Does anyone else feel betrayed when unity refuse to make vital fixes to 3.x? I have games on the mac app store that I have just added in-app purchases to. Only to be apple rejected because unity 3.5.7 has a bug in full screen mode that hides the in app store dialog boxes from apple.
I can’t migrate the games to 4.x and still have to support games created on 3.x and published on the store, part of supporting them is periodic updates to keep them alive and kicking.
Unity need to fix things like this in 3.x, not just abandon it as soon as the next major release comes out. Operating systems maintain updates for years afterwards to fix vital bugs and flaws, so why do unity abandon us 3.x users so quickly?
Last year unity announced that they would stop upgrading the 3.x series by the end of 2012. It’s now 6 months later, I wouldn’t hold my breathe if I were you.
So how are we supposed to support our products written with 3.x and published? it’s only been about 6 months since 4 came out hasn’t it? Microsoft et al, all support their OS’s for 4 to 5 years after they retire it. Unity can’t seriously expect us to port 3.x published games to 4.x just to fix a unity caused bug surely!?
When I upgraded to unity 4, I didn’t have to change a single thing. I don’t see what’s the big fuss on “porting” your game when most if not all API is the same.
A game I’m working on crashes when published from 4.0. Both on mobile, and sometimes it crashes the whole editor too. Works perfect when built from 3.x
We’ve already upgraded our licenses at the studio to 4.0 for our other projects, but we have to stick to 3.5.7 for this one. We will soon have to implement IOS IAPs, and I hope I wont run into this bug.
I think there are a large number of developers still stucked at Unity v3.5.x, not being able to upgrade for various reasons.
It is terrible that UT abandon these people so quickly. Many major software developers continue to support legacy apps years after they were retired.
What I see is a vicious cycle IMO - UT not willing to continue the support for Unity 3.5x when they are afraid that making 3.5x bug free will prevent the developers from migrating to v4.0 (their main incoming stream), but that’s a fear unfounded - most developers would want to migrate to newer version to get new feature sets, but without turning a profit (due to bugs in the older version) they cannot afford to migrate, which means we are stuck in a vicious cycle. If UT would continue to fix the critical bugs for 3.5x - many of the developers would be able to finally push out their products and finally getting the funds needed to upgrade to newer version of Unity.
This is exactly it. It’s not just that my game is a casino game but also the cost of upgrading my pro licences to 4.x, I’ve just tried to put in in-app purchases on my 3.x Mac game to try just that and increase my revenue to justify the cost of upgrading to 4.x. But here is where the bug sits!! I’m not able to monitize my 3.x game on the Mac!! How ridiculous is that!
Surely there has to be a way around the issue you are having, Unity apps have had IAPs before 4.x. If it is a combination more recent updates to OS (after 4.x) and the older version it pretty safe to say it probably will not be fixed. While most companies do provide a degree of support during a version transition, it isn’t very common to address problems that arise from changes other software (like iOS or an newer version of Android).
Also, have you checked with Unity on your game, it doesn’t prohibit “casino” games under the standard license, its “gambling”, which are different.
At any rate, best of luck. As others said, I wouldn’t count on fix from Unity. It might be best to find a way around the issue.
We have supported 3.x with several 3.5.x updates after we released 4.0 to support users with critical bugs. As others stated, we have no plans to do any future 3.x releases. Maintaining and testing multiple release branches at the same time is a lot of work, and just does not stay feasible indefinitely. I understand that this will never make everybody happy, but we only have limited resources to work on things.
As for the specific problem - the problem is until recently, Apple did not provide feasible ways of taking a game fullscreen without taking over the screen (which makes any OS dialogs not show). This was not a problem in the past, but with IAP and GameCenter, it becomes something people want to use. Apple has added these capabilities in 10.7, and we have rewritten fullscreen mode for OS X Standalones completely in Unity 4.0 to use a new approach. This is a big rewrite and not something which we can trivially merge to a 3.x branch. I also don’t consider it a bug really, as it really just means we don’t properly support Apple features which did not even exist when we released 3.0.
Regardless, a workaround which people have used to get around this limitation in 3.x is to leave fullscreen mode before showing any IAP dialogs. It’s not ideal, but it will allow you to ship your game.
Look, the Unity guys even took time to help give you a resolution. Get off their backs, there is no sense for a company to push updates to older versions of the software they are developing. Unity 4.0 is essentially an update, merge over to it if you want more than what the older versions have to offer. If you don’t want to merge due to new licensing terms, then that is a decision you are making and not Unity’s fault.
Spoken like someone that doesn’t have any legacy games or apps on a store!
I don’t want any of the new features in v4. I just think unity should be making sure our stuff created with v3 still works on the platforms it was written for a little longer than half a year, at least 2 years as a minimum after a new major version is released. As for the fix offered, this is exactly what i have done and it has had the effect of making the in app purchase action look very amateur indeed.
If i had used all free licenses I wouldn’t have a problem with Unity’s stance on the issue, but I paid for 2 pro editions! And the common view is if I want a fix I need to pay again for 2 more!
2 years is an awfully long time, especially in this industry. Should Unity iOS 3.5 still be compatible with iOS 7? What about iOS 9 in 2 years when iPhone 7 has some magical stereoscopic, pressure sensitive display?
I can understand your frustration with your particular problem, but keeping legacy software up to date in an ever evolving software/hardware environment is unfortunately, as Jonas said, not very practical.
That’s not really feasible. Game engines are a fast-moving industry and not comparable to operating systems. The truth is that they kept updating Unity 3.5 after 4.0 was released for longer than they did with Unity 2.6 after 3.0 came out (in fact there were no updates to 2.6 afterward), which clearly demonstrates that they acknowledge that not everybody can jump to the new version immediately. It seems to me they stretched it out as long as they could given the constraints they’re under.
I find that difficult to believe. Have you actually read through the release notes for Unity 4.0 and 4.1? It’s far more than just Mecanim.
No, you need to upgrade them, not buy them again. The price for upgrading is significantly less (50%) than buying them new. You also haven’t addressed the fact that you misread the EULA; there’s no reason you can’t publish your games with Unity 4.
But it does still work. True, maybe not exactly the way you desire it to, but nothing is broken. It still functions the same way it did with the OS it was built for. The OS changed, and as stated, Unity accounted for these changes in their next release. No doubt it is frustrating, but honestly, if this is only challenge you faced due to version upgrade cycles, consider yourself fortunate. It could have been much, much worse. (and usually is).
My game was first rejected by Apple over it, and thanks to a Prime31 suggestion of a workaround to drop out of fullscreen mode I was able to resubmit it to Apple (still waiting for approval), So I might have dodged a bullet this time. I still stand by my original view that Unity should ensure 3.x submitted games and apps are able to be maintained for at least 2 years after a Major rev change. I’m not asking for new features, just to be able to keep the ones I paid for working for as long as possible.
I’m starting to think that it should become standard practice for people releasing Unity games to schedule in an upgrade to latest version + full QA cycle, as near as possible to the end of development.
But you are asking for new features. What you originally paid for - Unity 3 - did not support IAP (as it didn’t exist at the time). Now you’re asking for it to support IAP. If you hadn’t added IAP to your game, then the existing features that you did pay for would still be working fine, no?
Edit: to be clear, if this were a problem you’d run into due to e.g. Apple releasing a new version of the OS that breaks your game, then I’d have more sympathy. But as it is, not so much.