if accessor is this object and return _x if accessor is another object
            return x;
        }

        set
        {
            x = value;
        }
    }
sly grove
# 
public float GetTheData(object source) {
  if (source == this) return realData;
  return copyOfData;
}``` something like this?
sly grove
sinful fossil
#

for real....

sly grove
#

Why not just have the things access different properties/fields?

#

Are you talking about different instances of the same class reading each other's data? Or other code entirely?

sinful fossil
#

for user experience and continuity reasons

sinful fossil
#

@sly grove When working with simulations, you are at the will of the iteration loop. So if you have a list of 5 particles that all need to move according to the gravity felt by all the other particles, then after you update the first particles data in the loop, now every other particle is looking at different data from the start of the frame. X and Y are not the same anymore so the sim is lopsided.

To fix this we can introduce copies of the data from the beginning of the frame. So that you read from the copy but you write to the real one. This is pretty easy to do manually but I was trying to make it such that you only need to reference the "real" one and the system handles it.

HOWEVER, when I made this work in javascript, I realized that when and object accesses its OWN data, it needs to be the real one and not the copy. So that's where I am at.

I am confusing myself but I know that there is a route to what I want here and I am trying to find it. And if I can't then I will fall back onto just manually doing it. Say with a particle having and x and y field and also an x_copy and y_copy field

sly grove
#

This is the approach sebastian lague takes in his solar system video

sinful fossil
#

enlighten me with this two step operation

sly grove
#

but you essentially do:

foreach (body in allbodies) {
  body.CalculateForcesThisFrame();
}

foreach body in allbodies) {
  body.Move();
}```
river musk
#

Any way to get a position of contact from a OnTriggerStay?

sly grove
sly grove
# sinful fossil enlighten me with this two step operation

I recommend watching this video if you haven't https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7axImc1sxa0

YouTube
Sebastian Lague
Coding Adventure: Solar System

Experimenting with gravity and attempting to make a miniature, explorable solar system.

Watch the next solar system video here: https://youtu.be/lctXaT9pxA0

Project Files:
The Unity project is available on github here: https://github.com/SebLague/Solar-System/tree/Episode_01
If you'd like to support my work and get early access to new projects...

▶ Play video
sinful fossil
#

Oh yeah, thats sort of what I am talking about. Since when you call CalculateForces, you have to store the forces somewhere. A sudo copy. And lets say you have a lot of these two step moments, then its more beneficial to just have a copy of the data

#

I have watched it but thanks

sly grove
sinful fossil
#

yeah thats what my fall back is. Thanks for trying to help

hollow glacier
#

i love the soothing voice of sebastian

river musk
#

I've been at this for a few hours. The player has a small trigger in front of him to climb things. I need him to face directly at the climb object. The climb object uses a box collider. How can I get the player to face directly at the climb object that the trigger is hitting? Now picture the box as a wall, if I'm to the far left of the wall, using Lookat will face me at an angle on the wall cause the center of the wall is to the right. I need him to face directly at the wall at any position on the wall.

novel raptor
#

can anyone help me with my save and load system?

undone coral
#

🤯

undone coral
#

is there a pre fixed update?

split sierra
#

How do i write a code that selects 1 of 3 resources based on how much % of the overall resources it is?
like if i have very little of one resource it should have a higher chance to get selected so it evens out after time

undone coral
#

i see

undone coral
granite viper
#

@split sierra look up weighted random

river musk
granite viper
#

give lower % a higher weight

river musk
#

The box collider has 4 sides, I need you to face the side you are on.

