6 ms·

Unreal Engine 4 .NET Core integration

94 points by Stevvo 6y ago

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
tootie 6y ago
Pretty neat. As I'm reading, this basically lets you embed Unreal in a CLR and play nicely with C# (and presumably F# and whatever else). That's going to be very appealing for any Unity devs who have been thinking about switching over.
- moron4hire 6y ago
  My reading was that it was the opposite direction: integrating the CLR into Unreal.
  - cchance 6y ago
    Yes but same result Unity dev poaching
    - thatwasunusual 6y ago
      Probably, but mostly because a lot of people think that good graphics equals a good game. The people who "convert" will learn the hard way.
_bxg1 6y ago
Pretty exciting. I've tried to get into Unreal before due to its graphics system, but gotten scared away by modern C++. This could seriously undercut one of Unity's last major advantages.
- LaneRendell 6y ago
  Honestly Unreal doesn't use a crazy amount of modern C++ features on the gameplay programmer facing portion. The engine itself is really mostly a huge automatic templating system.
- keyle 6y ago
  Don't be... Unreal's C++ and libraries are so high level it's basically Baby#.
- mrguyorama 6y ago
  For hobby work, Unreal's blueprint system is perfectly functional
bonestormii_ 6y ago
And yet, aren't we nearly on to Unreal 5? I'd much rather write C# than C++, but I'm a big believer in just adopting whatever is standard practice for the space your in. It's a great opportunity to learn the language, and you'll benefit more from a community's collective wisdom. Edit: But this is still really cool and potentially useful.
- drak0n1c 6y ago
  Unreal Engine 5 won't arrive until late 2021. They're going to keep releasing major features to UE4 until at least then. I'm sure there will be a migration process for existing projects, as long as you're on a recent UE4 version.
  - bonestormii_ 6y ago
    Right, but an integration of a dotnet like this is going to need to be maintained across versions, and 2021 is just 6 months from now. It is unlikely that a big version increment like this will be less than painful for such an integration, while standard code bases of C++ code probably will have relatively straight forward upgrade paths, though not necessarily trivial. So if you want to use Unreal, consider just learning C++ as you go. That's my only point.
yodon 6y ago
Aside from this being LGPL, can someone explain how this differs from USharp?
lwansbrough 6y ago
As a .NET programmer who is new to the gaming space, I find the promises of Unity’s new Data Oriented Tech Stack and the future of .NET (5.0) perhaps too compelling to consider anything that isn’t officially supported. That future just sounds too good to me as a back end .NET dev getting into gaming. I think, too, as a beginner the dead simplicity of Unity’s old game object system is very compelling for getting started if you’re brand new to development. I haven’t spent any time with UE4 though so I can’t compare.
- wokwokwok 6y ago
  > I find the promises of Unity’s new Data Oriented Tech Stack ... unfortunately, DOTS is a) a dumpster fire and b) not going to hit 1.0 in 2020, or I guess, 2021 at this point. The totally broken and unstable API and utter inability of the team to use their own package manager has left me with zero confidence in their ability to deliver a meaningful product with DOTS. ...but hey, .Net 5 will be great (of course, don't hold your breath for that either, "It is very unlikely that any .NET Core or .NET 5 support will land in 2020 LTS." https://forum.unity.com/threads/net-5-support.839890/ https://forum.unity.com/threads/net-5-support.839890/), but I agree it'll be great when it does!
  - jayd16 6y ago
    The good news is they don't seem to be forcing everyone into a buggy paradigm. You can still use C# 7 and the monobehavior stack at least. ECS is overrated anyway. Just skip the hype, let it bake and ship games.
- istorical 6y ago
  the real danger of Unity currently is that they seem to start a lot of things but not finish them. don't necessarily hitch your wagon to the idea that any particular thing they do will ever completely manifest itself or be feature complete.
- cpeterso 6y ago
  I haven't used Unity, but from what I've read, Unity has a reputation for promising shiny new APIs and then neglecting/deprecating the old API before the new one is production-ready. This blog post describes some examples: URP or HDRP Render Pipeline, current UI system vs new UIElements, current UNet multiplayer support vs new system that will require integration with DOTS, ... https://garry.tv/unity-2020 https://garry.tv/unity-2020
russellbeattie 6y ago
Here's a warning: Unreal Engine is a haphazardly designed (at best) GUI bolted onto a hardcore low-level game engine. It looks sort of like an IDE that you could sit down and get comfortable with in a few hours, but it's just an illusion. The whole UI is really just a thin graphical control layer over low-level C++ objects for which there is little to no explanation. Instead, you have menus within menus within menus... Anyone trying to transition from standard Microsoft/Apple/Google developer tools to UE is going to be in for a shock. The documentation is ludicrously sparse, there's almost no "discoverability" in the UI, and even the sample projects will have you staring at the screen asking yourself, "How the fuck did they connect that to that?? Crap, did this thing hang again??". You'll end up reading blog posts and watching YouTube videos filled with screenshots of blueprints and step-by-step instructions for which switches to toggle and which values to put where. After a few weeks, you'll be completely astounded that you still have almost no idea really of what's going on. So! For anyone thinking, "Hey, I like games and know C#! Now I can make a game!" Well, you probably should prepare yourself for disappointment.
- dogma1138 6y ago
  I think you have had a severe misunderstanding of what the UE engine IDE is or how to use it. In any case for C# to easy game dev you have Unity which used C# as it’s base language. Almost all game engines are written as bunch of scripts being called from a main loop so yes anything in UE regardless of what it is if it’s a graphical element or some piece of logic that changes the world state will be a self contained C++ “script” even the parts of UE that support higher level scripting languages are still then compiled to C++.
  - russellbeattie 6y ago
    Yes. That was my point. The warning was for others like myself who might blunder into UE thinking it was an IDE, and not realizing it's really just "a bunch of scripts being called from a main loop".
    - pjmlp 6y ago

