Introduction to
Networking in
Unity with Photon
CARMINE ELVEZIO, BEN YANG
PROF. STEVE FEINER
COMS W4172
March 21, 2024
Popular Unity Networking Frameworks
► High-Level Frameworks
► P2P Style
► Photon Fusion ← We will focus on this today!
► Photon Unity Networking (PUN/PUN2)
► Self-Hosted/Dedicated Server
►MLAPI (acquired by Unity)
►Mirror
Both MLAPI and Mirror are based on Unity's deprecated UNet
►Photon Bolt
►Forge Networking Remastered
► Low-Level Framework
► DarkRift 2
More details can be found here:
https://blog.unity.com/technology/choosing-the-right-netcode-for-your-game 2
Feiner, COMS W4172, Spring 2024
Common Concepts in Networking Frameworks
► Clients connect to a listening server
► Single server—multiple clients
► Unity applications can be configured as server, client, or both
► Networked Game Object
► Similar to a regular game object, except it will automatically
sync over the network
► Players can be configured to have local authority
► Synchronized Variable/State
► Similar to a regular variable, except it will automatically sync
over the network
► Messaging/RPC (Remote Procedure Call)
► Similar to a regular method, except it can be invoked over
the network
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Photon Unity Networking—PUN2
► One of the most popular
networking solutions for
Unity
► Beginner friendly!
► Free for up to 20 concurrent
connected users (CCU)
► Cross-platform
► Built-in matchmaking
services https://www.photonengine.com/pun
► Suitable for game with 2–8
players per room/session
► Highly scalable ($$)
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Photon Unity Networking—PUN2
► PUN2 built on
► High-level API
► Low-level Networking calls
► Platform-native DLLs
► Supports
► Networked objects in
scenes
► RPC and direct message
passing
► Custom messages
Note: PUN2 doesn't support custom server-side
logic. But we can use master client (aka host) to
achieve similar results.
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Fusion Host Mode: Getting Started
► Register at
www.photonengine.com
► Create a Photon Fusion
app and note its AppID
► Install 2022.3 LTS or above
► Asset Serialization
► Mono Cecil Package
► Generates low-level
netcode and injects into
C# DLL
► com.unity.nuget.mono-
[email protected] 8
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Fusion Host Mode: Setup
► Add that
AppID to the
Fusion Setup
Wizard
Fusion Host Mode: Scene Initialization
► Goals:
► Create a Fusion
Runner to
start/join
matches
► Create a
movable
character
► Add required
methods stubs
► Ensure you add
“using
Fusion.Sockets”! 10
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Fusion Host Mode: Scene Initialization
► Create the
StartGame method
► Creates the Fusion
NetworkRunner
► Gets the active scene
► Adds the
NetworkSceneManager
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Fusion Host Mode: Scene Initialization
► Create a GUI
Button when
spawning the
game
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Fusion Host Mode:
Scene Initialization
► Create a player
avatar by adding
a NetworkObject
component
► Add a
NetworkCharacter
ControllerPrototype
► Change the
Interpolation Target
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Fusion Host Mode:
Scene Initialization
► Spawn the player
character in
hosted mode by
replacing the
OnPlayerLeft and
OnPlayerJoined
stubs
► This is the same as
the regular Unity
Instantiate
(runner.spawn())
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Fusion Host Mode:
Scene Initialization
► Collect direction
input from the user
► Replace the
OnInput() stub with
arrow key presses
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Fusion Host Mode:
Scene Initialization
► Apply the collected
input data to the
player avatar
► Add the Player script
to the PlayerPrefab
► Implement
FixedUpdateNetwork
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Fusion Host Mode:
Scene Initialization
► Last step!
► Create a floor for
testing
► Start multiple
instances of the
built application
► One will press Host,
the other will press
Join
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Fusion: Next Steps
► Prediction
► Physics
► Property Changes
► RPCs
► Shared Mode
Basics
► Sample Scenes
► Asteroids Simple
► Asteroids
Advanced
► DragonHunters VR
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Local Multiplayer Testing—ParrelSync
► The workflow recommended by
Unity for local iteration
► Test multiplayer gameplay without
building by having another Unity
editor opened and mirror the
changes from the original project
https://docs-multiplayer.unity3d.com/netcode/current/tutorials/testing/testing_locally/index.html#parrelsync
Download the source code from
GitHub - VeriorPies/ParrelSync: (Unity3D) Test
multiplayer without building 19
Communication Toolkit for
Modular UI—
MercuryMessaging
► Registering and unreigstering
events across components in Unity
is very painful
► Need to write many different and
unique callback functions to
handle modular UI components
► Mercury is a framework that fixes
this problem
Carmine Elvezio, Mengu Sukan, and Steven Feiner. “Mercury: A
Messaging Framework for Modular UI Components.” Proc, CHI 2018.
https://doi.org/10.1145/3173574.3174162
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Communication Toolkit for Modular UI—
MercuryMessaging
See the tutorial and download from
https://github.com/ColumbiaCGUI/Mercury
Messaging 21
Communication Toolkit for Modular UI—
MercuryMessaging
See the tutorial and download from
https://github.com/ColumbiaCGUI/Mercury
Messaging 22
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Thank You!
►Questions?
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