undone coral
#

there are a few approaches to that

#

to figure out what face of a collider you are closest to

#

you probably already have a raycast

#

so you already have the normal of the collider's face

#

the hit angle

#

you can project the hit vector onto xz, then player.transform.forward = -projectedVector

granite viper
#

@river musk why wouldn't using the normal work

#

raycast to the wall, use the normal

#

it will change depending on the side of the wall you're on

river musk
#

i know how to raycast, just show me the normal part

granite viper
# 
Raycast hit = /* ... do the raycast */

player.transform.forward = hit.normal;
#

you'll probably have to tweak it depending on how you want to rotate

river musk
#

awe interesting ok ill try this

granite viper
#

but the normal is what you want

river musk
#

well i just want you to face the box on whatever side you are on

granite viper
#

right, so I'm saying that if transform.forward doesn't give you the direction you want, you can tweak the final rotation by some amount to get it to be the right direction

river musk
#

ok thank you!

undone coral
granite viper
#

@sinful fossil why not just use x within the class and X everywhere else? You aren't required to use the property

#

if it doesn't have errors what's the issue

river musk
granite viper
#

woo

hazy epoch
#

I know this isn't a Unity specific issue, but I'm grasping at straws here. So I'm hoping someone in this channel can help. Any idea what would cause the code below (in the red box) to execute just fine on a standard Windows OS machine, but not on a Windows OS machine that is set up to be a dedicated server (i.e. no GPU and no Direct X)? ...and yes, the Game.exe is built using Unity's Dedicated Server build options.

unknown.png
small latch
hazy epoch
undone coral
#

also you have to start it with -nographics -batchmode etc

tough tulip
tough tulip
tawny bridge
#

Hello, can someone help me with this. I updated my package manager despite Unity being in 2020. @ me with response please, thanks.

unknown.png
novel plinth
latent moss
#

: ()

frozen imp
latent moss
#

ohh ok, i didnt know this, thank you 👍

final steeple
#

pinvoke.net provide a correct p/invoke for once challenge (impossible)

final steeple
# hazy epoch I know this isn't a Unity specific issue, but I'm grasping at straws here. So I'... 
public unsafe struct STARTUPINFOW
{
    public uint cb;
    public ushort* lpReserved;
    public ushort* lpDesktop;
    public ushort* lpTitle;
    public uint dwX;
    public uint dwY;
    public uint dwXSize;
    public uint dwYSize;
    public uint dwXCountChars;
    public uint dwYCountChars;
    public uint dwFillAttribute;
    public uint dwFlags;
    public ushort wShowWindow;
    public ushort cbReserved2;
    public byte* lpReserved2;
    public void* hStdInput;
    public void* hStdOutput;
    public void* hStdError;
}

public unsafe struct PROCESS_INFORMATION
{
    public void* hProcess;
    public void* hThread;
    public uint dwProcessId;
    public uint dwThreadId;
}

public static unsafe class PInvoke
{
    [DllImport("kernel32", ExactSpelling = true, SetLastError = true)]
    public static extern int CreateProcessW(ushort* lpApplicationName, ushort* lpCommandLine, void* lpProcessAttributes, void* lpThreadAttributes, int bInheritHandles, uint dwCreationFlags, void* lpEnvironment, ushort* lpCurrentDirectory, STARTUPINFOW* lpStartupInfo, PROCESS_INFORMATION* lpProcessInformation);
}

// ...
STARTUPINFOW si = default;
PROCESS_INFORMATION pi = default;

fixed (char* pFileName = @"C:\...\Game.exe")
{
    if (PInvoke.CreateProcessW((ushort*)pFileName, null, null, null, 0, 0, null, null, &si, &pi) == 0)
    {
        Marshal.ThrowExceptionForHR(Marshal.GetHRForLastWin32Error());
    }
}

You can use this

#

If you want to pass in command-line parameters, you need to allocate a mutable buffer to pass to CreateProcess:

STARTUPINFOW si = default;
PROCESS_INFORMATION pi = default;

fixed (char* pFileName = @"C:\...\Game.exe")
{
    var pCommandLine = (ushort*)Marshal.StringToHGlobalUni(commandLine);

    try
    {
        if (PInvoke.CreateProcessW((ushort*)pFileName, pCommandLine, null, null, 0, 0, null, null, &si, &pi) == 0)
        {
            Marshal.ThrowExceptionForHR(Marshal.GetHRForLastWin32Error());
        }
    }
    finally
    {
        Marshal.FreeHGlobal((IntPtr)pCommandLine);
    }
}
#

