Zereda Games-Website

Optimize Your PC
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Unity Tip's and Trick's

I tend to get ask often a lot of the same questions, so I've created a page with various questions and links to the answer. I've also got a number of my own tips and trick that I use and follow myself. Some were learned from my teacher's, some I learned on my own.

How to Optimize Your Slow Windows Computer

This tutorial will show you some ways to optimize the performance of your Windows computer, especially if it is running very slowly. We all know how frustrating it can be for a computer to take what seems like an eternity to perform a seemingly simple task. A slow computer can cost you time and even money over the long run. For many computers, there is a cure, and I don’t mean a flashy new computer. If you have a slow computer, a few hours to spare, and a basic understanding of Windows and a web browser, then this tutorial is for you.

To learn more about this, here is a link to the original writer's tutorial

How to Optimize Your Slow Windows Computer

Don't forget to give thanks to them if their tutorial helped you.

List of Answered Questions on Unity Answers.

Unity Answers Main Sites:

1: Unity Answers Q&A

2: Unity Answers FAQ
3: Unity Answers Moderators Page

Installing a program on a PC the smart way (Our Way)

Okay, I'm going to assume here you already have the program to install ready to go beforehand aka the .exe installer. If not, here is a link to the list of older versions of unity Includes most recent also.

I'm going to be installing a version of Unity in this example but same method could be applied to any program install.

First thing's first. I like to keep my thing's all clean and organized, so I will explain that a bit more further next. We are going to Make a folder inside our C drive or another hard drive of your choosing.

In this example we are going to name it "Installed Programs" I'm going to be using the unity 2018 3.0f2 Installer because I have it already DL'ed on my PC and the net is terrible here, so it's just quicker this way for me.

Note: To those who have followed the tutorial on Script Templates. Things you should know before continuing. Your original scripts will not be used after the install in this way. You will have to change your link to the "Script Templates" and change it to the new location's Editor\Data\Resources\ScriptTemplates and copy or more your edited scripts to the new location's folder. Okay, so now that you are aware of that, you can now continue.

Let's Begin:

A Picture Example Of the Folder In C:\\ drive

Now we are ready to double click our .exe program installer to initiate Install.

First thing that comes up with Unity is this:

Picture Example Of First Window.

Click Yes.

After that you will be prompt with these windows:

When you tick off the toggle in box A in picture 2, you will then be able to click next button in box B.

This is a partial install for windows only games

Complete install

I normally only use the left side myself, as I have many versions to choose from. If I need too I'll just reinstall it and overwrite the original.

Click next.

We do not want to install into "Program Files" for a smart install.

This is not considered smart, It's the consumer way, the easy way.

Click the Browse button to modify.

By the end you will see why I call it smart.

Click the Installed programs folder we created to highlight which box you want to create a new folder to be created in

We name it the same name at the name and version of the program we are installing. My program is "Unity" and the version is "2018 3.0f2" so our file should be called "Unity 2018 3.0.f2"

Doing it this way makes it so I can install Multiple versions of the Same program, and still have access to the old if i needed to. Most program you do not need to worry about this and you should always overwrite the original, but with unity, they still support older version for different developers. Other companies like GeneralAssembly and XXX Forgot name come back to it, do similar things also.

Anyway, this is what i do. Notice at the top of the window with the green line under it, that the name and version number are there, This is what I'm going to name my new folder we just created. I then click next

Now this is what we want. I call this a smart install, and this is because the path is still short for the PC to read from location, And we can take the whole folder of "Installed Programs" and move it into a new location without conflicting other programs later if we so choose.

My suggestion there would be an external SSD or some other internal hard drive other then your main slave C drive would be better. More on this Below.

This will be you second last window, last being simply a finish button, i don't feel the need to post that.

What do You really need for Unity?

What Unity calls for entry level

For development

OS: Windows 7 SP1+, 8, 10, 64-bit versions only; macOS 10.11+
Server versions of Windows & OS X are not tested.
CPU: SSE2 instruction set support.
GPU: Graphics card with DX10 (shader model 4.0) capabilities.
The rest mostly depends on the complexity of your projects.

Additional platform development requirements:

iOS: Mac computer running minimum macOS 10.12.6 and Xcode 9.0 or higher.
Android: Android SDK and Java Development Kit (JDK); IL2CPP scripting backend requires Android NDK.
Universal Windows Platform: Windows 10 (64-bit), Visual Studio 2015 with C++ Tools component or later and Windows 10 SDK

As you can see, Unity doesn't need much to get started, if you are getting int Huge game titles, 3D modeling and video rendering/3D video creation, well a workstation is closer to what you might need.

Workstations have High core counts,10-36 with low to decent core speeds, and higher as time goes on, Lots of RAM, like 32GB-even 64gb for 3DModeling on a large scale, and want to do it quickly. They have TB's of storage around 10TB, SSD slave drives for OS, and a big dirty video card or 2. 850 max power supply on an Intel is all you would need but could reach about 950 on an AMD with 2 8GB pyne nvidia graphics card's. Anything else is honestly extra, and the money used could be used on higher end parts mentioned above. That being said though there are some handy parts like a 40-1 media bay card reader for your spare /old cd drive bay.

