Software /Hardware requirements for unity web player

i) Software Requirement
Operating System: Windows XP or later; Mac OS X 10.5 or later.

ii) Graphics Card: Pretty much any 3D graphics card, depending on complexity.

iii) Unity web player run on all browsers, including IE, Firefox, Safari, and Chrome,
among others.

iv) The Unity web player crashes on Windows machines in 99% of the cases are
weird bugs in the graphics drivers. This was the main reason why for Unity 2.0 they
implemented a Direct3D based rendering system instead of OpenGL one (D3D
drivers generally are much more stable).

v) The Unity Web Player is a browser plugin that allows you to view 3D
worlds/games created using unity inside a browser. The plugin is safe and
developers work with it in a really safe sandbox. No registration or file system
access and no dlls.

vi) The IE part of the plugin is an ActiveX control and the Firefox /Safari parts are
their plugins.

Unity web-player issues in browsers & in client system

1) About unity web-player technology and browser support

i) Unity web player is based on NPAPI (Netscape Plugin Application
Programming Interface). (NPAPI) is a cross-platform plugin architecture used by
many web browsers? Browsers like Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox are
withdrawing support for this by the end of this year and hence its going to affect the
unity web player badly. Since unity web player is working on these browsers as
plugin once the support for NPAPI is stopped we wont be able to play games as
easily as of now. We would need to ask the player to use a specific browser from
now on. Unity is working on solving this problem but till now there has not been any
updates from them.

2) Issues in web-browsers

i) The Google Chrome Version 32 is not able to load the unity web player it just gives
a white screen on starting the game. Its not an issue of web player but some Google
chrome bug.

ii) An error during playing in unity web player is that Unity Web player unable to
load it may be caused due to antivirus software or malware protections which will
be preventing unity web player DLLs to install on the browser.

iii) Unity web player crashes showing error message as Unity web player has
crashed it may be due to the factor that the game may not be able to load the Player
and mono part of the build. Since the web player build has three parts the Plugin,
Player and the Mono. The plugin is installed on the browser and the remaining two
are fetched at the time of starting the game play.

iv) In Some browsers like Mozilla Firefox Unity web players tends to crash when
they are updated to a newer version.


Solution: In this case downgrade the web browser to your previous version
until provide fixes for your updated browser version.

v) The Black Screen Issue in some games. The Game gets windowed and shows a
Black Screen while playing. And Unity Web Player is seen written in the bottom left
corner. This issue is seen with both Google chrome and Mozilla Firefox.

vi) JavaScript Errors in unity web player. Many Unity web player games make use of
JavaScript hosting scripts called UnityObject.js or UnityObject2.js.These scripts are
responsible for checking whether the web player is installed, and placing it into the
webpage. If any scripting errors happen in any other JavaScript on the page
(perhaps analytics or tracking scripts) this can prevent JavaScript from running. In
turn, this can leave a message displayed saying the web player is not installed.


Solution: Need to update the unity JavaScript file to the latest version
provided by the unity community.

vii) Game not Loading/ Starting error. This is the most common problem and can
have a number of solutions varying in intensity.


# May because of UnityObject.js file (ref: point 2 (vi))



# May because of builds size.


Solution: When developing a build for web player try to make them
Streaming web player builds since Streaming Web Players allow your Web Player
games to begin playing as soon as Scene 0 is finished loading. If you have a game

with 10 levels, it doesn't make much sense to force the player to wait and download
all assets for levels 2-10 before they can start playing level 1.

viii) Web browser crash because of 3rd party JavaScript files used in HTML page


Solution: To check all the JavaScript files for errors and other infinite looping
issues and update or downgrade the JavaScript version that is compactible with the
current web browser version you are using.

3) Issues in Internet Explorer browser

i) Microsoft has removed support for Netscape plug-ins from IE 5.5 SP 2 and
beyond. Since Unity Web player being based on NPAPI there are some crashing
issues happening with it when played on Internet Explorer. Still unity web player
like any other Netscape plug-ins could work on Internet explorer this is done by
using 100k ActiveX control contains the entire NPAPI implementation and probably
worked much like earlier. So ActiveX is acting as the bridge between NPAPI plug-ins
and Internet Explorer

ii) Problem loading unity web player on Internet Explorer 10 on Windows 8
Operating system.


