coherence 2.1: Unity Toolbar Integration, Nintendo Switch 2 Support, and more

PSA - 2.1.2 Flash Update

First things first - if you updated to 2.1 using the npm registry (not the Asset Store), please update to 2.1.2 for stability! Now back to our regularly scheduled programming =)

Main Toolbar Integration (Unity 6.3+)

We forget to bake. A lot. We made baking present in the Hub. We kept forgetting. Then we made the bake button show in the Project window. Yet we keep forgetting.

In 2.1.0 we’re integrating into Unity’s main toolbar, so we can have the bake button available and visible at all times. Cannot miss it. Yet, we still forget to bake.

This integration is only available starting Unity 6.3, and you have to manually enable it first. To enable it, right click on the main toolbar area, and find coherence > Bake.

If you’re like us, remember that you have a bunch of settings to play around with, to help you bake and upload schemas automatically. We all work differently, so experiment with them and pick the ones that fit your needs best.

Manual sync mode for bindings

In some cases, we need full control of when data is sent through. For those cases, we’re introducing SyncMode.Manual. Currently, this feature is only available through the [Sync] attribute, and not through the Configure window. Refer to our SyncMode.Manual documentation to learn how to use it.

Optimizations!

Aside from the usual “make things run faster with less resources” effort, there’s a few new additions we want to comment on:

Runtime performance

When you know an entity will not be involved in transform hierarchy changes (parent/unparent), you can disable the feature completely (per entity). This avoids constant checking, and shows performance gains when a lot is happening per frame. You can find this setting in the CoherenceSync inspector.

Editor performance

We’ve moved a bunch of main thread operations to be async, so we can keep the editor window unbothered for longer. These operations include things like schema uploading and other Cloud-related features.

Another noticeable improvement worth mentioning: the Hub has been responsible for degrading performance when open while in Play Mode. With this update, that is no longer the case. Well, at least not that badly. The work continues.

Nintendo Switch 2 support

We’re not leaving consoles behind. We offer support for all major consoles and platforms. In this update, we’ve verified our SDK on Nintendo’s latest device. If you are a registered Nintendo developer, and want to know more about it, drop us a line.

Whole lotta fixes

Only the 2.1 release notes can get you the full picture, but here’s a few highlights:

• Serialization of emojis in strings
• Building simulators on macOS with Unity 6.3+ (zip exec not found)
• Batch mode async deadlock
• Configuring Prefab Variants on edge cases
• Interpolation settings appearing disabled
• Setting and using ports for the RS