Unity Packaging Tips

[@RazorThat]

I really hope some creators will actually use this advice, I’ve seen packages that are a complete disorganised mess, nothing named properly, nothing in correct folders, everything just scattered everywhere to the point where a basic user wouldn’t be able to understand or edit anything

[@OctoFloofy]

Thats actually neat advice if i ever intend to share my stuff or something. My current projects are always a mess, but its a mess only i have to navigate haha

[@Jcorella]

Some Booth creators looking at this tutorial and taking notes about exactly what NOT to do. They'll put everything in a unity package, even the blend files... just to make it a pain.

[@8bbp]

Nice advice, thank you!

[@zachup100]

This is the biggest pet peeve of mine where any avatar creators do the EXACT OPPOSITE to what you suggested. People need to organize their work and not include shaders / scripts, like PLEASE. So many packages people generate and share out constantly break my SDK or Poiyomi. I'm just glad I can understand what I am importing, and choose not to import those 3rd party packages.

[@armordcrab]

Very well explained! thank you.

[@laughinglizardvr8182]

EVERYONE needs to watch this video

[@Wolfy527]

Interesting part that I hadn't considered. If you include a material that is locked in that uses the Poi shader, it isn't including the shader as a whole, but just the locked in material, which should work fine across any import from my testing. Is this the same as "don't include others shaders" or would this fall outside of that reference?

[@poiyomi]

That's a more unique case and would fall outside the bounds of what I was talking about

[@Wolfy527]

@@poiyomi I see, you're mostly meaning, don't drop the Poiyomi 8.0 package into your prefab export since someone else can go grab that from the discord. Was just curious, thanks for the reply!

[@poiyomi]

@@Wolfy527 exactly. Generally if third party things are required you direct people to their download locations. You can also include packages for my shader in the zip alongside your package. Another reason for this is that sometimes things are packed in a very specific way and not knowing what that way is can cause issues for the end user

[@Wolfy527]

@@poiyomi True! I might end up doing that or directing people to your discord / patreon for shader info and downloads just to make sure they are good. No one has complained or had issues with it so far at all, but it might still be good to do. Thanks!

[@Nuilescent]

Hahaha it really shows that a lot of avatar creators have never worked in game engines before. The number of times I import something from a reputable creator and everything is scattered on the root, they include a bunch of shaders and assets that are free to use and you most likely already have in your project, and things are fractured into different folders for no reason. Also the naming scheme is... Sometimes things don't even have the right name. It's like they only ever expect you to be able to export things on their precise setup, with no updates, and in a brand new project every time.

[@GambitGames]

Preach

[@GEONEgaming]

It is worth noting Unity has a standardized folder structure. There should not be 10 different 'Models' or 'Scripts' folders inside different subfolders from a each import. Packages should include their subfolders *inside the relevant root folder*. So for example, it should look like this: Assets/Shaders/Poiyomi and not Assets/Poiyomi/Shaders as it can get very bloated and confusing with a dozen 'Shaders' folders inside various subfolders in the project. The whole "if your project contains more than one root folder import, I'm not using it" thing is a poor take. A better tip would be "there should not be free-form named folders in the root directory ASIDE from the standard best-practice folders commonly used in Unity" but what you stated at the beginning of the video is an esoteric opinion that deviates from best practices.

[@ARandomCibbi]

For general unity development, you're right mostly. But here we're in a niche case with vrchat avatars development where the people using it are not developers, an usually barely know how to navigate the ui to begin with. In this case the workflow in the video makes it easier for the target user. And besides, even on general unity development you have a case of stuff being inside a specific subfolder with most asset store packages (example, check Final IK or Dynamic Bones)

[@badgercode]

I much prefer packages that put all of their stuff in one folder. Otherwise, once you import it, good luck removing it! Packages I've used that scatter their files across many folders have been a pain in the ass to remove, harder to upgrade, harder to browse and harder to use

[@badgercode]

A great example of this is Garry's mod. You have a standard set of folders- models, materials, maps, sound, .... An add-on is a folder that contains these folders (and files within them) This means you end up with a really organised add-ons folder (one folder per add-on) And then each add-on itself contains these standard set of folders.

[@RazorThat]

Poggers