Introduction
Short & sweet post coming in hot off the press. I haven't done much in the way of tools in Unity in a while as it has mainly been in Unreal. So, I saw an opportunity (well it was kind of needed urgently) and I took it!
Problem
Whilst working in Unity 2021 LTS I had a scene open working away on UI and other things when BAM the scene I was in and the scene I duplicated this from both got corrupted. Even now after lots of investigating I can't see why that happened.
Luckily we were able to revert it back to a previous commit and with some git magic cherry pick certain files and apply those. But it still meant we lost a fair bit of work.
Note: Before I continue I feel it wise to give my two cents on something I didn't think would be the case. So, whilst investigating the issue, I also looked in to an issue I was having with the editor in unity being very laggy. I profiled the editor and found some interesting results and out of curiosity I installed a alternate versions of Unity but this time 2019 LTS & 2022 Non LTS and to my surprise both had no lag or editor issues. When I say lag amongst other things I mean after every scene change and every code change it would take a good few minutes before I could touch the editor again not to mention the amount of time it took to play.
A sign of a good tool is a tool that you yourself (the creator) would use.
Solution
The AutoSaver 3000 (minus the 3000). I know there are a few solutions out there but they all seem a little outdated and each lack certain functionality, UX and other things that I want in an auto saver. That isn't to say they aren't good or even maybe better but more likely just different.
Features
I must admit I went a little overboard with the features but I just kept seeing opportunities for more efficient and productive workflows.
A tools' UX & UI is just as important as its functionality and features.
Here are some of the features it includes:
Current User config (json or enum)
Extensive Debug & Information boxes that can be enabled or disabled
Save Assets that can be enabled or disabled
Clear debug logs linked to the autosaver
Save untitled scenes
This will disable the editor with a prompt and a save button
AutoSave
Enable or disable countdown progress bar
Save every set amount of minutes
Save backups as well as traditional save
Specify a backup path (if none will default to the path of the active scene)
Overwrite saves
Limit the number of backups made
Limit the number of file versions made
Functionality will be disabled until the limit is increased or the files are deleted
Reset the auto save timer
Stop the auto save timer
Auto save paused upon playing the scene
Input notes to attach to the scene in the history
Traditional/Normal save
Save backup
Specify a backup path (if none will default to the path of the active scene)
Overwrite saves
Limit the number of backups made
Limit the number of file versions made
Functionality will be disabled until the limit is increased or the files are deleted
Save on play
Editor disables any features when in this mode
Input notes to attach to the scene in the history
Save history
Enable save history
If enabled every save either auto or traditional will be logged/saved
Dedicated Save History Window
Loads from local json
Auto updates upon save
Shows
Save type (auto, manual)
Timestamp
Scene name
Scene path
User
Notes
Open scene
Save over scene (must be enabled)
Ability to search by
Scene type
Scene Name
Timestamp
Scene Path
User
Notes
amongst other types such as fuzzy search etc
Match User saves
Ctrl + S or File -> Save
Next Steps
With everything there is always room for improvement and if you've read any of my previous posts you know I try and always end them with a 'Next Steps' section.
I would like to add the ability to make a save upon when a set number (by the user) of changes in the scene have been made. Which, wouldn't be too hard. Lastly, it may be nice to have a save feature on exiting play mode that saves the changed components as well maybe?
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