Unity Pro

[Theldron]

Hi all,

 

I have been asked to install the latest version of Unity for the school. I have contacted them and had the serial number sent back. But when I install I get a download assistant rather than a normal installer.

 

Anyone installed this across a network of PCs?

 

Cheers

[MYK-IT]

@sadams1980

 

I am currently working on installing the very same here... ideally attempting to deploy via PDQ Deploy (to deploy Unity and required associated Visual Studio Components...)

 

Download Assistant

Download the 'Download Assistant' [unityDownloadAssistant-2018.3.4f1.exe]

https://unity3d.com/get-unity/download?ref=professional

 

Installing Unity from the command line

https://docs.unity3d.com/2019.1/Documentation/Manual/InstallingUnity.html

 

This will download the following files:

 

[unitySetup64.exe]

[vs_Community.exe]

[install.bat]

How Do I Activate My Educational License On Multiple Machines At Once?

https://support.unity3d.com/hc/en-us/articles/205816249-How-do-I-activate-my-Educational-license-on-multiple-machines-at-once-

 

I've managed to deploy Unity via PDQ Deploy, but I'm still working on getting the installation of the Visual Studio 2017 components working properly (as opposed to installing directly, over the internet, from each and every computer that Unity has been deployed too). With these files being in the region of 4GB in size doesn't help!

 

I'm currently following these steps:

 

Create an offline installation of Visual Studio 2017

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/install/create-an-offline-installation-of-visual-studio?view=vs-2017

 

Using the vs_community settings from within the [install.bat] file created, as noted above...

 

Activation

1. If you wish the students to work offline (meaning they will not access the Asset Store) use a private email address and password to create your account and have the students select the ‘work offline’ button when opening the software

2. If you wish the students to sign in so that they can access the Asset store, you can use a general email account (e.g. [email protected]) and an easy password like ‘Password123’ so that the students can sign in with this account to use the software online.

 

https://unity3d.com/sites/default/files/unity-license-deployment.pdf

 

TBH, I still have to work out how it all works myself, as it was provisionally installed last year, but our Computing Teacher has only just started using it and advised it was not working etc. (something to do with Unity Store, accounts etc. when students use it etc.). Hence why i am currently working through it myself within our Test Lab etc.

 

Hope this helps in some way!

Edited February 7, 2019 by MYK-IT

[Theldron]

@MYK-IT

 

Cheers for that will have a look. I have SCCM at my school, so will look at deploying via that, though have found it temperamental.

 

Thanks again.

[MYK-IT]

Hi @sadams1980 - How are you getting on with your Unity Pro Installation?

 

I've finally managed to sort out deploying both Unity and Visual Studio 2017 Community (I'd used an incorrect switch during provisional testing!)

Now for the more pressing issue of actually using / configuring it!

 

 

Besides the huge installation (and that's even before you download any tutorials or create anything) I just wondered how you (or other fellow Edugeek'ers) use it?

 

Recommended Storage Location

As in, I note that by default it wants to install everything locally, within C:\Users\ etc. but you can change location of 'new project' to a network drive (e.g. personal user area). And no doubt, if I use this method I'll probably have to increase disk quota space and remove some existing file extension file-type FSRM restrictions for our Unity students too, if required.

 

I get the impression that tutorials (and anything else downloaded from the store) gets downloaded to C:\Users\ too? So if 2 different students log into Unity, on the same computer and used the same tutorial pack - would that effectively download it twice? A copy contained within each locally cached profile folder? - Concerned about local storage space / requirements

 

Errors

I have just tried downloading a tutorial, and after many minutes of waiting / downloading? / installing, even with full admin permissions, a couple of errors in red are displayed at the bottom of the screen

 

C:/Users//AppData/Local/Unity/cache/packages/packages.unity.com/[email protected]/Editor/Sources/Services/Upm/UpmBaseOperation.cs(33,34): error CS1061: Type `UnityEditor.PackageManager.PackageInfo' does not contain a definition for `author' and no extension method `author' of type `UnityEditor.PackageManager.PackageInfo' could be found. Are you missing an assembly reference?

