Building Virtual Texture yields unpredictive results

[ChezDoodles]

I am on Unity 2018.3 beta12 and the Oct 30 build of AT2 (but this problem has persisted for about a month, on different Unity 2018.3 betas)...

In the attached video, I rebuild a simple Virtual Texture several times, each time yielding different and strange results. It is a simple demo scene with just a light, a camera, a model and a Virtual Texture Manager using a new Virtual Texture with just a dozen textures (two or three materials).

https://www.dropbox.com/s/41u5cw6yrotnm ... 3.mp4?dl=0

Any idea what is going on?
(the popup windows displayed when Virtual Texture is rebuilt is not visible in the video - just nothing happens for some 30sec or so a couple of times)

[Ricardo Teixeira]

I am on Unity 2018.3 beta12 and the Oct 30 build of AT2 (but this problem has persisted for about a month, on different Unity 2018.3 betas)...

In the attached video, I rebuild a simple Virtual Texture several times, each time yielding different and strange results. It is a simple demo scene with just a light, a camera, a model and a Virtual Texture Manager using a new Virtual Texture with just a dozen textures (two or three materials).

https://www.dropbox.com/s/41u5cw6yrotnm ... 3.mp4?dl=0

Any idea what is going on?
(the popup windows displayed when Virtual Texture is rebuilt is not visible in the video - just nothing happens for some 30sec or so a couple of times)

Hello,

Thank you for getting in touch but, unfortunately, we're unable to support beta Unity versions.

Is the issue present in previous stable Unity versions?

Apologies for the inconvenience.

Thanks!

[ChezDoodles]

I can understand that it is difficult to support beta versions - however, since the oct 30 build was announced with unity 2018 .2 and .3 support, I assumed 2018.3 was actually supported.

No problem, I built a new project in 2018.2 and imported Amplify Texture 2 oct 30 build (2018 version) and the problem persist. If I delete the Library/AmplifyCache folder before launching Unity, I can create a new Virtual Texture and add search folders. If I keep the default parameters (Unity Standard, 12 channels, all with Lossy compression at 85%) I get a working virtual texture.

If I try to change ANY of the parameters - changing compression to 99% or 100%, or switch some channels to Lossless and rebuild - the virtual texture is all messed up. Am I the only one with this problem?

I have two development machines, and the problem is identical on both machines.

[Ricardo Teixeira]

I can understand that it is difficult to support beta versions - however, since the oct 30 build was announced with unity 2018 .2 and .3 support, I assumed 2018.3 was actually supported.

No problem, I built a new project in 2018.2 and imported Amplify Texture 2 oct 30 build (2018 version) and the problem persist. If I delete the Library/AmplifyCache folder before launching Unity, I can create a new Virtual Texture and add search folders. If I keep the default parameters (Unity Standard, 12 channels, all with Lossy compression at 85%) I get a working virtual texture.

If I try to change ANY of the parameters - changing compression to 99% or 100%, or switch some channels to Lossless and rebuild - the virtual texture is all messed up. Am I the only one with this problem?

I have two development machines, and the problem is identical on both machines.

Hello,

Yes, AT2 works with 2018.3 shaders but we do not officially support the beta.

That's interesting, it should work on 2018.2. Is there any chance we can test the asset in the video?

It's hard to make out from the video but do you happen to be pointing your Virtual Texture asset to the same location more than once using the "Include Sub Folder" option? That could be throwing off the AT2 process, we could really use a sample for further testing.

Apologies for the inconvenience.

[ChezDoodles]

Sent you a PM with link to a complete, fresh project for you to test

[ChezDoodles]

SOLUTION

Since I originally posted in the forum about my problems, I just wanted to let anyone know that the problems seemed to be related to keeping the project under Dropbox. Whenever I move the project folder outside of Dropbox, it builds virtual textures just fine - when I move the project back under Dropbox, it builds garbage virtual texture files. Repeated many times - every time with the same result.

[Ricardo Teixeira]

Ah yes, that could be an issue depending on how you have it set up.

Are you syncing the Library folder, or the AT2 cache folder?

[ChezDoodles]

Have investigated more... and a little over a month ago, my Dropbox plan was upgraded to "professional" which means they add a layer of virtualization over the file system, so you can choose which files/folders are stored locally and which files/folders are pulled from the cloud whenever you access them.

