Unity DOTS Explained (ECS, Job System, Burst Compiler - 2024 Still Updated)

[@CodeMonkeyUnity]

🔴 UPDATED DOTS 1.2 TUTORIAL 🔴 kzbin.info/www/bejne/aou8n2yph5iVqsk

[@onerimeuse]

As I'm literally just stepping into this game development and computer science world, and completely on my own, so much of this is hovering just over my head. But you did an excellent job explaining it, so it's hovering instead of flying.

[@othmanalq9849]

yo man how you going so far?

[@luluskuy]

@@othmanalq9849 how about you man?

[@othmanalq9849]

@@luluskuy i started learning godot a few months ago but im now taking a short break to play wow with my friends. Hopefully i wont have to relearn anything when im back😂😂😂

[@CodeMonkeyUnity]

What example game genre/system would you like to see made with ECS?

[@mehmedcavas3069]

Hey, code monkey it would be cool if you would make an easy hyper-casual game with using ECS :) so it would be easier for us to understand what's going on and how to integrate it to other games. At least the basics :)

[@Toxick122]

Could do a Tower Defense style game, Wave Spawner / Unit Pathing

[@KeiNovak]

old-school RTS! But without the 200 unit cap!

[@Hakohn2511]

A Tower Defense or simple RTS with a ton of units moving simultaneously. Just like Toxick and KeiNovak said.

[@danielmakac3686]

a simple melee and range enemy Ai that can patrol, attack, defend, and follow the player.

[@nenok1]

5:50 I like how the bus at top left corner is synced with "it requires this SLIGHT change in thinking"

[@resistancefighter888]

Thank you so much for this video, everything was explained clearly and in detail.

[@CodeMonkeyUnity]

Glad to hear it! I tried my best to explain it as clearly as possible.

[@FuranTenshiFK]

@@CodeMonkeyUnity Yes, thank you so much!

[@dharmeshkumar2763]

I was really confused about ECS before. But now it is clear. Nice explanation

[@soandsononame8750]

Thanks man great video. I've watched hours and hours of unity presentations, and your relatively short playlist has helped me much more.

[@CodeMonkeyUnity]

Awesome! Glad to hear it!

[@Trombonaut]

This to be the best DOTS overview for brevity and clarity. Wish I'd found it first!

[@trainee5560]

2:50 Oh gosh this is the best way for me to finally understand what ECS is about, watched some videos but could still get the fundemental idea of how this system works.

[@CodeMonkeyUnity]

I'm glad it helped!

[@jdmozo]

The best indie game channel, love budy you always save me! ❤

[@GoodNewsJim]

I love this video. It is exactly what I needed to move my massively multiplayer online computer game to DOTS. Threads are tough. Glad to try these job thingies.

[@ZoKKeRFreAK]

So basically while IL2CPP had the inbetween step of going to c++, the burst compiler now is a direct way of going native. That is amazing. Lots of potential.

[@beginnereasy]

That taxi game is blowing my mind... I remember when the news was s.t.a.l.k.e.r. would have one trillion polygons

[@jeffenriquez9929]

Thank you! I really like how you included unity examples.

[@r1s1112]

Incredible explanation, clear and concise. Thank you.

[@RyanZehm]

Thank you Mr. Monkey, this was well put together and explained clearly. :)

[@kalita2127]

you make it a lootttt more easier to understand mate!! sure unity already made some explanations about this but yours are much easier to follow

[@hamzamustafa3491]

Nicely explained...thank you

[@CodeMonkeyUnity]

Check out the complete Unity ECS Tutorials Playlist: kzbin.info/aero/PLzDRvYVwl53s40yP5RQXitbT--IRcHqba

[@DxBALLxD]

oh my god. Somehow, while I have such a rudimentary understanding of how to code; this still sounds like the exact heaven sent thing I've been looking for, I was born to learn this

[@davidm.johnston8994]

Hey man, this video is really helpful! Thank you for that!

[@CodeMonkeyUnity]

I'm glad to hear it! Thanks!

[@rickloyd8208]

Awesome! Now going to continue with jobs tutorial! Thanks

[@joeknap10]

This was a very well explained video for it being only 6 minutes long!

[@CodeMonkeyUnity]

I'm glad you found it helpful! Thanks!