 

Even creating a new project, an error prompt is shown (which after clicking 'cancel' it continues)

 

Copying C:/Program Files/Unity/Editor/Data/Resources/PackageManager/ProjectTemplates/com.unity.template.3d/Assets/.empty to Z://Unity/New Unity Project/Assets/.empty: The system cannot find the file specified

 

Alternatively, if using local storage (besides probably needing to purchase bigger capacity storage) our Students cannot view / access the C: Drive (e.g. C:\Users\). Additionally their data will not be backed up. Perhaps additional, local storage... like a scratch disk that they can view/access (e.g. different drive letter?) would be an alternative solution / workaround?

 

For those that are using Unity, and have been for some time...

 

For example,

 

@free780 (http://www.edugeek.net/forums/educational-software/173608-unity-licensing-2.html#post1701078) - Installed onto 112 computers

@Asgard (http://www.edugeek.net/forums/educational-software/173608-unity-licensing-2.html#post1701080) - Installed onto 300 computers

@gshaw (http://www.edugeek.net/forums/educational-software/173608-unity-licensing-3.html#post1707694) - Using large capacity hard drives

 

Are you able to offer your advice? Hints? Tips? Recommendations?

 

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

 

Many Thanks,

[gshaw]

For us it's large local HDDs (2TB) as we haven't got space on our DFS servers to hold that level of data per user on the network.

 

Cloud doesn't help much either as once you get into large file sizes it saturates the bandwidth of your internet connection, as we found out earlier this week when students were downloading 192GB each of raw video to work on in another course (!)

 

Had to remove C: write restrictions as part of our Win10 deployment (for OneDrive) but perhaps that's where your error occurs? Also check proxy / filter logs as there's a couple of additional domains the store contacts iirc.

 

Also if anyone uses UNREAL engine install that before Unity as the latter installs Visual C++ 2017, which replaces 2015 and causes UNREAL installation to fail as a newer component is already present.

Edited February 8, 2019 by gshaw

[free780]

Well we promote Onedrive however it has issues with Unity projects so removable media gets used or projects get stored on the local PC some have large 2nd hard drives. We did purchase a few Unity Teams licences so work is stored on Unitys cloud but per user licensing. Really the software is designed for a 1:1 device where the user is technical. @gshaw Thanks for heads up about c++. I had to update Unity recently due to a licensing bug when returning a licence.

 

In terms of Visual Studio it's huge. You need the right hardware. We moved to OneDrive but had to update it and keep up to date. I wrote some powershell scripts. I also set the default project location to Onedrive.

Edited February 8, 2019 by free780

[gshaw]

One college I speak to has Visual Studio on RDS so that way they only install it once... neat thinking if you can afford the hardware / got spare capacity for a few RDS host VMs.

 

With Visual Studio I cut our recent installation down a bit by only adding the components absolutely necessary. Down to about 15GB from 45GB+ for the whole lot.

[free780]

Visual Studio isn't supported on LTSC and I assume not on Server 2016/2019 due to the LTSC. You could put it on a Windows 10 SAC VDI deployment but it would cost a lot.

[MYK-IT]

For us it's large local HDDs (2TB) as we haven't got space on our DFS servers to hold that level of data per user on the network.

 

Cloud doesn't help much either as once you get into large file sizes it saturates the bandwidth of your internet connection, as we found out earlier this week when students were downloading 192GB each of raw video to work on in another course (!)

 

Had to remove C: write restrictions as part of our Win10 deployment (for OneDrive) but perhaps that's where your error occurs? Also check proxy / filter logs as there's a couple of additional domains the store contacts iirc.

 

Also if anyone uses UNREAL engine install that before Unity as the latter installs Visual C++ 2017, which replaces 2015 and causes UNREAL installation to fail as a newer component is already present.

 

Hi @gshaw

 

We don't have C: write restrictions as such, only that C: drive is hidden from file explorer view etc. (plus i was getting errors even with Admin account)

 

In the respect of your configuration (using additional, large 2TB HDDs etc) how have you gone about setting up the project / saved area? Do you rely on the students to create new projects located on the (path for the) local 2TB HDD? And/or define it via registry settings?

 

Do you know if the tutorials / anything from the 'store' is downloaded to the main installation folder / location, so that other students using the same computer who want the same resources don't have to re-down it? Or is everything contained per (local) windows profiles / Unity Account?

 

I explained to our Computing Teacher that Unity's advice, is to use a generic Unity account (username / password) that all students use to access the Unity store etc. But he advised that some students have created their own Unity Accounts (with projects contained within them).

