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Unity 5.3 released, hello modern OpenGL system for Linux gaming

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Unity 5.3 has been on my radar for one single reason, they finally have a modern OpenGL system! I really hope developers upgrade to it.

QuoteWith Unity 5.3, we’re shipping a number of new features which raise the bar for rendering quality and deliver improvements to rendering efficiency.

For starters, there’s a brand new OpenGL 4.x core, which will replace our legacy OpenGL 2.1 core. This allows you to take advantage of the very latest OpenGL features on Windows, OS X and Linux, whilst also being able to scale to older versions of OpenGL, depending on the user’s OpenGL driver support. Note that in 5.3, Unity will default to the new OpenGL core, but you can switch to legacy OpenGL 2.1 manually to maintain previous behavior. Our current aim is to remove the legacy OpenGL core in Unity 5.4.


See the full announcement here.

I would urge developers to update, as the Linux version should perform better with the new OpenGL system in. I am also pleased to see them aiming to remove the legacy system for the next major update, no point keeping it around. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. Find me on Mastodon.
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39 comments
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Tak Dec 9, 2015
Quoting: rustybroomhandleAlso wondering (and please, no pressure, take your time with this) - do you have any 5.3 editor plans?
We've just merged the latest changes from 5.3 final and are working on a test build now. (There are lots of vacations and holidays in December, though - this doesn't mean "hold your breath for a release tomorrow." ;) )

Quoting: rustybroomhandleI'm kinda curious if you guys have any handle on what the maintenance effort of the Linux editor might be in future.
We're still trying to evaluate this. Right now, Linux editor work is hosted on a dedicated branch that's isolated from the development mainline (i.e. trunk/master) and release mainlines, so it's currently more maintenance overhead than it potentially could be.

Quoting: Eikemake the editor not crash on load and save project under non-GNOME environments
From what I've seen, this has been a Gtk theme issue for the people who are experiencing it. You may have better luck if you try a different/standard Gtk2 theme.
Tak Dec 9, 2015
Quoting: Seegras
Quoting: GuestThere is also the fact that WebGL is an officially supported build target.
It needs JDK 6.
It needs at least JDK 6. If it doesn't work with a newer version, that's unintentional (as far as I know) and should be reported/fixed.
Mohandevir Dec 9, 2015
For those interested, Dubigrasu did a benchmark of Unity 4 vs 5... Quite promising:

http://steamcommunity.com/groups/steamuniverse/discussions/1/541907867770822642/#p8

Just look for the last page of the forum's comments.

Thanks Dubi!
wojtek88 Dec 9, 2015
Quoting: MohandevirFor those interested, Dubigrasu did a benchmark of Unity 4 vs 5... Quite promising:

http://steamcommunity.com/groups/steamuniverse/discussions/1/541907867770822642/#p8

Just look for the last page of the forum's comments.

Thanks Dubi!

Looks great, hope it will be applied to many titles. And hope Unity guys will find more ways to optimize Linux code.
Cannot wait for Cities Skylines to update.
Mountain Man Dec 9, 2015
Quoting: Creak
Quoting: Mountain ManI hope the Cities: Skylines developers are paying attention. We might finally get good performance in Linux.
I'm not sure Cities: Skyline uses Unity.
It does.

https://unity3d.com/showcase/case-stories/cities-skylines


Last edited by Mountain Man on 9 December 2015 at 1:24 pm UTC
Mountain Man Dec 9, 2015
Quoting: soulsource
Quoting: Mountain ManI hope the Cities: Skylines developers are paying attention. We might finally get good performance in Linux.
What's wrong with its performance? For me (Radeon R9 270X with open source drivers) it's running very well. I'm not at maximum settings, as I had to decrease shadow quality to medium, but I'd say that's more than close enough.
It falls far behind the Windows version in terms of performance and tends to hover around 20-something frames per second even on hardware that exceeds the recommended requirements. It's playable, but it really should run better. There are a number of threads on the official forums discussing the problem. Here's one of the more popular ones:

https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/linux-abysmal-performance-on-system-that-exceeds-reccommended-requiremens.842603/


Last edited by Mountain Man on 9 December 2015 at 1:31 pm UTC
Eike Dec 10, 2015
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Quoting: Tak
Quoting: Eikemake the editor not crash on load and save project under non-GNOME environments
From what I've seen, this has been a Gtk theme issue for the people who are experiencing it. You may have better luck if you try a different/standard Gtk2 theme.

Thanks, I will try that on weekend. Yesterday I only found time to do a quick crash report:
https://fogbugz.unity3d.com/default.asp?752348_h2u0eet2qa350ie5

I just cannot find the existing report anymore where several people with other DEs than Gnome couldn't use the Linux editor. :-/

Thanks for making the editor available for Linux by the way. I'm not sure I'm creative enough to make a cool game, but I for sure would love to give it a try.


Last edited by Eike on 10 December 2015 at 9:06 am UTC
Nezchan Dec 10, 2015
The Thea: The Awakening devs are apparently eager to move to move to 5.3. Smart move for a quality game.
Eike Dec 11, 2015
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Quoting: Tak
Quoting: Eikemake the editor not crash on load and save project under non-GNOME environments
From what I've seen, this has been a Gtk theme issue for the people who are experiencing it. You may have better luck if you try a different/standard Gtk2 theme.

Thanks, I finally managed to get a file dialog! X)

I installed kde-config-gtk-style to access gtk configuration with KDE means.
It was set (defaulted to?) mimic KDE style.
I had to change the theme, away from "oxygen-gtk" to e. g. "Adwaita", as well as the icon set, away from "Oxygen" to e. g. "Human" or "GNOME". None of the changes helped on its own, but both together did.

I've added the information to my crash report as well (https://fogbugz.unity3d.com/default.asp?752348_h2u0eet2qa350ie5).

Thanks for your help!
(Did you know that "tack" is the Swedish word for "thanks"? ;) )


Last edited by Eike on 11 December 2015 at 11:03 pm UTC
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