(and of course, you need to enable unsafe code in your project settings or assembly definition)

tough tulip
final steeple
#

It's not the string marshalling that is dangerous

#

It's the fact that it's being used on lpCommandLine

#

Even the P/Invoke for CreateProcess inside the runtime libraries does not marshal that, because it needs a pointer to mutable data

#

.NET strings are immutable

#

Even the Windows API documentation calls this out:

The Unicode version of this function, CreateProcessW, can modify the contents of this string. Therefore, this parameter cannot be a pointer to read-only memory (such as a const variable or a literal string). If this parameter is a constant string, the function may cause an access violation.

#

(and CreateProcessW is what will be resolved for CreateProcess in the majority of cases)

#

So basically, if you marshal a .NET string to it, it will receive a pointer to the string's data and potentially mutate it, corrupting that string in the eyes of the runtime

#

The same applies to the ANSI version CreateProcessA, but that one won't end up mutating the .NET string because the marshaller needs to allocate a new string buffer with the correct encoding, but CreateProcessA shouldn't really be used because it means your code won't support unicode paths

#

The P/Invoke on pinvoke.net uses CharSet.Auto so it will end up calling CreateProcessW and therefore corrupt the input string (if you pass it one for that parameter)

#

Just a bit more info to add to my wall of text lol: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/framework/interop/default-marshaling-for-strings#strings-used-in-platform-invoke

When the CharSet is Unicode or a string argument is explicitly marked as [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWSTR)] and the string is passed by value (not ref or out), the string is pinned and used directly by native code.
CharSet.Auto is equivalent to CharSet.Unicode on Windows, so it will indeed just pin the string and pass a pointer to its data to the function

urban warren
#

I am trying to generate plant models using splines, however I can't figure out how to curve/position a spline based on a float/slider.
Basically I want to have a float value that determines how much a spline (leaf) curves/bends downwards or upwards. Another way to say it is how effective 'gravity' is on it.
I am also trying to figure out how to create a spiral of a spline.

As I expect the answer to be a longer one I am more looking for what to lookup since I just can't figure it out for this one.

compact ingot
#

basically this, but in 3D. you may have bezier-splines, there the control points are a bit different, but the principle is the same.

cphandle.gif
urban warren
compact ingot
#

approaching it from a math standpoint is just semi-helpful, in most cases the math behind them doesn't matter much and your handle positions are a very neat abstraction

urban warren
#

Yeah, I understand the math behind them (lerping between the points). I guess I am more unsure of how to place the control points to get 'mathematically correct' curves if that makes sense.

compact ingot
urban warren
compact ingot
#

it will always be a judgmement call, you'll have to figure out how to mimic the "correct" curve with spline control points

urban warren
#

But I guess I will just try messing around with it more, haha

compact ingot
#

if not, you can just use a vector drawing app

unknown.png
urban warren
gilded wing
#

will the compiler pick the smallest possible underlying type for an enum? like i've been assuming they're int unless specified otherwise, and manually specifying them as byte or whatever depending on how many different values they hold and just realized that might be pointless

#

or i mean it's likely to be an unneeded optimization in any case since i'm not blasting through millions of them but just wondering

agile yoke
#

You are also correct that it's not likely to make a difference to make them smaller, unless you have very specific use cases where that's important

gilded wing
#

thanks, yeah, just one of those things that feels nice to do anyway

#

as long as it's at least technically doing something

hazy epoch
# tough tulip IL2CPP doesnt support System.Diagnostics.Process

Heh. While I appreciate all the input, especially the intriguing debate it spurred with @final steeple , @novel plinth , and @tough tulip ; but this isn't the cause of the issue. As I said, the application launches just fine on one system, but not on another.