3 questions…
first, if i order unity android today… will I be able to use it today? Even if it is a beta version.
2nd, I am developing for the new tegra 2 tablets… and require some form of real time shadows… will i be able to make unity android have those shadows?
3rd, I would also like to use deferred rendering … will i be able to use deferred rendering on my tegra 2 tablet with unity android… I am really hoping for this.
are you sure that the tegra 2 cant? the “system on a chip” ive heard all sorts of rumors on that thing to the point that it can run like a console like 360
Its mentioned to be 3-5 times as fast graphically as the SGX 535 in the iPhone 3GS which doesn’t cut it remotely.
Unity deferred requires a 9800 to run at fluent framerates, 3-5 times as fast as an SGX is at best around an 8300, likely even lower (SGX 535 on the desktop is known as Intel GMA500)
Also its important to keep in mind that Unity isn’t multithreaded, so the cpu won’t buy it much as the second core will run idle which does not put the tegra cpu much ahead of what the ipad has for example
Wait I thought unity was multithreaded through the use of things like coroutines and stuff. If it isnt is there a way to get around that because its stupid if it is not. (espeacially for developing with the tegra 2 in mind.) Also what if my app only needs to run at 10 -15 fps
Coroutines aren’t true multi-threading. None of them actually run at the same time, they just hand control back and forth so that you can stop in the middle of a function call, then come back where you left off.
wow that really sux… I dont understand why in this day and age you can not have multithreading in a game engine… i mean wow… im just very disappointed.
i just found out from someone that it has some multi threading… like it does other stuff like the sound … physics… etc… on another thread. So at least there is that.
Each specific engine can not be multi-threaded. Even engines like Unreal’s or ID’s or Crytek can’t do multi-threading. Each separate system (graphics, sound, physics, post-processing, etc) can be a separate thread, but one single section can’t be. If it were, some parts would finish before the rest of the same application can finish and you’ll get one thread updating faster then the other and cause a lot of problems.
So, if it does have multi-threading, it’s limited by the same thing all applications are limited to, and the graphics engine itself can not run faster then a single core of a processor. That’s why in most games it doesn’t matter how many cores you have past two, because the main graphics engine is run on one core, and everything else is on the second core so that the core are (generally speaking) more equally stressed for maximum efficiency with minimal code. If they are run as separate threads, they still have to talk back and forth for triggers, so if you run the sound and physics on the same thread, you only have to update that link between graphics and other once, rather then 10 times (assuming you found 10 things to thread separately.)
O-o… I hope I explained what I meant well enough… Threading sounds good, but sometimes can massively over complicate things, and in the case of games, can actually make it run slower in very small instances.
That’s why you don’t see processor speeds really getting slower with more cores. They could make a 20 core 100mhz processor, but it’s just not fast enough for a single threaded process like a graphics engine.
im still curious as to how this is going to work on the android tegra 2 tablet, but thanks for the good info.
Will have to be seen. Potentially it will offload IO to a distinct thread and unity network is generally there.
But anything else runs within the same (main) thread including physics.
Yes, there are already released games on the market created with Unity. Does the current version lack some features / has some quirks? Sure, but it seems that is not fatal for a lot of the developers using Unity.
You can use render-to-texture and you free to use create your own shader code, if you need that. Depending on what type of realtime shadows you are after, it should be possible to implement, yes.
The Tegra2 is quite fast, sure. But it’s not really on par with a modern game console. Deferred rendering would eat a lot of fillrate; running that at full screen res wouldn’t allow for much else to be rendered…
well truthfully im making an app not a full game… and framerate doesnt have to stay at 30 fps either… thats why im mostly looking for best possible visuals…
Anyway Thanks erique very helpful answers… Are you available for any freelance work to possibly help implement this stuff like the shadows. They would have to interact with shaders properly.