Unity 2017.4 LTS is now available

Unity 2017.4 is now available!

Downloads and Release Notes
Blog post

This is a little different to our usual releases. We do not have any shiny new features to show off in 2017.4 - instead, 2017.4 marks the beginning of our Long Term Supported (LTS) programme for Unity 2017.

The LTS version will not have any new features, API changes or improvements. It will address crashes, regressions, and issues that affect the wider community, such as Enterprise Support customer issues, platform SDK updates, or any major changes that would prevent a large section of users from shipping their game. We will be releasing updates for it, every other week, until early 2020. If you already have all the features you need from the engine, and just want a version you can rely on to finish shipping your project, then this is for you.

As usual, we recommend you back up your project before upgrading - though if you are currently using Unity 2017.3, upgrading to 2017.4 should be just as easy as upgrading to a 2017.3 patch release. If you encounter any issues, please let us know by submitting a bug report so it can reach our developers.

For more information on the LTS programme and why we’re doing this, please see the blog post.

12 Likes

Probably the best QA decision in years! Congrats!

5 Likes

Agreed, this is brilliant. A dev tool, more than any other kind of software, needs to be absolutely solid and as bug-free as possible (while still keeping up with necessary platform changes). Please keep up the great work!

4 Likes

This is very useful indeed!

Awesome, this really solidifies the professional quality of the engine. Many projects need a solid foundation and this sounds like a perfect implementation.

1 Like

Do you want us to re-submit bugs that are currently open for previous versions of Unity if they’re in 2017.4? Is that useful for helping you track LTS bugs or is it just annoying because someone would just have to close them as duplicates?

In general, not necessary; but if you want to let us know “hey, this is still an issue in 2017.4” then please feel free. For bugs you opened yourself, you can just reply to the email to add a note to the bug, and for bugs that others opened but that you believe you’re still seeing, you can submit a new bug and link to the existing one on the IssueTracker. Should be pretty fast for our QA guys to process those reports.

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I am curious, why is 2017.4 not the default release when you download Unity?

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More specifically, 2017.4 is the default release if you click on Get Unity from the main site and then select personal edition and agree to the terms (presumably also if you go through the purchase process). But for those of us who already have Unity and simply want to upgrade to the latest release (by selecting Latest release at the bottom of the page) it refers us to 2017.3 still.

Agree with CraigGraff
I found out about 2017.4 LTS today accidentally.
I have Plus license and latest version for me 2017.3.1

If we have ported our game to the beta 2018, we have to stay on the 2018 version or we can downgrade to 2017.4?

Unity normally do that when there is a new release. Those who go to the standard link will include new users, so best to let those who really want the latest version to check it out first in case there are issues that could turn away curious potential customers.

Hi, I asked this is another thread but I’ll re-ask here. Many times if I submit a bug for the current stable version of Unity, all I get back is an email asking to see if it works in whatever the latest beta is. If I don’t, it’s closed without anyone bothering to try to fix it. Now that this LTS is supposed to be “more supported” and “more stable”, can this please be avoided? First, it shouldn’t even matter if a major bug might be fixed in a beta, since bugs are supposed to be fixed in stable releases. Second, no one working on a game has time to download every new beta as a side install and test all their bugs against it constantly. Letting us submit bugs in the LTS to have them looked at and fixed in the LTS on your side would make things much simpler.

8 Likes

GREAT! Gratitude!

I’m rolling back to 2017.3. This new LTS gives me tons of errors in the editor, animator window stopping to work randomly, inspector window sometime refuse to refresh.

For such a significant endeavour, this is worded, presented and pitched in a shoddy manner.

Name it:

Unity3D 2017.Stable - plus version numbers…

And, as you evolve Stable.point versions to actual stability, please provide exact version downloads, in a chronological list of direct links. No hub, no download assistant, no hoop jumping. Just let users and admins rapidly, exactingly and easily install parallel versions to check against their masterpieces in perfect isolation.

In other words; cater to the actual needs of the target space. Don’t just posture and promote. Unity has done more than enough of that. Instead, consolidate around a Stable version.

There’s no need for yet another set of acronyms. LTS doesn’t mean anything and you don’t have the brand equity (or reputation) to instil it with meaning. And it’s a fight not worth fighting, of your own doing, because unwrapping LTS reveals a word salad of deliberately disingenuous corporate waffle and ambiguity:

What’s your definition of “Long Term” ???

What’s your definition of “Supported” ???

I shouldn’t even need to be thinking about this. Nor should you, or anyone working on this version… because…

…there’s a word you can use, and it’s the same thing your users want: Stable

Added benefit, this removes the need for explanation. At some point in the gestation of LTS “program” and the TECH “streams”, someone should have realised a need for explanation revealed naming problems.

It’s not too late.

A reliable housing for workhorses is such a noble building endeavour (and so important and significant to the lives of horse breeders and riders) that it’s worth every effort to proclaim the entity’s nature within the name. Stable inspires, empowers and explains, for breeders, groomers and users.

Stable, as the name of the product, serves as a constant reminder, aspiration and purpose.

Shape it. Use it. Do it. Be it.

Unity3D 2017.Stable
From the past, for the future.


Public efforts to rename as Stable and betas will be proclaimed.

The endeavour, to evolve a stable version that can be relied upon, is so important you’ll be forgiven this LTS and Tech nonsense nomenclature mistake.

For the workhorses, a Stable.

For gamers: tracks, fields, reins and grass.

LTS is not a new acronym, it’s very well known for anybody in the real business, which is what this release is targeting.
LTS is used widely on server distribution, ever heard for example of Ubuntu LTS?
What this essentially mean is that if there are bugs or security issues discovered much later after the release(up to 2 years in this case), you can be sure you will have a fix without the need to upgrade version, that’s all.
Stable doesn’t mean bug free, because there is no software bug free.
As have been said the Tech release will be STABLE, so there is no reason to have a stable nomenclature.
Everything not beta and experimental will be STABLE, they said they are trying to change the fact that you have to wait for several patch or minor releases before having a stable release.
This is what they are aiming at least, so far my experience with the LTS has not been great and I have reverted to the latest 2017.3.

2 Likes

which

Which industry is that?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-term_support

I prefer LTS in this case because it directly implies that they’re going to continue to support and fix bugs in it instead of doing most bug fixing in the beta, which as my post above has said, has been a constant source of pain for some of us. When a release of something is just marked “stable” that can sometimes mean the opposite: that it’s a version that won’t change or get updated at all, while all bug fixes go into a “development” branch.

The Problem with hanging mono.exe task is still not resolved ?! :frowning:
Fresh 2017.4.1f1 installed → C# changed to 4.6 → Standard Assets added → ml-agent 0.3 added
TFSharpPlugin.unitypackages import hangs :frowning:

Windows 7 64bit i5 hd-gfx
Unity3D 64 2017.4.1f1

What can i do, always killing the task couldn’t be the solution?
I’m the only one with this problem?