[@magnusm4]

Since it focuses on performance then I would either like to see an RTS game or a more complex single player movement system done in multiplayer like a 3D platformer. I wish there was a Unity equivalent to GMOD. I've seen some videos on making LUA supported coding for Unity so modding could be a fun concept for any game. Imagine a game like C&C but someone mods or adds an FPS control system so you fight as a soldier. Then with DOTS you can have 32 or maybe even 64 players on a large map with one commander building the base while the rest duke it out. Highly performance requiring but hope for the future, if you don't make it a 2160p realistic lighting open world game

[@pitchou8375]

Really good explanation! Thank you!👍

[@hansshadow360]

The use of structs over classes is very usefull, since structs are allocated in Stack and not the Heap, ECS use structs for organize data. This is a adventage whit the new paradigm.

[@adoniakazemzadeh]

Finally I understand what is this exact;y. Thank you so much

[@experiFilm]

Wow amazing 😯

[@pedro-paint]

Thanks so much for explaining this!

[@pdrval6805]

Nice explanation.

[@_denzy_6310]

Awesome explanation. Its like UE4 but still well understood. Keep it up

[@koordcoach]

Awesome video, thnx

[@marcingardyjan6680]

It is not always possible to calculate paths on multithread. For example if path A and B collide. I have to calculate path for object A, then I can calculate path for object B knowing path for A - so the path for B takes into account path A and not collide with them. Similar path for object C takes into account path A and B, and so on :)

[@tamatasoft9902]

Nice DOTS explanation. Please make a video on DOTS app publishing on android. I tried with different DOTS versions but no luck.

[@BunnyGunGames]

Good explanation, thanks!

[@entertainmentoverloaded5700]

Fantastic

[@alec_almartson]

Thank you. Your explanation is very clear and easy to understand. By the way: I think It is very difficult to write a complete game from scratch in C# using the ECS Paradigm... BUT maybe it could be easier to just iterate over a prototype made in the "classic way" (MonoBehaviour, update(), lateupdate() like we are used to), to make It a 'decent' 'DOT product' (pun intended). I mean: FIRST Create Your Game without worrying about ECS... and THEN (when you are done): translate it to the ECS Architectural Pattern.

[@laxya.7693]

You rock code Mikey #respect

[@TheBigMaxYT]

Thanks, now I finally know what DOTS means 😂

[@ChillinGames]

ohh, a multi thread lib and using a three component design pattern like MVC. I have experience from the enterprise side and i will say while MVC is fun to code, it can get very complicated on bigger projects and may not be the correct answer for them all. Its interesting that they packaged those two things together and didnt make them more of add ons to a project (since they seem to be championing the composite design style)

[@dallinnguyen8025]

well explanation, thank you

[@CodeMonkeyUnity]

🤖Join the Community Discord discord.gg/eHjUVrm

[@hacklabdesign]

What Scene is being shown with the flying cars?

[@CodeMonkeyUnity]

That's the Unity DOTS Megacity demo

[@reyizleroynuyo5671]

Hey the best unity tutorial Chanel. Pls make a coin shop pls code monkey i Like you 😀😀😎😎🤩

[@raghulponnusamy9034]

Hi, loved your videos, can you please make a video on design pattern.

[@CodeMonkeyUnity]

Yeah design patterns is something I'd like to cover, thanks!

[@ReapeX]

Thank you

[@Other-Stickman-Games]

Awesome

[@ashwaniprajapati5635]

you made interesting videos.

[@tomicooltomi]

I'm writing my diploma thesis on ECS and usage in Unity. Any suggestions on books or articles on that topic?

[@CodeMonkeyUnity]

I made a post on the Unity forums with a bunch of extra resources on ECS forum.unity.com/threads/video-tutorials-ecs-job-system-burst.687712/

[@Kondensatorr]

How should I cope with procedural generation of world with new ECS system? Should I make WorldGenerator gamebobject? If my world if chunk-based should every chunk be an entity, or each tile of chunk would be an entity? Can I group entities?

[@MAUREISHON]

Buen video amigo \ good video bro

[@user-uk9er5vw4c]

thanks man

[@bittersweet4074]

I don't quite understand why must we separate gameobject and give them invidual script so they can access each other, rather than attach those individual script in one game object, aren't it more neat than that? since the concept remain same.

[@Misterlegoboy]

so basicly we can use more foreach loops and stuff like that and we dont really have to worry about it?

[@wertin200]

Can't wait on the tutorial

[@MathsPlusGames]

Hello, Thank you for Video, I am new to programming, In-fact I am working on my first project (Strategy Game) and I was watching your "Control Units and Give Orders in Unity ECS!" Video which brought me here. I feel like Learning ECS while being a noob is a mistake? or do you think I should Learn this despite being new? Would it be extremely costly to do what you did in "Control Units and Give Orders in Unity ECS!" without using ECS? Thanks in advance

[@CodeMonkeyUnity]

If you're completely new then learning the normal Object Oriented way might be simpler. It easier to wrap your head around how to interact with objects rather than just data.