I have ALL my documents and files and projects on Dropbox since it keeps my computers (Win10 desktop, Mac laptop, Win10 laptop) always in sync and backed up. That means THE ENTIRE project folders - including temp files and AmplifyCache folders. All my projects are stored locally under my Dropbox folder.

Until about a month ago, this worked fine. About that time, I switched one of my laptops, updated to new Unity 2018.3 betas every week and installed the October 30 release of Amplify Texture 2. And suddenly I could no longer rebuild or change the configuration for my Virtual Textures. Any changes turned the textures into rubbish. Even if I deleted the Library folder, the AmplifyCache folder or whatever I did - any changes or updates to my textures caused the Virtual Texture to produce random/rubbish content.

So - when I move my projects OUT OF Dropbox - they magically work. Move 'em back under Dropbox control and they stop working. Move them OUT OF Dropbox and they work. So, a little over a month ago, something changed with Dropbox. As I said, I upgraded my subscription to support their virtualized/cloud storage, even though I still kept a local copy of all my project files. I cannot say for sure if this was the definite factor - but it used to work all right sync'ing everything between computers using Dropbox. Now, it does not.

Just for fun, I moved all my troublesome projects which use Amplify Texture 2 to my Microsoft OneDrive folder (which basically has the same cloud-sync-functionality as Dropbox) and everything still worked. It was just a quick test - no guarantees. But it seemed to work - just like Dropbox used to work for me until very recently.

Maybe it will still work with Dropbox if I specify what project folders to sync and what not to sync (Library, Library\AmplifyCache, Temp etc) - but I will leave that as an exercise for the reader. I got it working by moving the entire projects out of Dropbox control, and I am happy again.

[Ricardo Teixeira]

Have investigated more... and a little over a month ago, my Dropbox plan was upgraded to "professional" which means they add a layer of virtualization over the file system, so you can choose which files/folders are stored locally and which files/folders are pulled from the cloud whenever you access them.

I have ALL my documents and files and projects on Dropbox since it keeps my computers (Win10 desktop, Mac laptop, Win10 laptop) always in sync and backed up. That means THE ENTIRE project folders - including temp files and AmplifyCache folders. All my projects are stored locally under my Dropbox folder.

Until about a month ago, this worked fine. About that time, I switched one of my laptops, updated to new Unity 2018.3 betas every week and installed the October 30 release of Amplify Texture 2. And suddenly I could no longer rebuild or change the configuration for my Virtual Textures. Any changes turned the textures into rubbish. Even if I deleted the Library folder, the AmplifyCache folder or whatever I did - any changes or updates to my textures caused the Virtual Texture to produce random/rubbish content.

So - when I move my projects OUT OF Dropbox - they magically work. Move 'em back under Dropbox control and they stop working. Move them OUT OF Dropbox and they work. So, a little over a month ago, something changed with Dropbox. As I said, I upgraded my subscription to support their virtualized/cloud storage, even though I still kept a local copy of all my project files. I cannot say for sure if this was the definite factor - but it used to work all right sync'ing everything between computers using Dropbox. Now, it does not.

Just for fun, I moved all my troublesome projects which use Amplify Texture 2 to my Microsoft OneDrive folder (which basically has the same cloud-sync-functionality as Dropbox) and everything still worked. It was just a quick test - no guarantees. But it seemed to work - just like Dropbox used to work for me until very recently.

Maybe it will still work with Dropbox if I specify what project folders to sync and what not to sync (Library, Library\AmplifyCache, Temp etc) - but I will leave that as an exercise for the reader. I got it working by moving the entire projects out of Dropbox control, and I am happy again.

Hello,

That's an odd one for sure, I'm not entirely sure what Dropbox is doing since all files are synced. Are you using the same exact Unity version on all machines?

Do you have any way to check which files change after the sync on your side?

Thanks!

[ChezDoodles]

Are you using the same exact Unity version on all machines?

Yes. I keep them all perfectly in sync with regards to Unity and dev tools.

Do you have any way to check which files change after the sync on your side?

The last few days, I have only been using my desktop pc. All my testing has been done using just that one. So Dropbox has done nothing but kept the cloud in sync with changes done on that single pc. I needed to reduce the number of factors while trying to solve this problem.