Upgrade the Entities Graphics package

This page describes the changes you need to make to your project when you upgrade the Entities Graphics package. If you upgrade across multiple versions, apply the changes for every version between your current version and the new one.

Starting with Unity 6.4, Entities Graphics is a core package that is distributed with each version of the Unity Editor. The version of the package follows the Unity release, for example version 6.6.0 in Unity 6.6, instead of the previous 1.x versioning scheme.

Update code that reads companion components

In Unity 6.6, an entity references its companion component using the CompanionComponent<T> type, an unmanaged IComponentData struct with a CompanionRef field that stores a UnityObjectRef<T>. The managed component APIs that previously read companion components are deprecated. Update your code as follows:

• Replace calls to the EntityManager.GetComponentObject<T> method with calls to the EntityManager.GetCompanion<T> method.
• In queries, use the CompanionComponent<T> type instead of the component type. For example, replace the WithAll<Light>() call with WithAll<CompanionComponent<Light>>().
• In a SystemAPI.Query call, replace the SystemAPI.ManagedAPI.UnityEngineComponent<T> type with CompanionComponent<T>, and read the component from the CompanionRef field.

During baking, Unity still creates the companion GameObject and attaches the same UnityEngine.Component instances to it, so the components that your systems read are not changed. For more information, refer to Companion components.

Upgrade to Entities Graphics version 1.0

To upgrade to Entities Graphics package version 1.0, you need to do the following:

• Remove usage of HLOD.
• Replace runtime usage of RenderMesh with RenderMeshArray.
• Replace usage of rendering settings in RenderMesh with rendering settings in RenderFilterSettings.
• Replace Managed SharedComponent RenderMesh with unmanaged IComponentData RenderMeshUnmanaged for big performance gain while baking

Remove HLOD

HLOD is a feature created specifically for the MegaCity demo and has been removed from the 1.0 release of the Entities Graphics package. To upgrade Entities Graphics to 1.0, you must remove any usage of HLOD in your project.

Replace runtime usage of RenderMesh with RenderMeshArray

Previously, Entities Graphics used the RenderMesh shared component at runtime to create batches for rendering. Entities Graphics 1.0 replaces this with the RenderMeshArray shared component and the MaterialMeshInfo component.

The RenderMesh component still exists as a convenient intermediate step during entity baking, but Entities Graphics ignores it at runtime. To upgrade Entities Graphics to 1.0, you must update any code that uses RenderMesh or the RenderMeshUtility.AddComponents APIs to use the new RenderMeshArray versions. For more information, refer to Runtime entity creation.

Replace usage of rendering settings in RenderMesh with rendering settings in RenderFilterSettings

Entities Graphics 1.0 moves many rendering settings from the RenderMesh shared component to the RenderFilterSettings shared component. This includes settings such as rendering layer settings, motion vector rendering settings, and shadow rendering settings. To upgrade Entities Graphics to 1.0, you must update any code that uses the settings in RenderMesh to use the settings in RenderFilterSettings.

For a full list of changes and updates in this version, refer to the Entities Graphics package changelog.

Replace Managed SharedComponent RenderMesh with unmanaged IComponentData RenderMeshUnmanaged for big performance gain while baking

Added an unmanaged version of RenderMesh as a normal IComponentData. Similar to RenderMesh, when RenderMeshUnmanaged is added in a baker, it will ensure a mesh and material is correctly put into the baked RenderMeshArray. Note, the old RenderMesh component still works as a managed SharedComponent, as a baking system, RenderMeshToRenderMeshUnmanagedBakingSystem will make sure to turn it into the correct unmanaged version.