94 points by Stevvo 6y ago

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

Pretty neat. As I'm reading, this basically lets you embed Unreal in a CLR and play nicely with C# (and presumably F# and whatever else). That's going to be very appealing for any Unity devs who have been thinking about switching over.

moron4hire 6y ago
My reading was that it was the opposite direction: integrating the CLR into Unreal.
- cchance 6y ago
  Yes but same result Unity dev poaching
  - thatwasunusual 6y ago
    Probably, but mostly because a lot of people think that good graphics equals a good game. The people who "convert" will learn the hard way.

_bxg1 6y ago

Pretty exciting. I've tried to get into Unreal before due to its graphics system, but gotten scared away by modern C++. This could seriously undercut one of Unity's last major advantages.

LaneRendell 6y ago
Honestly Unreal doesn't use a crazy amount of modern C++ features on the gameplay programmer facing portion. The engine itself is really mostly a huge automatic templating system.
keyle 6y ago
Don't be... Unreal's C++ and libraries are so high level it's basically Baby#.
mrguyorama 6y ago
For hobby work, Unreal's blueprint system is perfectly functional

bonestormii_ 6y ago

And yet, aren't we nearly on to Unreal 5? I'd much rather write C# than C++, but I'm a big believer in just adopting whatever is standard practice for the space your in. It's a great opportunity to learn the language, and you'll benefit more from a community's collective wisdom. Edit: But this is still really cool and potentially useful.

drak0n1c 6y ago
Unreal Engine 5 won't arrive until late 2021. They're going to keep releasing major features to UE4 until at least then. I'm sure there will be a migration process for existing projects, as long as you're on a recent UE4 version.
- bonestormii_ 6y ago
  Right, but an integration of a dotnet like this is going to need to be maintained across versions, and 2021 is just 6 months from now. It is unlikely that a big version increment like this will be less than painful for such an integration, while standard code bases of C++ code probably will have relatively straight forward upgrade paths, though not necessarily trivial. So if you want to use Unreal, consider just learning C++ as you go. That's my only point.

