This documentation covers the three main aspects of Unity's Data-Oriented Tech Stack (DOTS): Unity Entity-Component-System (ECS) as covered by the Entities package, Unity C# Job System, and the Unity Burst compiler. As Entities is the primary package involved in DOTS, it is described below:
Use the Unity Entities package to use Entity-component-systems (ECS) in your game.
To install this package, follow the instructions in the Package Manager documentation.
Note: While this package is in preview, the Package Manager needs to be configured to show Preview Packages. (Under the Advanced drop-down menu, enable Show preview packages.) Then search for the Entities package.
Components hold data, systems process that data. Entities refer to individual instances of component data. For more information, see the ECS Manual or the Entities API.
You can look at currently running systems and filter entities by archetype in the Entity Debugger window:
This version of Entities is compatible with the following versions of the Unity Editor:
- 2019.1.0b5 and later (recommended)
The following table indicates the sample folders in the package where you can find useful resources:
| Location | Description |
|---|---|
Samples/Assets/HelloECS |
Contains a set of very basic "hello world" samples for getting started with entity-component-systems. |
Samples/Assets/Advanced |
Contains the boid simulation for understanding more complex simulations |