 

Sorry for many questions, just frustrated that this software is quite an effort to setup, not best(?) designed with schools in mind and of course the teacher wants to just use it...yesterday....

 

 

Thanks,

[free780]

All the content is contained per user. It's written with 1:1 in mind. I found it won't even store projects on a network drive. If you licence it via command line as the system account students don't need to login to a Unity account. We have to count on students saving locally to OneDrive. But usually they use the same PC due to settings not roaming. I guess if you hide the C drive you could repartition the drive and have a script to copy up the project to the home drive on log off. Basically the software needs to integrate with a cloud platform like Onedrive/GDrive but you still need the space on the C Drive.

[Sheridan]

I've now had the request to install this software, its seems like a painful process and so far I can't even get it to activate. I followed their instructions and created the offline installer, which seems to work and install Unity without the Hub. I then run the batch file with the serial number and generic Unity account details in it - something seems to happen but no notification or response. However every time I try and run Unity it tells me I need to activate and to do that I have to install the Hub!

 

I dread installing new software these days as 10% of the time is installing, and 90% of the time is trying to get these flipping awful licensing methods to work. As for Unity, its in the bin for now as I've wasted several days on their licensing mess.

[Arthur]

I've now had the request to install this software, its seems like a painful process and so far I can't even get it to activate.

@gshaw's post here might help? He lists some common gotchas.

 

When I had issues activating Unity Pro it was due to the password containing symbols.

[Sheridan]

I did get one to activate, by fluke more than anything I think, but testing it seems to have brought up even more issues! Creating a new project takes about 10 minutes of 'Downloading scripts' etc - every time you create a project. Where is it downloading from and to, as I can't see much being created in the project folder or AppData folders?

[free780]

Yep it involves whitelisting domains and check c:\programdata\unity for the licence file. I have had issues returning licences as well. There is a log file in appdata\local.

[mavhc]

Need to turn off Force mandatory ASLR to get Unity installer to run. Good start.

 

The educational licences only seem to last 1 year, do you renew by just applying again?

[Arthur]

Need to turn off Force mandatory ASLR to get Unity installer to run. Good start.

The Unity account password can't contain certain special characters either (otherwise the software won't activate).

 

The educational licences only seem to last 1 year, do you renew by just applying again?

I logged a ticket with [email protected] prior to our license expiring and received a new key a week later.

[mavhc]

The Unity account password can't contain certain special characters either (otherwise the software won't activate).

 

 

I logged a ticket with [email protected] prior to our license expiring and received a new key a week later.

 

Thanks.

 

Ever get the feeling the entire computer industry is built on a house of cards?

[Arthur]

Ever get the feeling the entire computer industry is built on a house of cards?

Sadly, yes.

[free780]

It took 2 weeks for me to get a new licence.

[mavhc]

Got the licence, installing with chocolatey http://www.edugeek.net/forums/o-s-deployment/186005-chocolatey-deploy-java-flash.html#post1802114

 

As the setup exe file changes filename each time the exploit protection xml has to be updated each time.

 

Also it seems to leave a desktop shortcut for the previous version on the desktop, even though only 1 version is installed I think.

 

Seemed to create a project on a mapped drive fine, just not a unc path

[allers61]

How are people dealing with the Unity Editor Update Check coming up? According to the documentation it can't be disabled, but I don't want Students trying to install a new version! I know you can untoggle the 'Check for Updates' button, but I don't fancy doing that on several hundred PCs!

[free780]

I found the registry setting. It stops the prompt. If I remember I'll find it tomorrow.

[free780]

How are people dealing with the Unity Editor Update Check coming up? According to the documentation it can't be disabled, but I don't want Students trying to install a new version! I know you can untoggle the 'Check for Updates' button, but I don't fancy doing that on several hundred PCs!

 

 

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Unity Technologies\Unity Editor 5.x

 

 

EditorUpdateShowAtStartup

 

REG_DWORD = 0

 

This suppresses the message box. Just add it to GPP where c:\Program Files\Unity exists.

[fiza]

Sorry to drag up this old thread but I have just been asked about Unity. Looking at their website I cannot see minimum specs that are required. We have a mixture of machines from 7 years old to brand new so wondered if it would run on our oldest machines?

Does anyone know who much space it needs on the local drives? Some on our drives are 120GB SSDs which are already half full.

 

Any pointers would be appreciated

[mavhc]

3.7GBs