I’m at a standstill to develop my game right now because I can only use my license on two computers. My two licenses are tied up on my work computer and my home desktop. Now when I travel with my laptop, I cannot use the license I paid for because I am limited to two computers.
Surely there must be an exception to this! I am a former Quest3d user and loathed their hardware dongle, but I could use it on all three computers without problems. Now I feel like I am handcuffed to my two computers if I want to develop in Unity…
Soon, handheld devices and touch tablets will be able to run Unity and then maybe it will force Unity to include 3 license installs, but what do I do until then???
I think with the advent of the “free” version and that the editor can now be run on both Windows and Mac, that those of us who paid for Unity and continue to pay for upgrades (ie. Pro users) should be able to install the editor on 2 machines per OS.
We will see.
I don’t see why because there is no platform that would require it.
The platforms on which you can install the editors have been the same since the release of Unity 2.5.
Consoles → windows
iphone → osx
rest → both
So you still need at maximum 2 licenses technically even if you had all addons.
What I personally would like to vote for is that you get 1 additional install per addon you own on top of Unity Pro (freeriders can install it on as many systems as they want), with a maximum of 4 parallel installs
That is unless you happen to be developing an application that requires 3 (or more) systems all networked together (such is the case I’ve run into). In my case I have to build a stand alone, copy it to one of my computers that doesn’t have Unity installed and then test it with two other systems running Unity. If there’s a network related error involved, it’s a total PITA to debug.
I understand the need for copy protection, I also understand why UT made indy free. What I don’t understand is why Pro subscribers are limited to the same product license restrictions, after sales support, etc. as those who are getting it for free. :roll:
I assume you are aware that you are breaking your license with that, right?
You are allowed to install it on two machines, but you are not allowed to use them in parallel. Just cause unity does not require permanent online connection, thats no reason to ignore the license which you agreed to.
Network Debug level works for the editor as well as builds.
Also the bug is likely bidirectional, so it happens when you are the server as well as when you are the client in such an environment, so you can debug both sides independently.
If you ask yourself about why the Pro licensees are restricted, I’m unsure that you got why indie became free
Indie became free because the effort with the support is higher than what they pay yet it is a must because they payed too, also paying customers especially the low paying one, always have the missunderstanding that they are entitled to top features.
Freeriders on the other side are not entitled to anything legally and I expect especially U3 to show this much stronger with a seriously more “Upgrade pushing” feature delta between free and pro. (beast GI, umbra, shadows, deferred rendering, … to just name a few of the things we already know)
The other reason is clearly that it spreads much faster this way, thats likely the reason you saw.
Pro on the other side pays the development, with more parallel installations, the risk that people share it within the team becomes significant and I doubt that UT is interested in requiring permanent online connections just to ensure it.
Already the dual install restriction is only there to cover your development box + your notebook likely.
Thats the reasoning behind the majority of all dual install licenses.
Chill out Dreamora, no need to be condescending, no I wasn’t aware of that. I was under the impression it wasn’t an issue. One person, two computers, testing a single application. In fact when I mentioned this issue to Tom he didn’t say anything to make me think I was violating anything. No worries though, I’m migrating all my Unity work to a new Windows machine anyways. Thanks to 10.6.4 my Macs now run Unity like a snail making them pretty close to useless.
I think the theory behind the two license rule is to prevent piracy. Theoretically someone could post their pro licensee on the internet and everyone could use it without a two install rule in effect. That being said, couldn’t you remove the license from one computer so you can use it on the other, or is that against the terms? (I really don’t know, I’m a free user)
You can do it but you must request the removal through the support, you can not do it yourself in any way.
Moving licenses is no problem, but you can’t have more than 2 active installations
@bigkahuna: I didn’t assume it was your intend
but people especially new ones / young once get strange ideas …
sad to hear you had such problems.
While my performance suffered as anyones due to the graphics driver kill out, I did not have nearly that bad problems actually. On the other hand, my main dev machine has been a windows machine for years and for 18 months or so it has been a Core i7 machine with a GTX280 and first Vista64 now Win7 64 (and that at a price smaller than the cheapest imac, without screens naturally)
Could someone from Unity please acknowledge that maybe this policy needs to change? If not, then recommend me a way to work in Unity on my laptop, desktop and work desktop. I am a paying customer, at the very least, my suggestion should be considered…
I can’t be the only one who works on more than two computers!
You’re not alone. This topic came up a long while back and at that point UT claimed that they would work with those developers who ran into this situation. They weren’t clear on the specifics of what that meant, but when I attempted to contact them on the topic they were silent. Half a dozen emails sent, all unanswered.
Like I said, I fully understand the need for copy protection and I fully appreciate UT’s need to control licenses and make a profit. I may be alone in this opinion but for the life of me don’t understand why Pro and Free users have been lumped into the same scheme for licensing and after sales support.
I much prefer the direction StoneTrip has taken with Shiva3D. You can install and use as many copies of the editor (Free PLE) as you wish. The Unlimited license you purchase allows you to build the application on a single computer. So for my application where I want to test, debug and edit on 3 networked computers, this would be perfect. Additionally, free PLE users only get after sales support via the forums, while paying Unlimited customers have access to support via email.
I suggest contacting UT support before posting complaints or whatever on this forum… I’ve found support to be very helpful and reasonable in these situations.
but also agree with bigkahuna that with the growing amount of freeriders, UT might have to think about how to handle the paying customers (as they are the ones likely to buy addons too), although I don’t have anything to be unhappy so far. Support is commonly responsive and always competent
Until recently, I would have agreed with this 100%. But on this particular topic I would have to say Unity Technologies has been neither helpful nor reasonable. I won’t go into details publicly, but hopefully the UT employee I spoke with on this topic will read this: As a loyal, paying customer I would appreciate at least the courtesy of a reply to my emails.
Right-- we realize this is problematic for some of you, which is why we are in fact working on an automatic license activation and deactivation system so you can manage this yourself.
Indeed our 2 installation per computer policy is intended to prevent abuse, but with the new system you will be able to manage this yourself.
Of course if you are migrating your license from one computer to another (on an infrequent basis) you can always email support@unity3d.com with your serial number and we will gladly do that.
I it would be nice being able to deactivate ourselves when replacing hardware, without having to email support.
However, this will only cover that case, but there’s another issue why 2 activations is not enough, it was a limit that was understandable when Unity was Mac only so, you could use it on a desktop+laptop at the same time, within the license’s limits.
Since Unity now supports Windows as well, that system should be changed to recognise the computer it’s the same, when running under Bootcamp or OSX, and use only 1 activation.
There’s no possible abuse in this case: the PC it’s the same and it’s either running Windows or OSX at once but, if installing in Windows+OSX could count as 1, everybody with a notebook could fully use its license and the Unity cross-platform capability without requiring Unity to switch to a 4 activations policy!
Or, let’s put it in a different way:
It’s just not fair that a team of 2 or even more people could use Unity with a single license, perhaps keep deactivating and reactivating machines on the upcoming user-controlled deactivation method, and a single user with 2 Macs bootcamped can’t.
it is, but as long as unity does not require internet connection to use or from time to time to upload usage stats, it won’t be detectable that such missuse happens …
And I am unsure if UT really wants to add such a thing (though it would have to happen for granted if users were given the right to transfer licenses on an ongoing base not just once per X weeks per installation
