Building the Vizard Unity Project

These instructions allow you to compile and run Vizard within the Unity application.

  1. Install the Unity Hub. If it is not yet installed, visit Unity and follow the platform-specific instructions to install the Unity Hub.

  2. Install the Unity 6000.0 LTS editor. Vizard is currently based on Unity 6000.0.68f1.

    1. In Unity Hub, click Installs on the left side.

    2. Click Install Editor in the upper-right corner.

    3. Click the Archive tab at the top of the panel. Click the download archive link to go to the Unity Archive website.

    4. On the Unity download archive webpage, make sure Unity 6 is selected and then select LTS from the row of options.

    5. Scroll down to the 6000.0.68f1 (released February 18, 2026) and click Install to the right.

    6. A dialog box will ask to Open Unity Hub? Click the Open Unity Hub button.

    7. Select the desired Unity Editor for your platform.

    8. A panel will open with Install Unity 6.0 (6000.0.68f1) at the top. There will be a list of additional installation options, including platform-specific build support. Install any desired optional components, such as:

      • Visual Studio Code

      • Linux Build Support (Mono)

      • macOS Build Support (IL2CPP)

      • Windows Build Support (Mono)

    9. Click Install to have Unity Hub install the Editor and all additional download options selected.

  3. Open the Vizard Unity project.

    1. Start Unity Hub.

    2. Click the Add dropdown in the upper-right corner and select Add Project From Disk.

    3. Navigate to Vizard/VizardUnityProject and click Open.

    4. In the Unity Hub project list, click the newly added project to open it.

    Note

    If your installed Unity 6000.0 version does not match the version last used by the repository, Unity will ask you to confirm opening the project in a non-matching editor. Click Yes to continue. You may need to resolve issues arising from the difference in Unity Editors.

  4. Load the startup scene. After VizardUnityProject finishes importing, type VizardStartupScene into the Project search bar and double-click the scene asset to open it.

  5. Install the TMP Essentials Unity package. When Unity displays the TMP Importer panel, click Import TMP Essentials. The TMP Examples & Extras package is optional and can be skipped and the panel closed.

    Note

    To force the TMP Importer panel to appear, click inside the VizardStartupScene hierarchy to inspect the StartUpCanvas>Panel>VersionText.

  6. Test the local installation. Press the Unity Play button and, in the Game window, use Select to open a Basilisk scenario .bin file and confirm the setup works.

  7. Optional: Install a C# IDE. A C# IDE is recommended for script editing. Both Visual Studio and JetBrains Rider provide optional packages for Unity development.

Important

The atmosphere shader materials for Earth, Mars, and Venus, together with installation instructions, are available through the Vizard_HD_Materials bundle listed on Download. The atmosphere and ring shader used in Vizard are adapted from the Planet Shader and Shadowing System package available in the Unity Asset Store.