Migrate Perforce to Unity Version Control

Unity Version Control is a best-in-class VCS for any studio size or budget. Perform intensive branching and merging, avoid database locks, maximize scalability, and keep programmers and artists happy.

Learn how Apocalypse Studios cut costs and accelerated work by switching from Perforce to Unity Version Control (formerly Plastic SCM). Read the blog

Why Perforce users switch to Unity Version Control

Large studios often use Perforce for game development. However, some developers prefer Git workflows, which Perforce doesn’t feature natively or via integration. Unity Version Control bridges that gap – it’s a cost-effective solution for all studio sizes with distributed and centralized workflows and powerful branching and merging.

Deadhaus Sonata key art

Deadhaus Sonata by Apocalypse Studios

How Perforce users benefit from Unity Version Control

Unity Version Control is built for everyone in game development. Here’s what you get when you upgrade from Perforce.

DevOps
Work centralized or distributed

Choosing a VCS can mean deciding whether to work centralized or distributed. Unity Version Control has both, combining the speed and power of Git-style workflows with Perforce-like scalability.

Collaboration with artists on Unity Engine
Version control simplicity for non-coders

Gamedev isn’t just about coding. With Unity Version Control, artists can contribute independently via a separate workflow with locking and the ability to work with individual files.

Plastic SCM large files
Manage huge depots and files at speed

Unity Version Control easily handles files and projects over 5 TB at lightning speed. It’s five times faster than Perforce or Git for regular submit operations, and twice as fast in syncs.

File locking in Unity editor
Lock files you can’t merge

Concurrent changes in unmergeable files a challenge? Code safely with branching and merging, or make changes confidently with locking. Unity Version Control is the only VCS that supports both.

Key features

Unity’s DevOps solutions give programmers a wide range of functionality while keeping things streamlined for artists. See something missing from the list? Check out our DevOps roadmap.

Changelists in Unity Version control

Changelists

You won’t need to alter your way of working after switching from Perforce, especially if you don’t plan to work in separate branches. Changelists allows you to conveniently create meaningful groupings of your files. When you check in your changes, you won’t need to pick through a list of thousands; instead, you can just select the files pertaining to the task at hand.

Changelists helps you stay organized. If you need to go back and make a change, you won’t need to remember all the files you modified – they’ll be grouped under the changelist you created. 

Unity Version Control branch per task workflow

Fast and flexible workflows

When you’re working with large codebases or files, it’s easy to run into productivity issues. The singular nature of Perforce’s development branch and current stream functionality locks teams into relatively inflexible “merge down, copy up” workflows, which can result in duplicate work and slowdowns. There are workarounds, like shelve commits, but these limit your ability to commit at scale – again, slowing your team down.

Unity Version Control’s branching and merging capabilities naturally lead to faster and more streamlined performance. You can structure your workflow for what suits your studio best, whether that’s with task-based branching or even a more traditional approach. If you hit problems, it’s easy to adjust.

Heavy load with Unity version control

Scalability under heavy loads

Making games means working with enormous files, and you need version control that can withstand that pressure. Unity Version Control servers can easily support hundreds of developers simultaneously without sacrificing performance. Work at the pace you need, and scale easily with version control built specifically for game development.

Cloud Server for Unity version control

Cloud hosting for source code

Easily checkin your work to the cloud and manage team permissions through a cloud dashboard, without the need to maintain an extra server or client. 

Instantly set up dedicated cloud servers out of the box to empower your teams to collaborate from anywhere in the world. All you need to do is create an account.

Migrate mid-project with P4Sync

Switching version control systems in the middle of development can be daunting, but Unity Version Control is equipped to make the transition as painless as possible. With P4Sync, Version Control offers a bidirectional synchronization with Perforce to help teams make the leap.

With P4Sync, you can keep a Perforce stream fully synced with a branch on Unity Version Control, import data from Perforce to Version Control, and vice versa. Bear in mind only one Perforce stream can sync with Unity Version Control at any given time – this is a temporary solution to help you switch version control systems without bringing development to a standstill.

Games making it happen

Goodbye Volcano High

How does a worker-owned cooperative studio get both artists and engineers aligned on a production process? Read how KO_OP powered collaboration with Unity’s version control solution (formerly Plastic SCM).

Return to Nangrim

Read how Sycoforge leveraged Unity tools to manage the growing scope of their project and integrate player feedback for rapid, iterative game development.

Deadhaus Sonata

Find out why Apocalypse Studios switched from Perforce to Unity’s version control solution to speed up development of their gothic ARPG.

Set up Unity Version Control for your project

Want to get up and running quickly? These instructions can help you set up Unity Version Control for your project in just a few minutes.

Frequently asked questions

How do I use Perforce in Unity?

Unity fully supports Perforce. If you’re looking to use Perforce as your version control system with the Unity game engine, you can find instructions for setting that up here.

How do I migrate Perforce to Unity Version Control?

Very often, Perforce depots are huge (something especially true for game studios, where gigabytes of data are not uncommon), so we prefer to provide full assistance.

It’s very simple: You contact us, and we help you with the process. We also have an ad hoc importer if you'd like to do it yourself.

How do I use Unity Version Control?

Get an introduction to setting up a repo and begin working together in either Unity, Unreal, or another engine here.  

Is Perforce centralized or distributed?

Perforce is a centralized version control system – meaning all developers and artists commit their changes to a central server. This workflow is best suited for artists working with non-mergeable files. Developers often prefer a distributed version control system (DVCS). Unity Version Control provides both with separate workflows in one repo.

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