Web Player Auto Update

Is it possible to prevent the Unity web player from updating automatically?

Or is this functionality built into the player?

 

its not possible to prevent it from updating if it requires updating and you shouldn't do it either as you miss out bugfixes and enhancements that normally go against not for your application

 

Thanks for the reply. I was originally looking for ways to work around the issue of Trend Micro client blocking Unity webplayer updates.

But during my investigation I discovered that if there is no internet connection the Web Player will not work. Presumably because it needs to connect to verify that it is running the latest version. This means that it is not possible to play web content offline, for example in a web based application running on an intranet (with no or limited access to www).

I realise that this scenario is a tiny percentage of likely use cases for the Web Player. But in my case it is the environment that the majority of my users will to be in.

I'm looking at creating an interactive 3d simulation that will form a part of an existing Flash/Flex application. We already have a module that uses the AS 3.0 Away3d libraries. But were hoping to achieve something a little more ambitious. And Unity seemed like the obvious choice. It now looks like we'll have to wait for Molehill.

 

I've just checked a webplayer running locally with no internet connection and it works OK. Is there anything in particular that has led you to believe the player needs a connection to work?

 

Well after spending a day looking at Shiva, I'd love to be proved wrong. And I'm happy to say that for whatever reason the problem was caused by having Fiddler2 open. After closing it and disconnecting from internet, my test pages work absolutely fine.

However...

If I uninstall Unity webplayer and try to reinstall it using the standalone installer i get this message:



It seems like the player needs to check it's version is current atleast once, before it will run offline content.

 

Ok now I'm getting really confused, not sure what's going on at all.

Just upgraded IDE to 3.2 and came across the much larger UnityWebPlayerDevelopment.exe. 4265 kb vs the 574 kb of the UnityWebPlayer.exe that I had previously downloaded from "http://webplayer.unity3d.com/download_webplayer-3.x/UnityWebPlayer.exe".

So decided to give it a try. And to my surprise my demos actually work now.

However when I go to the Unity Samples online and try to look at Tropical Paradise, Trend pops up and blocks the player from trying to download "http://webplayer.unity3d.com/autodownload_webplugin-3.x/Mono2.x.x-win32.zip". But if I try Bootcamp it loads fine.

 

The Unity webplayer plugin consists of two bits: The plugin and the player.

We ship two different installers: Plugin only (the 574k one) and a full installer (the larger one). The full installer includes both the plugin and the player, whereas the plugin-only is missing the player (which it will then auto-update on first run).

For offline deployment, you need to include the full webplayer installer. Don't use the development webplayer though, as this is reconfigured for a lot of development-only needs.

 

Thanks for the reply.

Could anyone point me towards a link that would enable me to get a copy of the full installer?

 

Windows, full:
http://webplayer.unity3d.com/download_webplayer-3.x/UnityWebPlayerFull.exe

OS X, full, universal:
http://webplayer.unity3d.com/download_webplayer-3.x/webplayer-universal.dmg

 

Thanks again.

Could I just get one thing straight though since I'm fairly new to Unity. If I've installed using the UnityWebPlayerFull.exe and i'm building my projects for offline deployment, will the player still try to update itself if it is connected to the internet and there is a newer version available?

 

That is correct. Offline deployment just means that you get UnityObject.js produced next to your webplayer file - rather than the html file depending on the version of the same js file we host at unity3d.com.

Auto update functionality remains unaffected.

 

I'm still having problems with the auto update of the Web Player. After uninstalling, then using UnityWebPlayerFull.exe, some content will load ok but with others I get this error:



The samples page on iTween is a good example. The first demo will load without complaint. But none of the others will work.

 

Could you provide a URL to a specific unity3d file not working for you? It is possible that the player in question is a 2.x player, which will require the webplayer to download and install the 2.x player. Unfortunately we do not have a new installer including that player.

 

This is obviously an issue with 2.x player. As I mentioned in previous post the most recent (probably created in 3.2) demo on iTween works, but all previous (created in 2.x?) demos do not work. Similarly the Tropical Island demo on Unity examples web page does not work, while most of the others that I've tried do work.

However the news that Unity will support Molehill export in a future version means that I really don't care about these issues. Unity to swf is the best of both worlds for me. Here's hoping that (crosses fingers) this new feature is available by the end of the year.

 

Do I need to republish my players for iTween or should I wait for a solution?

 

Personally I don't think you need to. Your demos work fine for me on my home computer, where the Unity Web Player is not blocked by Trend Micro.

My problem has been understanding that the standalone installer is not fully standalone. It installs the Web Plug-in plus the Web Player for current 3.x content. When the Plug-in encounters 2.x content it needs to download another Player from the Unity site.

All of this is very different from my past experience with the Flash Player. As I said in my previous post the plans to include an option to compile to Flash Player 11 in Unity will solve the issues I have with the Auto Update and the inability to target a specific version.

And I'd just like to mention that it's not all bad. What a pleasure it's been for me developing my Proof of Concept in Unity over the past month or so. I've had some past experience with 3d in Flash and Director. But neither of these tools come close to the speed of development and ease of debugging that I get in Unity.

 

How to easy find full player download link on web?

 

you can't, you can only send them to the download page as unity downloads are forwarded into the akamai CDN download network for best download performance for every user, you don't want to hardcode those as it would punish your users.

Also just to answer that upfront, you are not entitled to redistribute the installer yourself.

 

Thank you very much!

 

Ok, these files are now NOT FULL. We are trying to update our enviroment, and we don't allow internet access, only INTRANET access, so the engine has to be updated with a push, and we need the FULL INSTALL! int 12-4-2012 and now the webplayerfull.ese is only 643Kb, was 4MB! I tried a fresh install and it has not Engine. HELP!!

We use Unity for Trainng on a Corp. system, where 95% of the possible users DO NOT have Internet access, only
Intranet access. (web based training) really Intranet based training using a browser. : ]

 

If allowed when I came to run the game NplayBeGone and Ahmed small file called UnityPlayer3.xx-win32_3. Theeb

The estimated I know run game also what has been loading and writes me that he must update the program and there also did not work

 

Where can I find the download link to the most recent full Unity Web Player? We are trying to deploy a bike game at outdoor events and such where there is no internet connection.

 

+1
UnityWebPlayerFull.exe for 4.x

 

The URL hasn't changed. Download that file and check the properties in Explorer and you'll see it's version 4.2.1.0.

Edit: And yes, I know the URL say 3.x. They simply didn't change it.

 

Thanks wccrawford,
as you said the url took me off the road!

 

I know this is an old thread, but I'll add my pitch for making the web player update optional.

I work in an environment with more than 16,000 computers (20,000+ if one counts tablets and Macs) and 46,000 users. 99.9% of our users have NO MACHINE RIGHTS to speak of... That means no installation of software and very little writing of data to a local drive, as all user docs are written to mapped drives or to the "cloud." Ergo, no updating of the Unity web player.

A grant partner has recently pointed out that our Board of Education agreed to a grant contract that requires support of a "game based learning initiative." They've built the game on Unity3D. Even if I get through all of the group policies and get the engine installed for all users on three generations of the Windows OS, it will break if there's a web player update.

At this point, I'm still working on a reliable deployment solution...which will have to be a pushed deployment with all installations/downloads done by the administrative / push-agent user. (Any tips or constructive comments are welcomed.)

Saying "no" to a politically influential partner would be a nightmare that could only be eclipsed by the support issues generated should our users have installation.

/jmt