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How to disable version control in Unity 4.3
Hi guys, I've been working on Unity for a few years now. I'm having an Issue with meta files. I'm well aware that those metas are used by unity for versioning. But I'm having several problems with how Unity seems to handle those.
Long story short, I develop C# scripts that I build to dlls using Visual Studio through TeamCity (continuous integration system) and sometimes, for some reason Teamcity has lots of troubles rebuilding my scene because everything is messed up when it opens Unity which won't load any of my dlls anymore (or sometimes it will only load some random dlls).
For the moment, my solution is to delete the following local folders & files on the build agent:
Library/ScriptAssemblies
Library/assetDatabase3
Library/guidmapper
I'm giving you the precise context of my current problem even though I've already had the same Issue localy on my HD after having replaced only a few dlls by others (without adding or removing anything in my Asset folder and without touching to any meta file). Thing is, I'm starting to have heavier and heavier projects to manage. The time taken by Unity to reconstruct those files at each build is growing and it's slowly getting a real production problem for me.
So my question is : Is there a way to disable the versioning control system or in Unity4.3 ? I'm currently using SVN to version my work and I would like to be the only responsible of possible mistakes I make with SVN or whatever versioning system I use. I'm really having loads and loads of troubles with those metas (I got even more troubles when someone in my team forgets to add his meta with any new file he adds to the project). I know there was an option in earlier versions but I can't find it anymore. (I looked at Edit=> Editor Settings => Version Control but it doesn't seem I can disable it anymore)
I don't just want to hide those meta files. If possible, I really would like Unity to keep my folders as clean as possible and stop using those files.
Answer by gfoot · May 05, 2014 at 09:39 AM
They renamed the options, so you can now choose to have explicit meta files or hidden meta files. They are necessary though, and always were, even when they were hidden in the Library folder - you can't just not have them at all.
They contain UUIDs which Unity uses to refer to your assets, including DLLs and scripts, and import settings which are vital for most non-script assets - anything you change in the inspector is stored in the meta for and needs to be committed to your VCS.
So their content must be shared throughout your team, and hiding them in a database in the Library folder is not going to work for you. You must convince your team members to commit their meta files at the right times. Some VCS systems will let you as hooks to warn on commits that may not include appropriate meta files.
It's not really clear from your question why you suspect problems with meta files though. It feels like a bit of a leap to suspect them.
Well first of all, thanks a lot for your answer. I must admit I can't be sure that the meta files are responsible for the problem i'm having now. I just assumed they were because I've had so much troubles with them in the past. Also, I though the assetDatabase3 & guidmapper files were probably related to some sort of guid contained in the metas.
Anyways, thanks again for the explanation about those meta files. We'll just work in the direction you suggested and we will be very careful not to forget meta files when we commit.
I'll look further into what can be the origin of my problem. And may be when I'll have more detailed information, I'll make a new post to get help. But I think you replied very well to my current question.
Good luck with it. I think it's worth getting your $$anonymous$$m members to look at the content of some meta files, to get a feel for what information they store - it is important for everybody to understand this. They need to consider meta file changes in the same way as other files which they change more intentionally, so if they're seeing a lot of modified meta files that your VCS wants them to commit, then they should think about what they've changed, inspect the differences in the files, and decide whether to submit or revert each one.