Up next, keeping the PC clean!

Keeping you PC Clean

One thing i like to do often when I'm working with unity is use windows build in drive cleaner. This feature deletes files in locations most people don't know how to find and bog down the BC when the data count become high. to get there on a windows 7 it is with Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools and in here you have a few thing that are handy, I'll update win t10 when i know for certain, but i think similar rules apply, windows 8 and 8.1 on the other hand do not. I have one of those up stairs and may eventually make a tutorial on that one also.

Program 1: Disc Clean up

In disk clean up you will find the ability to clean hidden folders within your windows OS. If checked off will also clear your Recycle bin too.

WARNING. Takes some time to load..... it's just 1 window with a bunch of check box's so tick off all the boxes and hit ok.

To do a more deep clean, click the "Clean System Files" button and wait again. Tick off all the un-ticked boxes and hit ok.

Program 2: Disk Defragmenter

Reorganizes your files to be bunched together so as to make the OS not have to read though so much of the hard disk to find the files your either: using and or looking for.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Never try to defragment an SSD hard drive, they are not meant to be defragmented. I'm pretty sure they will break or corrupt. My pc doesn't even register the ssd drives as a fragmentable drive. When i click defragment a drive on my PC, only my internal Sata connected HDD drive comes up, so hoping its the same for you.

Find files you didn't know existed

If you open the explorer (any file folder) if you click on the top bar where it tells you the current file folder location, you can then type in there. You can type web pages and it will open in internet explorer, but if you type %appdata% and hit Enter on your keyboard\, you are "Hot linked" to the Local\Roaming folder. In here are all sorts of programs saved files. If you see anything in here you KNOW you uninstalled, then you can Right click and click delete in the list or Left click one time to highlight and hit delete on your keyboard. Again exact same formula but this time all you have to do is going into the local file by double clicking "AppData" in the top bar beside "Roaming". this should bring you 'back' a page. Now you should be able to see Local, Local Low, and Roaming. Each are different locations software companies use to store temporary data or key dependent data. Sift through with high caution.

How to get more out of your PC

Below I'll explain different steps you could take to up the performance of your PC yourself from home and on a fair budget.

PC's are a fabulous tool when applied in the right manner. they can be time waist's as well. To get the most out of your PC, knowing how to navigate around, and do things is key, so practicing on a regular basis is important. Learning to stay organized on a PC can actually change the way you keep your things around you organized. Your PC is a reflection of the way your brain thinks. If everything is scattered all about, is an organized mess, but you can find anything then your probably going to have a gazillion files all over the place and not know where everything is. Naming folders is very important for these people aka ME. If you are a clean and tidy person, likeliness is as is your PC. aka not many files on it, only used to surf the web, doesn't game much..

Following specific method's the same way each time help's you remember, a PC is like a brain although it duffer's in the sense that it only does what we tell it to do... Whereas, we humans make our own decisions and control the PC. both are vast data storage though and that's where they relate, and the PC surpasses us. PC's don't forget. We do. So to store permanent data, we use PCs. Paper is tangible and far more likely to be destroyed by Something. PC's are destroy-able, but their longevity outlast a vast majority of paper. We have backup safety systems like the web so in the case of a PC failure or destroy from fire we can still get that data As long as we use those safety backups ;). Paper burns and leaves a carbon footprint where the digital data does not.

What OS do You use?

Before you can answer that, you have to ask yourself, "do you want a custom build? or do you want a pre-built?" If your looking for user friendly and all around versatile, Apple is a good choice. I myself don't know much about apple, not a fan of all it's securities but non the less, it's still a good product. So we do not bash them here. Even Unity supports Apple as much as they do Windows so do not worry about that. What you need to know is that Apple products no longer let you build your own PC's if they ever did. I seem to remember a time I could buy an iOS disk, but cannot remember if it was simply to upgrade, or weather it was a full installer. From the 2 hours of searching for an iOS installer, all that came up was a Hack-iOS version. Not what I wanted so.. For now Only way to get Apple that I Myself could tell you is, to simply buy an apple at the apple store...... Sorry...

Now For Custom PC's. You are not just limited to just Windows OS. You can put android, or Linux on it also if you so chose. I like windows myself and do all my examples via that. I don't like the prices of Apple, nor what you get for your money and you cannot customize them. Not to mention, what I can build for the price of the best apple available..... It would be 10X the PC..