[@MathsPlusGames]

@@CodeMonkeyUnity Thank you so much for reply, Would it be possible for you to make the same guide without ECS "Control Units and Give Orders in Unity ECS". Cant seem to find any guide that did it as good as you did. Would greatly appreciate it. Thanks in advance

[@CodeMonkeyUnity]

​@@MathsPlusGames Hmm I haven't done something exactly like that but I did cover some basic unit control in the Gatherer AI series: kzbin.info/www/bejne/a5aWmIirr6aqgaM For doing the area selection the logic is mostly the same, get the lowerLeft and upperRight positions and find our what units are inside

[@lemetamax]

Thank you for this video. I want to ask: Will this technology work fine with mobile? Specifically older phones. I started learning DOTS' ECS, burst compiler and Job system today.

[@CodeMonkeyUnity]

Yes everything should work the same on Mobile. Just not sure how much of a performance improvement it will provide since Mobile CPUs have fewer cores.

[@lemetamax]

I thought so too, it might just improve the performance by just a fraction.

[@45hopefull]

Thank you for this and for your reply on my comment in your flappy bird vid i found a way to fix the problem. Also is it a good idea to start learning programming in ecs instead of the traditional way? Im still new to c# and programming in general but after i learn the basic can i straight jump into this?

[@CodeMonkeyUnity]

If you're new definitely stick with normal Game Objects. DOTS is awesome but it's still in development so it should only be used for entertainment/research purposes and not really in actual production at the moment.

[@rogercabo5545]

If I see this 7 years old mega city demo in 2024.. I got some electrical shocks in my brain..

[@johnnythesilverhand]

awesome make more videos about new things that added to unity 19

[@omeryilmaz1021]

is the system going to work on all entities or can we spesify the entities that system should work on?

[@CodeMonkeyUnity]

You can use EntityQueries to define which entities a system should be applied to

[@miguelomp]

Could you tell that Systems are like Jobs but on main thread? I kind of understand but can not see the full view of differences between both paradigms

[@CodeMonkeyUnity]

A ComponentSystem runs on the Main Thread. A JobComponentSystem can be made to run on a worker thread with Schedule(); or on the main thread with Run();

[@rahultandon9749]

Does unity permit the usage of EXPRESSION TREES IN C#

[@Elnino2014]

Hi Code Monkey! Do you know how the equipment system works? For example in Dark devotion, where when you equip another armor or set every animation changes depending on equipped set. I have all the sprites but i dont know how to change for example attack animation when i click attack button and set_2 is equipped (Always plays attack animation with set_1 )

[@CodeMonkeyUnity]

That depends heavily on the particular animation system is working, every implementation is different. It could be as simple as modifying a sprite or a lot more complicated. If every equipment has very specific animations then the only way seems to be to individually create all those animations.

[@Joooooooooooosh]

I'm not sure I follow this ECS benefit. Memory fragmentation is not a particularly important performance concern since addresses are virtual anyway. Is this a heap vs stack thing?

[@CodeMonkeyUnity]

It's more of a "avoid cache misses" thing. If the memory is all sequentially aligned then the CPU will have much fewer cache misses as you iterate through hundreds or millions of components making it insanely fast.

[@geri4367]

My body is so ready. Let's get into the nitty gritty

[@metaDeWeta]

What game is being played in the background?

[@CodeMonkeyUnity]

That's the DOTS Megacity demo

[@MadBunnyRabbit]

So basically it's MVVM for games?

[@davidpak271]

I can't seem to find the Entities package to import, also couldn't access using Unity.entities thinking maybe its built into 2020 version. Can anyone explain if things have changed since this video was created please?

[@CodeMonkeyUnity]

I haven't touched DOTS in quite a while but in Unity 2020 Preview packages are hidden by default and you need to go to the settings to even see them

[@davidpak271]

@@CodeMonkeyUnity got it, thanks for the reply! I was wondering, I've been learning Unity on and off for a few years, am finally getting somewhere, but wondering if I should instead start over and learn DOTS, what do you think?

