Hello,
I was wondering if anyone here works out of their dropbox. I have my projects on dropbox so I can access from multiple computers (Desktop/Laptop). I tend to use a Windows based desktop for working in Unity but a Mac for all my asset creation (3d models, sound files, etc).
Is this a good idea? Anyone run into problems with this workflow?
Thanks,
rich
I don’t see the point in using Dropbox when there’s so many proper cloud based version control systems out there you could use instead.
No. If you want the functionality you’re describing you should be using a version control system.
Yes. We’ve had numerous threads in the past where people reported Dropbox eating their project.
The library directory is different between the mac and windows so whenever you switch, Unity will talke longer to open your project as it rewrites the library directory. As everyone has stated, use versioning control. Visual Studio online is free for small groups and there are other free options.
I’ve just started to look into GitHub but my projects seem to big for it. At least projects that I’ve already started. If I start completely from scratch with a new unity project. then Github seems to work.
GitHub is merely one service among many. Here are some other examples. Some have a free tier too.
https://bitbucket.org/product/pricing?tab=host-in-the-cloud
https://www.visualstudio.com/team-services/pricing/
https://signup.projectlocker.com/signup
Some shared hosting services offer it as well. DreamHost provides me with unlimited SVN repos of unlimited size.
https://www.dreamhost.com/hosting/shared/ (listed under Advanced Features)
https://help.dreamhost.com/hc/en-us/articles/216108897-How-do-I-create-a-Subversion-repository-
If you don’t mind setting up the repo server yourself there are some very affordable cloud servers out there.
Which of your recommendations would work best for a Windows/Mac studio and would also work with Cloud Build services?
rich
you can try gitlab they have more space
All of them. Choice of service provider is not the important thing. What’s important is what the repository is based on. All of the ones I linked are either Git or Subversion (SVN). Both fully support Windows, macOS, and Linux.
All of them. Literally the only requirement for Cloud Build is that you use a repository that is based on either Git, Mercurial, Perforce, Subversion (SVN), or Unity Collaborate.
I took a look at some of these – confusing to say the least. I have a bitbucket account that I created a while back to test this out. It looks like it limits to 1GB per repository. My projects are easily 5x to 10x that size. How would I go about get projects of that size on a repo?
Thanks – this stuff is way over my pay grade 
-rich
you can use dropbox, but use it just as a way to get your project back in case your computer brakes down, not for version control
I used dropbox for a project before and it turned into a disaster. When someone makes changes to a file you’ve made changes to, you end up with extra files with new names instead of any merging, and you can’t lock files.
I forgot to say single user, not dropbox sharing with multiple
I was doing single user just with two computers. Turned into a huge headache.
That’s how I’ve been doing it and I’ve had strange things happen…
I kept blaming Unity for continuos crashes, locked files and other weird behaviors but now I’m thinking its Dropbox…
dropbox single user, one computer, I have been running this on osx without any problems
if you need two computers in sync use unity collab and pay a bit per month.
Or learn how to work with source tree or git from command line :).
two computers, two users for dropbox its the same, it can create problems.
Learning how to use version control from command line is unnecessary unless you just enjoy using a terminal. Instead I recommend installing one or more of the following programs. Both of these programs integrate into their platform file browsers offering context-sensitive menus and special icons for file and folder status.
For Windows Explorer.
https://tortoisegit.org/
https://tortoisesvn.net/
For Apple Finder.
Even between two Windows computers syncing the library causes problems. You should never share the library folder. Better to wait for Unity to do a reimport then deal with the problems a shared library folder causes.
Does a reimport fix many issues?
rich
I find deleting the library and letting Unity sort it out is better.