I used Ubuntu for a period of time, I liked it and it was fun learning about building custom OS's, but at that time, there wasn't much for gaming when it came to Linux, i couldn't play my games with my room mates or other friends.. So i bit the bullet and bought Windows.. I did however cheap out and buy a developers copy off an online source for around 18$ and never told Windows that. upon install by the key they gave me, i guess had not been activated on Windows accounts... Therefore not long after i got the "Windows is not Genuine" error. Same thing and reason i went to Linux in the first place / I didn't want to pay near $200 for Windows.. I thought i got ripped off, not a big deal it was 20 buck but, I called Windows help line and explained what I had done in great detail disclosing the price of course and asked what I needed to do. They asked me to install Team View if i remember correctly, so they could take control of my PC under my consent. I Showed them the email and product key I was provided, and then they proceeded to unlock my PC. After 10 min my PC was Genuine and good to go. I never heard from them again.

Liquid Cooling systems Vs Heat-Sync Cooling systems

I'll explain my experiences and let you take out of it what you will.

Liquid cooling isn't always all that it seems in my opinion. Sure it sounds cool, some look really cool, but in reality the price compare do not line up. I bought 2X by accident Hyper T2's on newegg for a mining PC I was building. Not long after and before all my parts came in, I was one day replacing the thermal past on my CPU. It had been 3 years and Far, far past do. BTW once a year should be ok but 6 months is better, just try not to forget! Also my PC was hitting high temps it shouldn't have been.When I first installed it, I was getting 18-31 degrees Celsius with the system running mid-max cooler fans and what-have-yours. Anyway, when I was changing it, it was because it was getting upwards to 68.. Not normal!. Almost as bad as a stock cooler... something was wrong. While replacing the thermal past and reattaching the cooler to the board, the plastic hold downs for the cooler were complete crap. 2 broke trying to put it back on.. I was like "OHH NOOO, MY MAIN PC!!!!! AHHHH!!!" Had a little freakout, then remembered I had a second cooler I accidentally bought. I grabbed it slapped it on. Since the CPU, past, and cooler heat sync for the miner were already assembled but not complete and was awaiting final parts, I robbed the system fan off the heat sync temporarily, and had dual fans on my heat-sync. Turn the PC on meh temps look good 14 degrees, it was off for a while. Forgot about checking it. PC never got turned off, continued working on it and dong w.e. One day I noticed my PC was kinda quiet and forgot I had just done a restart the day before and my fan settings reset each time I restart. So, I opened up MSI's Command Center and low and behold 16C the PC temp... "Wow that's impressive" I thought. For $15 Vs. my $120 AIO liquid that broke upon install.. Far better bang for your buck and seemingly better results.... so I'll let you decide on this one.

PS: Did look into custom liquid cooling systems you build and part together yourself.. they Start around 600$... Go with a big heat sync instead if you are able. But, if you are going for a compact rig, you may have no other choice then to get a liquid cooled all-in-one unit aka AIO.

What ZeredaGames Is currently Running.

I definitely do not have a top of the line PC. Ive cheeped out where i can and Ive been running my PC more or less daily for 6 years straight. it's a beast, and takes it like a champ. a list below describes my build.

It is: So you know what I'm workin with here ;)

Cooler master Haf case,
AMD FX 8320. 8core 3.5Gghz over clocked to 4.5ghz Central Processing Unit, (CPU)
Hyper T2 heat sync style cooler (non liquid) with 2x fan's over the stock 1X, (Cooler)
MSI 970 Gaming motherboard (MOBO),
24GB of Balisstix 1600mhz Random Access Memory (RAM),
1X 6GB MSI NVidia Graphic's Processing Unit (Video card or GPU )
750 EVGA full modular Power Supply Unit (PSU)
1.5TB HDD slave storage,
Samsung Evo 256 SSD
(Upgraded 2 years after build and never swapped OS yet to make slave, would solve speed issues I currently have at times but i know this),
1TB Seagate external SSD USB3.1, Got that last year... Great addition BTW.
1XLG DVD Optical drive.. Used at first to install windows, sat dormant for years till this Xmas when i added all of my dads old CD's to a music library.
1X Hot swap bay,
4x 120mm case fans and a 200mm case fan.
1998 Sony mechanical keyboard, (Free)
Microsoft $10 wires mouse.

Total cost was $1374.83 over 4 years of hmm'ing and haw'ing.

New Alienware Command Center: CPU, GPU, RAM Overclocking Software

Final Notes

So to recap, I've invested approx $1370 Canadian over the last 6 year's time, to build the PC I have today and it has a genuine Windows. ;) It's better then any apple on the market, but I have got to admit it is less secure. That being said though, I can change, upgrade, repair, anything myself, and not void stuff. Far better for ME. If you have No knowledge in PC building, there are good Windows PC's but you are gonna be paying a premium on top. Numbers have shown over 15 build example that where on average, approx 25% higher cost to get the same product done for you, instead of buying the parts yourself.

To buy all the parts of my PC on a test price match 2 weeks ago [From 2/15/2019] while planning a build with a friend, I determined that to buy all the parts for my PC as they All were available that day, was close to $1800, Keep in mind Prices change daily and availability also.

ZeredaGames

Let's Play!

Contents:

Optimize Your PC
&
Unity Tip's and Trick's

How to Optimize Your Slow Windows Computer

List of Answered Questions on Unity Answers.