yodon 6y ago

Aside from this being LGPL, can someone explain how this differs from USharp?

lwansbrough 6y ago

As a .NET programmer who is new to the gaming space, I find the promises of Unity’s new Data Oriented Tech Stack and the future of .NET (5.0) perhaps too compelling to consider anything that isn’t officially supported. That future just sounds too good to me as a back end .NET dev getting into gaming. I think, too, as a beginner the dead simplicity of Unity’s old game object system is very compelling for getting started if you’re brand new to development. I haven’t spent any time with UE4 though so I can’t compare.

wokwokwok 6y ago
> I find the promises of Unity’s new Data Oriented Tech Stack ... unfortunately, DOTS is a) a dumpster fire and b) not going to hit 1.0 in 2020, or I guess, 2021 at this point. The totally broken and unstable API and utter inability of the team to use their own package manager has left me with zero confidence in their ability to deliver a meaningful product with DOTS. ...but hey, .Net 5 will be great (of course, don't hold your breath for that either, "It is very unlikely that any .NET Core or .NET 5 support will land in 2020 LTS." https://forum.unity.com/threads/net-5-support.839890/ https://forum.unity.com/threads/net-5-support.839890/), but I agree it'll be great when it does!
- jayd16 6y ago
  The good news is they don't seem to be forcing everyone into a buggy paradigm. You can still use C# 7 and the monobehavior stack at least. ECS is overrated anyway. Just skip the hype, let it bake and ship games.
istorical 6y ago
the real danger of Unity currently is that they seem to start a lot of things but not finish them. don't necessarily hitch your wagon to the idea that any particular thing they do will ever completely manifest itself or be feature complete.
cpeterso 6y ago
I haven't used Unity, but from what I've read, Unity has a reputation for promising shiny new APIs and then neglecting/deprecating the old API before the new one is production-ready. This blog post describes some examples: URP or HDRP Render Pipeline, current UI system vs new UIElements, current UNet multiplayer support vs new system that will require integration with DOTS, ... https://garry.tv/unity-2020 https://garry.tv/unity-2020

russellbeattie 6y ago

Here's a warning: Unreal Engine is a haphazardly designed (at best) GUI bolted onto a hardcore low-level game engine. It looks sort of like an IDE that you could sit down and get comfortable with in a few hours, but it's just an illusion. The whole UI is really just a thin graphical control layer over low-level C++ objects for which there is little to no explanation. Instead, you have menus within menus within menus... Anyone trying to transition from standard Microsoft/Apple/Google developer tools to UE is going to be in for a shock. The documentation is ludicrously sparse, there's almost no "discoverability" in the UI, and even the sample projects will have you staring at the screen asking yourself, "How the fuck did they connect that to that?? Crap, did this thing hang again??". You'll end up reading blog posts and watching YouTube videos filled with screenshots of blueprints and step-by-step instructions for which switches to toggle and which values to put where. After a few weeks, you'll be completely astounded that you still have almost no idea really of what's going on. So! For anyone thinking, "Hey, I like games and know C#! Now I can make a game!" Well, you probably should prepare yourself for disappointment.

dogma1138 6y ago
I think you have had a severe misunderstanding of what the UE engine IDE is or how to use it. In any case for C# to easy game dev you have Unity which used C# as it’s base language. Almost all game engines are written as bunch of scripts being called from a main loop so yes anything in UE regardless of what it is if it’s a graphical element or some piece of logic that changes the world state will be a self contained C++ “script” even the parts of UE that support higher level scripting languages are still then compiled to C++.
- russellbeattie 6y ago
  Yes. That was my point. The warning was for others like myself who might blunder into UE thinking it was an IDE, and not realizing it's really just "a bunch of scripts being called from a main loop".
  - pjmlp 6y ago