Unity 4.3?

[kamov23]

I'm curious as to what the decision regarding unity 4.3 is, if any. Is Squad going to update to unity 4.3?

Reading the devblogs, it appears that they recently updated to unity 4.2.2 for the latest update. Is there any word on 4.3?

[samhuk]

Hello Kamov23,

To be honest everyone is more focused on when unity will bring out stable 64-bit running environments. That...will be a good day for KSP. My computer can launch 350 parts without too much fps drop...and that is just one of four cores... Imagine 64-bit and all cores...

= 1000+ parts with no fps lag.

Wow.

So really, a new update won't be on the dev's mind much as unless it is a stable 64-bit update, they don't really care too much...

Sam

[Eric S]

My computer can launch 350 parts without too much fps drop...and that is just one of four cores... Imagine 64-bit and all cores...

Just so that no one gets the wrong idea, a 64-bit client and running on all cores are two separate issues, a 64-bit client doesn't get to fully utilize multiple cores for free.

And really, even "running on all cores" doesn't matter unless the physics simulation workload can get split between the cores, and I don't see that happening before 2.0 (or some form of expansion), since in all honesty, it will probably take an engine swap, or at least switching to something else for physics simulations.

That said, the Unity upgrade will at least eliminate some of the stability issues of a 64 bit windows client, and the devs sound more hopeful than they have in the past on the subject.

[DeadShawn]

Hello Kamov23,

Imagine 64-bit and all cores...

= 1000+ parts with no fps lag.

Wow.

Sam

64bit wont give a noticeable performance increase, but it would allow more parts/larger textures.

As for multiple cores, I can't wait. At the very least the rendering and physics simulation need to be put on separate cores. But this is, of course, a unity limitation.

[MR4Y]

If you play the linux version, you know that the 64 bit version of KSP uses MORE RAM than the 32 bit version.

[samhuk]

64bit wont give a noticeable performance increase, but it would allow more parts/larger textures.

As for multiple cores, I can't wait. At the very least the rendering and physics simulation need to be put on separate cores. But this is, of course, a unity limitation.

Ah, urm, heard of 64-bit multithreading?

Access to more cores for the physics calculations does indeed mean that your CPU also has to do a lot of work separating the tasks, but that does by no means outweigh the bonus you get by actually using several cores.

Sam

[Eric S]

Ah, urm, heard of 64-bit multithreading?

64-bit code and multithreading are two separate issues. You can do one without the other, and having one doesn't make the other any easier.

[DMagic]

Ah, urm, heard of 64-bit multithreading?

I don't think this is actually a thing. Like Eric S said, these are separate issues.

Part count related performance is being held back because the physics calculations are all single-threaded. This is because of the old PhysX version that Unity uses, and it has nothing to do with being 64-bit or not.

[dudester28]

I have always wanted to know: Why does it seem that unity is so reluctant to include multi-core support? Is it hard to do?

[DMagic]

I have always wanted to know: Why does it seem that unity is so reluctant to include multi-core support? Is it hard to do?

They aren't reluctant. Unity does have multicore support and KSP uses it. It's very common for KSP to have around 30-40% CPU usage on a four-core system.

It's the old version of PhysX that's limited to a single thread. Just switching out the old version for a newer version of PhysX probably isn't simple, and since most Unity games probably don't have such complex physics it isn't really an issue for the Unity people.

[Faark]

Is it hard to do?

And yes, it is. Or why do you think most programs do their major work on a single thread? Doing stuff that is somehow connected to each other in parallel is one of the most difficult things you can do at all. And I'm pretty sure its nearly impossible for a game engine that wants to allow its users to do whatever they want and still be very easy & intuitive to use. It for sure will never fully utilize all your cores all of the time!