Updating Unity and Playmaker(always scary)

[braincase]

Yesterday I made a scary decision.
"I will update unity and Playmaker!"

Whenever I update Unity and Playmaker, horrible many error messages came to me.
Anyway, sometimes I need to to that.

I updated Unity 5.3.4 -> 5.6.1 / Playmaker 1.8 -> 1.8.4
(alway back up before this.)

1. Open Unity 5.3.4 Project on 5.6.1
It took a long time to import things. And after then, Everything was magenta colored. It's a common material problem.
We need to 'reimport all'
Material problem can be easily fixed using 'reimport all'. (sometimes, we should change some shader. Or delete old shader.)

2.No 'PlayMaker' menu.
And still there's many error messages. I couldn't understand them. And there's no 'playmaker menu' on the menu bar.
I'm using 'LeanTween playmaker action' from assetstore. 2 actions of them caused problem. I deleted them. This means, some old actions can cause fatal problem.

3. Famous language folder problem.
Check this.
http://hutonggames.com/playmakerforum/index.php?topic=13962.msg66497#msg66497

I deleted some language folders. And then, 'playmaker' menu came back.


4. But still many error messages and I couldn't run the game.
I updated Playmaker. I didn't erase the asset. I just imported latest version(1.8.4).
Some actions were updated. And some error messages are cleared.
I pushed 'update all FSMs in build'. But problems were still remained.


5. GetComponent action's variable re-assign
My final problem was 'NavMesh Agent'. The 'get component' caused problems. At a glance, there were nothing wrong. Anyway, I re-assigned the NavMeshAgent variable's object type. And then, I could clear all the error messages.


6. Need bake light map again.
This is not related with PlayMaker. Anyway after updating Unity, lightmap should be baked again.

Now...almost every problem was cleared. :-)

Updating is...really horrible. But possible!

In Short :

1. Some wrong playmaker action can cause fatal problem. We need to fix them or delete.(losing playmaker menu)
2. Unity and Playmaker's version compatibility is important. Just import newer version.
3. I still don't know about the language folder problem.
4. 'update all FSMs in build' can clear some problems.
5. Look 'GetComponent' action if you are using them. Sometimes we need to assign the variable's object type again.

[djaydino]

Hi,
Indeed updating is scary!
But also satisfying when you got everything working and have access to new features.

Before updating anything ALWAYS make a backup!!

if you update unity:
Before you update you can rename the Unity folder from the current version to (for Example)
UnityV5.3 and then install the new unity version.

This way you will keep the older version and you can still use it when needed.

[braincase]

Thank you for the tip. Renaming playmaker folder can save time I think.

I tried updating more than 5 times.(it took more than a day)
I found solutions one by one.
Old action problem, Language folder problem, updating playmaker and actions, get component action's variable problem.

I think...the official 'Trouble shooting' is not enough..I couldn't solve 2 problems. [Language folder problem] and [get component action's variable] problem.

Language folder problem is still mystery for me. I don't know deleting folders is good solution.

According to trouble shooting, Unity will duplicate asset(not overwrite it) so we should delete duplicated things. But there's no duplicated asset(with number '1' behind the name).

And solving Get component action's variable(navMeshAgent) error was...only a lucky event. I just tried it. I didn't think it was important. I think, it can happen to people if unity make some changes.

If unity change something, actions should be updated. And Get Component action's variable should be re-assigned.

[djaydino]

Hi,

Thank you for the tip. Renaming playmaker folder can save time I think.

You should not rename the playmaker folder! it will give lots of errors.
By renaming the unity folder i mean where unity is installed (c:\Program Files\unity for windows i believe) so you can still use that version next to the new version.

If unity change something, actions should be updated. And Get Component action's variable should be re-assigned.

Many things get update by unity itself, but there are things that have to be changed manually in scripts
and same thing applies to playmaker actions especially Custom Actions.

By the way, a good thing to know if you imported a newer version from Playmaker and the installer did not work for some reason, you can start it manually :
go to Playmaker/Editor/Install you can click on the latest version to install it

[jeanfabre]

Hi,

 Please never touch PlayMaker folder, don't rename it, don't try to move it.

 Unless you are absolutly certain of what you do, you should never do that. Unity Project assets where not designed originally to be moved around, and so it's only a pile of hack to allow for this to happen...

instead always leave ALL packages you import as is, and simply create your own folder with your specific assets for that project, it will be a lot easier and safer down the road.


Bye,

 Jean

[...]

I'm updating to 2017 from 5.6.3 now, oh what horrors await me.

[jeanfabre]

Hi,

 Should be fine. update to 2017.2 at least, don't try 2017.1

Bye,

 Jean

[kavery]

Is there a good clean set of instructions on updating Unity and PM? This is most certainly the biggest drawback to PM. How to do, where to find out, how to keep hair intact.

[djaydino]

Hi.
One of the main thing you should not do is update unity 1st.

Update all your other assets before updating unity.

Also question yourself IF you NEED to update unity for your project.

And nr1 ALWAYS make a backup from your project.

[Twood]

Is there a good clean set of instructions on updating Unity and PM? This is most certainly the biggest drawback to PM. How to do, where to find out, how to keep hair intact.

For me asset updates almost always works fine if you update/import assets while in an empty scene of your project, then reload what you want to work on. I don't recommend doing it on a scene that has a lot going on.

[Gua]

I'm updating to 2017 from 5.6.3 now, oh what horrors await me.