[@CodeMonkeyUnity]

@@davidpak271 DOTS is still in experimental stage, if you're new to Unity don't touch DOTS, work with normal game objects

[@halivudestevez2]

entering into hardcore possibilities

[@jaysistar2711]

I think that saying "entities holds components" or "entities refer to components" is good for the mental model, but the machines's model is more like "entity is an index or key" (key as in key-value stores) to component storages. Component storages could be an array, a hashmap, or just a set (for "tag" components).

[@vegitoblue2187]

The burst compiler is out of preview. Can I get any use out of it for proper projects?

[@CodeMonkeyUnity]

You can but the Job System is still in preview so it's really Burst only. The DOTS Core is meant to all come out of Preview this year so if your release date is over one year away you might consider writing your code in a way that makes it easy to swap to DOTS.

[@vegitoblue2187]

@@CodeMonkeyUnity so does burst have any benefits of its own without ECS and Jobs as this region is pretty much uncharted waters for me and the internet

[@CodeMonkeyUnity]

Hmm not sure I've only used Burst in conjunction with Jobs. Maybe you could get some performance benefits by adding it to a struct formatted exactly like a job except without implementing IJob and just calling Execute(); on the main thread. Not sure if that would work.

[@vegitoblue2187]

@@CodeMonkeyUnity I'll give it a shot

[@Zackmortar]

Make a networking Tutorial

[@lauch8844]

is the performance boost only on the cpu side?

[@CodeMonkeyUnity]

Yes this is all to solve CPU bottlenecks, but theyre also working on URP and HDRP which have GPU performance improvements

[@dreamspheree]

techmoan background music

[@douglasg14b]

I keep hearing "C# Job System". Yet I can find not language specification for it, don't you mean Unity Job System?

[@CodeMonkeyUnity]

Yes that is correct, it's Unity's C# Job System. They use the terms "Job System" "Unity Job System" and "C# Job System" interchangeably.

[@jaulloa21]

This this feature integrated into unity?

[@CodeMonkeyUnity]

Yes, since version 2022 LTS Unity DOTS is now production ready

[@Layarion]

this just sounds like interfaces and separation principle taken to a more serious level.

[@williamknight2433]

What's the game in te background ?

[@CodeMonkeyUnity]

It's the Unity MegaCity demo, used to demonstrate a scene using DOTS with tons and tons of objects. Each building is composed of something like 100k game objects

[@williamknight2433]

@@CodeMonkeyUnity wow that sounds mad, thanks

[@captainufo4587]

So, the ECS is kinda like callbacks/delegates on steroids?

[@CodeMonkeyUnity]

Hmm what part makes you think its like callbacks?

[@captainufo4587]

"OnUpdate" seems the typical callback function name. Plus, in your example you wrote that it runs on every entity with the component Position, for example. In a way, it seems to me like using the C# event system to handle classes interacting with each other. Am I wrong?

[@CodeMonkeyUnity]

The name sounds like a Delegate but its actually a protected override void OnUpdate(); Still unsure exactly how it works, previously it would do something like foreach (Entity entity in GetEntities()) but apparently changed in 2019.1

[@Umbravi]

Something something something, Functional programming good.

[@arti5musicc]

it is

[@diliupg]

So how much of this code works now?

[@CodeMonkeyUnity]

The code shown in the video is just pseudocode, it's not an actual C# implementation All of the concepts, what is DOTS, what is ECS, what is a Component, System; all of those concepts are still the same. I just recently made a video covering the DOTS 1.0 syntax kzbin.info/www/bejne/fmjdcoKIlpiIrpI

[@cap7ainskull]

is that a demo ? in 2019 ?

[@CodeMonkeyUnity]

Yes the Megacity project sample was released last week.

[@cap7ainskull]

Thank God I was waiting to play that demo and they released it good guy unity

[@wothin]

Wait what is this game in the background?

[@CodeMonkeyUnity]

It's the Unity Megacity Project created specifically to showcase the benefits of DOTS.

[@wengel_eth]

So ECS is basically Unity CSS?

[@CodeMonkeyUnity]

What makes you think that? CSS is a Style Language so not at all related to ECS. ECS is about writing your code with a Data Oriented mindset as opposed to the normal Object Oriented way.

[@wengel_eth]

@@CodeMonkeyUnity Well, CSS has classes that you can mix and match when you apply them to the desired spot in HTML. You can create multiple classes that do different little things to make up one big thing. ECS seems kinda similar in that aspect.

[@muqian-kirin]

alsome

[@Gers217]

17

[@plasmaarmelund]

It’s way too complicated

[@tobyconoley5511]

speak English

[@CodeMonkeyUnity]

I am?