Unity engine adds Vulkan support for a big performance boost [TechReport]

[Bacon1]

The latest beta of the Unity game engine is now available. Version 5.6 packs some interesting goodies: support for the Vulkan API and Google Daydream VR, in addition to a host of more fine-grained technical features. Vulkan support is the headlining feature, and Unity claims developers can get "a rendering performance improvement out-of-the-box up to 60%" without getting into the nitty-gritty details of the Vulkan API. Unity's Vulkan support is cross-platform, too. The beta version currently running on Windows, Linux, and Android. The company says Samsung's Tizen OS will also be supported in the final release. We're sure at least two people on Earth are excited about that last bit.

Unity says that Vulkan speeds things up through more efficient use of multi-core CPUs and reduced driver overhead. Adding support for Vulkan to existing titles is likely feasible but almost certainly up to individual developers. However, even if Vulkan support is limited to future Unity-based titles, this move should still offer a significant boost to the adoption of the new graphics API.

The company's blog post details a host of other additions to the game engine, including support for Google's Cardboard and Daydream VR platforms, Facebook Gameroom, and more developer-targeted features. The Unity 5.6 beta release notes can be found here.

http://techreport.com/news/31116/unity-engine-adds-vulkan-support-for-a-big-performance-boost

 

[Vaporizer]

The legacy of Mantle is huge. I really look forward to more vulkan assisted games.

 

[sandorski]

I hope 7 Days to Die adds it. My performance is ok, but could use more at times.

 

[antihelten]

More context for the performance improvement claims:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUY...list=PLX2vGYjWbI0S1LhF7-VsBDCcZyXrNZEuj&t=394

 

[Headfoot]

So many games use Unity these days that any improvement at the Unity engine level is going to have huge marketwide effects. This is great news.

 

[Elfear]

I hope 7 Days to Die adds it. My performance is ok, but could use more at times.

+1

The game is such a blast but some extra performance would be nice.

 

[MajinCry]

Isn't a big problem with Unity that it's engine is pretty much single threaded? Though, I do remember reading that one of the recent version number updates pushed more parallel work. The scripting system is still single threaded.

What I want to see, is CryEngine's Vulkan renderer, but Crytek have been pushing it back. Was scheduled for November, then December, and now it's "Delayed", probably going to happen in February. https://www.cryengine.com/roadmap


Oh yah, isn't Unity also running on Mono? Several times slower than .Net, if I remember correctly.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Isn't a big problem with Unity that it's engine is pretty much single threaded? Though, I do remember reading that one of the recent version number updates pushed more parallel work. The scripting system is still single threaded.

What I want to see, is CryEngine's Vulkan renderer, but Crytek have been pushing it back. Was scheduled for November, then December, and now it's "Delayed", probably going to happen in February. https://www.cryengine.com/roadmap

Oh yah, isn't Unity also running on Mono? Several times slower than .Net, if I remember correctly.

Sadly, Crytek is not making payroll again so unless they find new funding sources they may be shutting down or be bought by someone like EA to absorb and extinguish.

http://kotaku.com/crytek-employees-say-theyre-not-getting-paid-again-1790012755

 

[MajinCry]

Sadly, Crytek is not making payroll again so unless they find new funding sources they may be shutting down or be bought by someone like EA to absorb and extinguish.

http://kotaku.com/crytek-employees-say-theyre-not-getting-paid-again-1790012755

God damn, I thought Crytek got over that development hell phase. I wonder if Amazon would adopt the whole shebang, since they did take an old version of CryEngine for their engine. https://aws.amazon.com/lumberyard/

 

[HurleyBird]

Isn't a big problem with Unity that it's engine is pretty much single threaded? Though, I do remember reading that one of the recent version number updates pushed more parallel work. The scripting system is still single threaded.

Oh yah, isn't Unity also running on Mono? Several times slower than .Net, if I remember correctly.

Yes, each significant update seems to make things better multi-threaded. The scripting system isn't single threaded per se, but the workflow is all geared in that direction. Threading is a royal pain because MonoBehaviours can only execute (or be modified) on the main thread.

I don't think Mono is to much slower than .NET, but Unity converts everything to C++ in the end anyway.

 

[MajinCry]

Yes, each significant update seems to make things better multi-threaded. The scripting system isn't single threaded per se, but the workflow is all geared in that direction. Threading is a royal pain because MonoBehaviours can only execute (or be modified) on the main thread.

I don't think Mono is to much slower than .NET, but Unity converts everything to C++ in the end anyway.

http://codinggorilla.domemtech.com/?p=1499
http://mathparser.org/mxparser-performance/performance-windows-10-java-vs-net-vs-mono/

Seems to be almost half as slow, when running Ackermann. It's faster on Win 10 when doing those simple functions.

Huh.

The problem with C++, is it is a nightmare on the eyes. I'm a bit competent with Pascal, and C# was super easy to work with coming from Pascal, but C++...Ew. Probably doesn't help that examples on the .net are terse and use un-intuitive variable names, admittedly.