About 32 and 64 bits difference in Unity 5

Getting Started
1

I didn’t see the different version in Unity 4,
but now it’s Unity 5, and I saw 2 different versions, 32 and 64 bits.

I’m using 64bits system, but I wonder if I should choose 64bits because I saw some compability issues with the plugins.

which version should I choose?

2
  1. As implied 64 bits is 2^32 times better then 32
3

The big advantage of 64bit is the ability to access lots of RAM. If you are editing a massive scene, the 64bit editor won’t need to crash like a 32bit editor often will. If you have a 64bit system, you want to install 64bit software.

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4

So there are no plugin compability issues with 64 bit version of the editor?

5

depends what type plugin but geneally it needs to support 64bit to work in editor

6

The other thing to consider, is if you are targeting 64 or 32 bits. Running the Editor with the same bits as your target platform might be wiser than not to. Although I would most likely just go with 64 bits if you are on a 64 bit computer - because of the larger memory access.

7

There can be compatibility issue. For example, I had a 32-bit DLL and I noticed that whatever I do, the Unity 64-bit Editor could not find it when running game in the editor although the dll was in the Plugins directory under Asset folder. When I switched to 32-bit Unity Editor, it ran smoothly without complaining.

8

Just a heads up for anyone else coming to this thread. Unity 5.6 will be the last release shipping with a 32-bit editor.

https://blogs.unity3d.com/2016/11/15/end-of-support-for-32-bit-editor-for-windows/

9

My game is light weight in terms of intensive demands for the CPU, what I am wondering is, publishing as 32, affect much, perhaps the rendering?
EDIT:
Answer, 32 is fine for the casual game, that mine is.

10

Only reason to create 32-bit builds these days is to support older hardware and operating systems. Some people might point towards older frameworks that are no longer being developed and thus don’t exist for 64-bit, but let’s be honest if it’s no longer developed then it’s most likely past the point it had value.

There is a tighter memory constraint for 32-bit (2GB on 32-bit OS, 4GB for large address aware on 64-bit OS), but other than that there are no meaningful effects on the program itself. You won’t see a meaningful performance difference and it won’t necessarily be in one favor of one (some 32-bit programs are faster, some 64-bit ones are faster).

Additionally there is nothing preventing you from publishing both 32-bit and 64-bit on most platforms.

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