(Unity) Can't Import Steam Audio v4.4.1 - Endless Import Loop

[ForemanDev]

System Information
Please provide the following information about your system:

• Steam Audio version: 4.4.1 (Unity)
• Unity version: 2022.3.10f1
• Operating System and version: Windows 10

Issue Description
It is not possible for me to import Steam Audio v4.4.1 because this causes the Unity Editor to get stuck in an endless import loop. v4.4.0 does not have this problem. Over and over again a dialog pops up that says "Reloading Domain", then "Importing Assets", then "Completing Domain", and this repeats endlessly until I quit Unity. This makes the Unity Editor unusable until Steam Audio v4.4.1 is removed from the project. Luckily I was able to remove the plugin easily using Unity Version Control (Plastic SCM) and my temporary fix is to instead import Steam Audio v4.4.0 which does not have this problem.

Steps To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. Create a new Unity project with Unity v2022.3.10f1
2. Set platform to Android, IL2CPP scripting backend, and ARM64 architecture.
3. Import Bakery GPU Lightmapper (https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/tools/level-design/bakery-gpu-lightmapper-122218)
4. Import Steam Audio v4.4.1 via the .unitypackage (select all assets)
5. Observe endless import loop, which makes Unity unusable.
6. Quit Unity and remove Steam Audio v4.4.1 from the project.
7. Re-open Unity and import Steam Audio older version v4.4.0
8. Observe no issue with v4.4.0

EDIT: There appears to be a conflict with Bakery GPU Lightmapper only for v4.4.1 but not for v4.4.0. I have edited the above "Steps to Reproduce" and will attach a repro project below.

[ForemanDev]

Upon further testing I was unable to reproduce this issue in a fresh project. In my main project, this makes me wonder if it is interfering with something else. It is still strange that I have this issue with v4.4.1 but not v4.4.0. I am going to try and investigate further.

EDIT: I was now able to reproduce the issue in a new project. See below.

[ForemanDev]

@lakulish I have traced the issue to some sort of a conflict with Bakery GPU Lightmapper (a very widely-used baked lighting tool for Unity). I have also updated the "Steps to Reproduce" in the original post.

Here is a link for a repro project for you to test with: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/zo90hpde5c7gnxosrcanl/SteamAudio_v4-4-1_Repro.zip?rlkey=o1ykdovajastm6tioidf5usdx&dl=0

Steps for using the repro project:

1. Unzip the project and add it to Unity Hub.
2. If needed, install Unity Editor v2022.3.10f1 + Android support.
3. Open the project. NOTE: In Unity Hub, be sure to select 'Android' platform when first opening the project by selecting 'Editor Version' and then 'Android' platform.
4. Import Steam Audio v4.4.1 (via the .unitypackage release)
5. Observe endless import loop.
6. Close Unity (force close if needed).
7. Delete Steam Audio plugin from the project.
8. Open Unity again and import older version Steam Audio v4.4.0
9. Observe no issue.

Could you please help me determine what's wrong here, and how to fix? Is there some sort of assembly definition conflicting with Bakery or something?

[lakulish]

@ForemanDev Can you try importing SteamAudio.unitypackage from v4.4.1, but when the Import dialog box opens, uncheck Assets/Plugins/SteamAudio/Scripts/Editor/Build.cs? Let me know if this resolves the issue.

[ForemanDev]

@ForemanDev Can you try importing SteamAudio.unitypackage from v4.4.1, but when the Import dialog box opens, uncheck Assets/Plugins/SteamAudio/Scripts/Editor/Build.cs? Let me know if this resolves the issue.

@lakulish Yes, excluding 'Build.cs' does solve the issue. Looks like there was an 'InitializeOnLoad' method added to this script in v4.4.1 that might be inadvertently causing the problem?

[lakulish]

@ForemanDev Yes, looks like the new InitializeOnLoad method is somehow causing this issue. We will investigate further, but in the meantime, good to know that the workaround helps.

[ForemanDev]

Ok, thank you for investigating, @lakulish! Our team would greatly appreciate a fix since we use Bakery for every project and I always like to use Steam Audio when setting up any new project. The Unity project I linked above should be useful for you to use for testing, as you can observe the issue simply by unzipping that project, opening it, then importing the Steam Audio plugin.

For avoidance of doubt, is it actually a safe workaround to fully delete/exclude 'Build.cs' or will that cause build errors when attempting to build the project?

Or would it be a better workaround to import v4.4.1 while excluding 'Build.cs', then after that import the older 'Build.cs' script from v4.4.0?

[lakulish]

While the cleaner workaround is to use Build.cs from 4.4.0, it only contains code that is used when generating SteamAudio.unitypackage, so it should be fine to just leave it out.

[ForemanDev]

Ok, thank you for clarifying!

[TsFreddie]

Since #280, we can probably allow developer to toggle SteamAudio manually instead of trying to add the symbols automatically (in case some prefer disabling them on Android only). There probably isn't a reliable way to automatically deal with define symbols unless you are willing to write a config file in project directory which I personally dislike.

How about:

1. Flipping the define symbols to DISABLE_STEAMAUDIO
2. Add a routine to check whether a native plugin exists in current selected platform
3. Call the routine in Inspector OnEnable, if the native plugin does not exists, skip drawing the inspector and prompt with a button to add the define symbol to the current platform
4. And of course add another button under DISABLE_STEAMAUDIO to remove the define symbol

If this sounds okay I could try to implement it if anyone haven't already been working on this.

[lakulish]

@ForemanDev We were able to repro the issue, and it wasn't anything specific to Bakery. Steam Audio was not setting the defines in the correct way, causing Steam Audio and Bakery to keep trying to add their defines in an infinite loop. This would have occurred with any plugin that used an InitializeOnLoad method to set defines.

We have made a fix for this issue, which will be part of the next release.

@TsFreddie We can take a look at your pull request as well, just in case there's some other use case that our fix may not account for. Thanks!

[ForemanDev]

@lakulish Thank you so much for fixing this!

[MaxVRAM]

I've had the same issue while importing Steam Audio v4.4.1 into an existing project.

I can confirm that unchecking Build.cs in the import dialogue stops the domain refresh/import loop.

[RebeccaBieleskiWeta]

I had taken out the Build.cs from my import and that stopping the infinite import loop glitch, but when I merged with main, other individuals starting having infinite import loops as well.