# There are two known issues with Windows 8 Web Player and browser
compatibility, Its in regards to needing to launch IE from the desktop mode and not
metro / tiles interface and ensure your using 32-bit version.
iii) Unity Web player is not supported on 64-bit Version of Internet explorer. Even
though there is a 64 bit plugin web player which is not yet available via the main site
for but is made available for hardcore users for downloading.

4) Settings needs to be done in Client machines

On a Client system before starting unity web player we need to consider these
factors,

i) Graphics card - the performance capabilities will have a large effect on the user
experience and the quality able to be achieved.

ii) Computer hardware - similar to the above, but concerning also other technical
aspects of the workstation being used to view the web player content.

iii) Anti virus - Some antivirus programs are known to slow the web player down
for a number of factors.

iv) If we are having any general problem in using unity web player plugin then
according to the manuals we need to perform these specific steps on a client
machine:

# Windows:

Close all browsers.
Use Control panel to uninstall the Unity Web Player.
Reboot your machine.
Download a new copy of the latest web player plugin from
http://unity3d.com/webplayer/.
Again close all browsers.
Run the web player installer.

# Mac OS:

Log onto Mac OS with a user account that has admin privileges.
Close all web browsers.
Delete the file: /Library/Internet Plug-Ins/Unity Web Player plugin
Empty the trash.
Reboot and log in with an admin account.
Download a new copy of the latest web player plugin from
http://unity3d.com/webplayer/.
Again close all browsers.
Run the web player installer.

Once the installer has finished, test with the demos at:
http://unity3d.com/gallery/demos/live-demos
If the web player has installed correctly, and your machine is capable of playing
Unity content, then you should see the demos running in your browser, and other
games should run also.

v) If the Unity web player is crashing after updating to a newer version the client
system has to do the installation manually (usually it updates automatically).

For installing the unity web player manually follow these steps:

# To install the Unity Web Player for Mac OSX

1. Download the installation file found here http://unity3d.com/webplayer
2. Double click the downloaded file for Mac OSX
3. This will open a window where you will see another file called (Install Unity
Player.pkg).
4. Double click this file to begin the installation process.
5. For some browsers you might have to close the browser and open it again
after installing Unity Web Player.



# To install the Unity Web Player for Windows

1. Download the installation file found here http://unity3d.com/webplayer
2. Double click the downloaded file
3. This will begin the installation process.
4. For some browsers you might have to close the browser and open it again
after installing Unity Web Player.

vi) If the Game not loading or starting error encounters then we need to try some of
these steps:

# Refresh you page, this may work but if it doesn't - look for your solution below.

# Try Another Browser -try Torch, Firefox, Safari etc. whatever you regard as your
secondary browser.

# Check Unity Web Player for Updates and make sure you have the latest version
installed from the Official Website

# Check if your Firewall has blocked Unity Web Player. If so, Add it to Safe
List/Unblock it.

# If the problem persists, Uninstall and Re-install Unity Web Player from your
computer, Close All Browsers.

# If it still doesn't work, even though most problems stop till this stage - Reboot
your system.

# Do you use Avast Anti-Virus? Then add Unity Web Player to your Exception List.

# The problem still persists; perform a System Restore. There might be some
undetected problems preventing Unity Web Player from functioning

vii) Even a system restores and all above solutions do not seem to work, this is a
problem with your system, modem or Internet connection. You may try these:

# Restart Your Modem. Switch it off, unplug all connections and plug them in after
15 minutes. Switch ON your modem and see if the problem persists.

# Reset your modem. Different modems may have varying points but the most
common way is to find a small hole on the back your modem featuring 'Reset'. You
just need to insert a pin in it. Then Restart you modem as listed in the processes
above.