• RuntimesUnity
  • Updating skeleton in client/player build

Hello guys,
It's all in the title !

I'm used to update my skeletonData and atlases from Editor to my Unity folder all the time but I'd like to anticipate how I could "push" or at least allow my players to update those data later on.

When I do it locally I don't face loss of settings or anything but I wonder if some could be lost if the game client is fetching/replacing a new " spine export folder" in our server.

How do you manage this, and are their best practices I should follow to avoid losing custom mixing times, textures/materials settings etc ?

As always, thanks a lot 😃

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    RemDust but I'd like to anticipate how I could "push" or at least allow my players to update those data later on.

    What exactly do you have in mind? Do you want to replace e.g. version 1.0 of your skeleton asset with an updated version 1.1 with identical or at least very similar setup?

    In general, you would normally not upload and replace only the exported asset, like the skeleton.json or skeleton.skel.bytes file, but also the dependent Unity asset, the SkeletonDataAsset, along with it. Same applies when updating the .atlas.txt file and the atlas textures (.png files), and the dependent AtlasAsset, you would update all three at once so that they are definitely compatible. If you updated only the skeleton.skel.bytes file, you would need to make sure that the animations have not changed which are referenced in the default mix duration in the SkeletonDataAsset.

    Most of the time there will not be any issues when updating only the exported assets, but to be on the safe side you should update the generated assets on your server along with it.

      Harald
      To be honest I'm just trying to plan how I could upgrade/update a rig after the game is shipped.
      I pretty much just need to add new attachments in the rig after initial game shipping.

      I suppose that the more usual road would be to upload the new attachments PNG and to recreate skins at runtime, but my setup doesn't really fit this
      -> In Spine Editor I'm exporting my attachments by Folder structure. It allows me to apply a specific material to specific type of attachments. So I don't really know if it would be possible to add new png and feed them in the materials/atlas =(

      Does it all make sense ? xD

        RemDust If you really need to add attachments, you also need to update the .skel.bytes file, not only the atlas assets, since the skeleton holds information about attachments at a slot. Otherwise you can't simply assign the Attachment at a slot by e.g. name. You could however create attachments from existing attachments, as demonstrated in the example scenes Mix and Match, Mix and Match Equip and Atlas Region Attacher.

          Thanks for your help !
          Here is a simplified version of my current setup

          I have 2 slots :
          Eyes and Face, they both have different materials and these attachements have been exported by Folder Structure ( Face 1 and 2 are 2 attachments in slot Face).

          Harald ou could however create attachments from existing attachments, as demonstrated in the example scenes Mix and Match, Mix and Match Equip and Atlas Region Attacher.

          Awesome, the example of the section "Providing Skins and Attachments" seems like what I need.

          Can you confirm that I understand the the MixAndMatchExample correctly ?

          • We are using the already existing material, not cloning and using the new clone
          • We are cloning an existing skin (here a template)
          • We are cloning an existing attachment and replacing its png texture by the new attachment

          If this is right, it seems like a destructive operation for the initial material, right ?

            RemDust Awesome, the example of the section "Providing Skins and Attachments" seems like what I need.

            I was talking about the example scenes in the spine-unity unitypackage.

            RemDust Can you confirm that I understand the the MixAndMatchExample correctly ?
            We are using the already existing material, not cloning and using the new clone
            We are cloning an existing skin (here a template)
            We are cloning an existing attachment and replacing its png texture by the new attachment

            What are you referring to in the above three bullet points?

            If this is right, it seems like a destructive operation for the initial material, right ?

            Why do you think that it is destructive? No original (template) material is ever modified, copies are created.