Perforce Helix + native Unity P4 issues

Is anyone successfully using Perforce Helix (their relatively new cloud hosting option) with the built-in Unity P4 tools? ie, the tools you see under Editor Settings -> Version Control, not P4 Connect. I was using P4 Connect but found it was causing lag in the editor, so I'd like to switch to the native p4 tools but I haven't been able to connect to my depot. I'm using the same server string as shows up in the Helix Connection Settings page, which worked for connecting with P4 Connect.

The error I'm getting is "This version of your client is not supported. Please upgrade to version 2013.2 or higher." The version of Perforce I have installed on this machine is 2015.1 and I'm using Unity 5.2.2, so I'm pretty certain that I'm up to date.

 

Ah ok, good to know. I'll keep my eye on patch releases I guess...

Thanks!

 

Same story here, but using current Unity 5.3.1f1
(Another issue in this Unity version is missing status-icons on the assets in project tab.)

@jdrewsen In general, what client would you recommend:
P4Connect plugin or native p4 tools?

 

I would like to know if the native p4 plugin is meant to substitute the .meta file generation. If so how? Does it mean I can get rid of the .meta files once everyone in the team uses the p4 plugin?

 

You aren't supposed to get rid of meta files. What gave you that idea?

 

The fact that it substitute the meta generation in the Version Control menu. From Visible Meta File to Perforce. It's not clear at that point if the meta files will stay or not.

 

Unity requires meta files regardless and still uses them.

 

I remember that Unity 4 (or was it Unity 3?) didn't require meta files, maybe they changed it though, I cannot actually find the option to disable them.

 

I'm pretty sure 4 and 3 needed meta files always, it's how Unity knows information about each file, I don't think Unity can use them. The visible thing merely makes them visible in the project folder so version control can use them. With Perforce option (AFAIK) it just means perforce will find them.

I use perforce, and it always sends my meta files. Maybe I'm doing it horribly wrong. Seems to work though :/

 

maybe I use meta files for such a long time that I don't remember how it was before. I guess you are right and I just used to use the hidden option before. Meta files are surely needed to share work between team mates. I just wondered if the p4 plugin was doing some magic, but I now believe is just like you said.

 

I am new to VersionControl, made my first tests with Perforce the last three days.
First of all I tried the betaCloud hosting together with Unitys native perforce implementation which seems not to work.
It does work with P4Connect plugin but here I encounter a very big issue:
It starts to check metafiles everytime I start Playmode or change an asset, which takes ~5seconds.
Even when I disconnect and disable the service, because it reconnects automatically.
Impossible to work that way.

Don´t you have these issues???

 

I just wanted to add the native plugin actually works fine for me. The only bug I found out so far is that it doesn't check out the modified scenes automatically, I have to do it manually (from the project window)

 

.. because you don´t use the helix cloud service....

 

Any idea on when the 5.3 patch release will be coming out?

 

It was mentioned in here that the Unity client will be built against a current p4lib in an upcoming 5.3 patch release.
The current patch is (as far as I can see 5.3.2p1) and still no working native Helix connection.
The native integration has the benefit over P4connect that you can very easily use Smart Merge to intelligently merge scenes and prefabs (which rocks the house btw .
Probably its possible to configure smart merge with P4connect too, but I haven't tried out.
So please, dear Unity Team, make it work with Helix Cloud.

 

Thanks for the quick update and looking forward to it.
However, I must admit that the following question popped to my mind: Do you still recommend using the Unity built-in Perforce connectivity, or do you think this way to connect will slowly die out in the face of the P4connect plugin distributed by the Perforce guys?

 

Been using Perforce a while. I think abusing is the best word for it. I'd love to know how to get perforce to pick up script changes automatically. I use the built in support. When I make changes, perforce really doesn't understand I've made changes to the code, so I have to hunt through and check them out manually.

Am I missing something?

 

At this point the P4 plugin is extremely laggy to the point of being unusable for rename/copy operations which take around 4-7 seconds. They seem to have fixed some of the other issues that have plagued it but the lag makes it unusable at this point.

 

I assume you mean the built-in plugin (by Unity) and not the asset stores P4connect (by Perforce)?

Still no clear answer from Unity: What is the future direction of Perforce connectivity? What ist the "Unity way"? Built-in Unity plugin or Perforces external plugin?

 

No, apologies. All of my comments were in regards to P4 connect from Perforce.

 

The patch 5.3.3p2 is out but still no Helix conectivity. Any news on this?

 

And BTW: The p4connect plugin from Perforce is deprecated and can't be downloaded form the Asset Store any more. I wonder if that means it will be discontinued and the Unity Team License plugin will be the only integration in the future...

 

P4Connect isn't going anywhere, Unity accidentally deprecated it without telling us.
We just posted a new release 2016.1
unfortunately 2016.1 has a bug with ssl connections, but otherwise seems to be an improvement over the previous release.

 

Good to hear! Thanks for the update.
Still wondering about that Unity patch release. 5.3.3p3 is out and still nothing found in the release notes.

 

P4Connect is back in the asset store, but the version is now out of date:
https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/25523

I just posted a new bug-fix release 2016.1.136.4173
This fixes problems with SSL connections in the initial 2016.1 release.

Please download this from here until it finally gets pushed to the Asset store and perforce ftp site
https://swarm.workshop.perforce.com/projects/perforce-software-p4connect/files/main/releases

If you run into problems, please email support@perforce.com.

 

Great service guys, thanks!

 

Hi,
what ever happened to this? I just tried the brand new 5.3.4 as well as the 5.4.0b10 and both do not support Helix Cloud. Is there any major problems delaying this or is it just notoriously in the lower third of the issue trackers?

 

I have the same problem. When can we expect new version of Perforce lib integrated so we can use Helix Cloud? It is a showstopper for us.

 

Checked 5.4.0.b12 still no good news.

 

Is someone working on this?

 

Checked 5.4.0.b13 - no support for Helix Cloud. p4lib still on the old version.

 

@JakeTurner any new info when it is going to be integrated? It was not integrated in 5.3.3.

 

Interesting how there is total silence on this. Are there technical problems integrating p4lib? Or is there a Unity policy not to support Perforce any more? Or does this issue just get pushed to the end of the list every time a new version shall be released? Riddles over riddles ...

 

Yes, I think Unity pushes now to use Git LFS. It seems to me that Perforce integration is deprecated :-(

 

Isn't this starting to get a little bit ridiculous? Anyone from the Unity team able to comment on this?