this post was submitted on 18 Sep 2023
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Godot is not the new Unity - The anatomy of a Godot API call (sampruden.github.io)
submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/godot
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[–] [email protected] 37 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Juan Linietsky's (reduzio) response:

This article is very interesting. Just want to note that this is something we are aware of and the intention is to work it on in two fronts:

  • From the binder API, adding a struct type, to pass these results more efficiently.
  • The GDExtension side can already expose these structs to the binder API with a proper layout description, but the C# in support has not been moved to it yet (its one of the missing steps to merge both the C# and default editor).

So basically, this area of the engine is a work in progress. To do this also we had to finalize the system to provide compatibility functions to older builds of Godot libraries and extensions as a prerequisite and this was completed in 4.1. Fortunately there is not a lot of the API exposed this way, the majority uses more efficient interfaces. This is more part of the legacy code that is being modernized. None of this is particularly complex to do, but the demand has not been high enough so other things are prioritized. I am hoping your article motivates some contributors to do it :)

Give us a bit of time. Everything is kind of a mess because of the suddendly increased interest of several users and companies on the C# side. This work has to be properly organized but the general idea is that funding will be used to make sure all works as smooth as possible.

From https://old.reddit.com/r/godot/comments/16lti15/godot_is_not_the_new_unity_the_anatomy_of_a_godot/k16982q/

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Hopefully the sudden interest in Godot will bring experienced/knowledgeable people who want to address performance issues and want to improve the engine, rather than only use it to create games/apps.

[–] AdmiralShat 5 points 1 year ago

I'm really hoping the can scalp some Unity devs

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

I wonder: are these inefficiencies only relevant when using C# as your code base?

I mean, does all this talk about the "binding layer" being "structurally built to be slow " apply to those using GDscript?

Because I remember that years ago, back when it was decided to go with a custom designed language (GDScript), the justification put forward was that it would actually be more efficient to do it that way. So it would be kind of ironic if now the API from GDExtensions allows for more efficient bindings than GDScript.

But if it's only talking about the C# bindings... then the complaints are kind of missing the point. If you truly want to move from Unity to Godot properly, I would expect learning GDScript would be the more advisable direction. Specially at the moment. Godot's C# API and the new native interfaces are not really very mature, they were not the intended main way to use the engine... they are more of an extra convenient feature on the side that you can experiment with. In fact I believe they were recently heavily reworked in v4.0

Of course I understand that those coming from Unity would be more comfortable with a C# API, and I agree that it would be a nice thing if the C# API was just as efficient as the GDScript API, but that's not the same thing as implying that moving to Godot doesn't work because it's "built to be slow".....

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

@Ferk hey, professional Godot developer here

i've ran a lot of projects over the years: you rarely make code that runs in a way that these inefficiencies become a problem.

in order for this to be the bottleneck, you need to run really efficient code already, which is what 99% of problems dont require

its more of a non-issue unless you're doing highly specific work :)

yes, technically you can reduce overhead by compiling a GDExtension, but for most people this is overkill ✨

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Are you sure this isn't selection bias?

Is it really that the the Godot approach is fast enough most of the time, or is it that everyone who needs perf has just decided to use something else.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

@Octorine i dont think its a question that's relevant, pragmatically.

it doesn't fundamentally matter if there is selection bias, because its not relevant for the design problem that the language integration solves

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Can you rephrase that? I don't follow.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Thanks for the insight!
I assume you are talking about compiling a GDExtension using C or some lower level language, right? not C#
What I'm wondering is if it'd actually be more efficient to use C# than GDScript in Godot. Because I would have expected the opposite.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

@Ferk we’re using Rust with GDNative

the reason not being performance, but language features (Rust makes it easy to have good safety guarantees)

C# is overall more performant than GDScript, but it is rare that you get to use that performance in a way that it makes a measurable difference

i always just tell people to work with what they know well and what makes them feel comfortable, thats the most important

great part about godot: you can run these languages side by side ✨

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Thank you! that was very informative.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Python syntax makes me really have no interest in gdscript. I don't understand why people like python/similar languages. Its painful to use.