Where to start with DOTS in 2022?

Unity Engine
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Hey everyone,

So I want to make a simulation of an ecosystem with many many animals (controlled via AI). I figured DOTS will be a good idea to overcome performance issues of the number of animals running around.

But where do I start with DOTS in 2022? I googled and came across some tutorials but all of them are from 2-3 years ago. Does anyone know where a good starting point in 2022 is?

Thanks :slight_smile:

Tutorials I found:

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I would suggest to wait for version .50. It should get refreshed samples so it should be easier.

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Start here
https://github.com/Unity-Technologies/EntityComponentSystemSamples
and make sure, you use right Unity version and packages, as per recommended documentation on that git repo.

We may still wait months before it happens. Or it may happen tomorrow.
No point really waiting. Core concept of using DOTS wont change.

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First, and I cannot stress this enough, do not start with ECS right away! Start with the C# Job System, Unity.Collections, Unity.Mathematics, and the Burst Compiler!

Do something cool with that tech in a GameObject-based project first until you are comfortable with job chaining and the safety rules for containers.

Then, once you are past that stage, you can dive into ECS. Anything in 2021 is probably going to be up-to-date with Entities 0.17. And anything since mid 2020 will probably be up-to-date as well since most changes during the latter half of 2020 were low-level advanced things.

If you aren’t familiar with these series, it is a starting point: https://github.com/Unity-Technologies/EntityComponentSystemSamples/tree/master/ECSSamples/Assets/HelloCube

Not the greatest in my opinion since it doesn’t cover ComponentDataFromEntity which is kinda essential, but it is what it is.

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I’m assuming, date unity gave us, here. That means the first quarter of 2022 so max ~1,5 months.

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I see your point. And in ideal world it would be true.
But we now Unity is lagging with DOTS packages. perhaps along with other packages.
So personally I am not holding my breath.

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Welcome to DOTS!
There aren’t a lot of resources currently. But here’s the guy that taught me how to use DOTS. It’s a fantastically clean and pleasant tutorial series that walks you through Entities 0.17 in a very understandable and coherent way.

Seriously give this series a careful watch.

Wilmer Lin’s DOTS tutorial series. ( It’s incomplete but holds just about everything you need to get going. )
Introduction to Unity DOTS - YouTube