Dec
26
2015

Useful Settings for Visual Studio 2015 + Unity

An article by mgear

Finally installed VisualStudio with unity, 2015 community edition (update 1) seems pretty good so far (new monodevelop was too bugged..)
Here’s some common settings to go look for when customizing the vs editor.

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SOURCE CODE MINIMAP

Quick launch command: scroll bars (select text editor > c# scroll bars)
vs_source_scrollbar_minimap_2015

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LINE NUMBERS

Quick launch command: line numbers (select Text editor > all languages > general)

vs2015_line_numbers_enable

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CUSTOM SHORTCUT KEYS

Feature: F1 for Unity API help search
Quick launch command: shortcut (select environment > keyboard)

vs_unity_api_help_shortcut

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Feature: § key for “Go to Declaration” (the key before “1”, its ` key in most keyboards).
Quick launch command: shortcut (select environment > keyboard)
Note: Cannot assign § as Global shortcut, so need to select “Use new shortcut in: Text Editor”
vs_unity_go_to_declaration_shortcut

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Feature: Shift+§ key for “Find All References”
Quick launch command: shortcut (select environment > keyboard)

vs_unity_find_all_references_shortcut

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Feature: F12 shortcut key for “Format Document”
Quick launch command: shortcut (select environment > keyboard)
vs_unity_format_document_shortcut

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SOURCE CODE FORMATTING

Feature: Keep “} else {” braces in same line
Quick launch command: formatting (select text editor > c# > formatting)
Deselect those 3 options below:

vs_unity_source_format_else_braces_shortcut

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Adding support for Unity shader syntax highlighting

Download NShader for 2015 here: http://www.horsedrawngames.com/shader-syntax-highlighting-in-visual-studio-2013/

Installing NShader: Unzip “NShader_2015.zip” double click the “NShader.vsix” and its done
vs2015_unity_shader_highlight

Those default colors are quite horrible, but can adjust them at Fonts and Colors settings
nshader_syntax_highlight_colors_unity_vs2015

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Tip: Removing unused extensions

Quick launch command: extensions (select tools > Extensions & updates..)

Then uninstall anything that you don’t need (i only left NuGet and that Unity package)
vs_2015_remove_extra_tools

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Fixing “Inconsistent Line Endings” warning

Quick launch command: documents (select Environment > documents)
vs2015_check_for_inconsistent_line_endings_1

Or convert line endings for the current document
Quick launch command: save (select File > advanced save options..)

vs2015_fix_check_for_inconsistent_line_endings_2

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Other things:
– There is no UnityScript support anymore, learn c# 🙂
– I unistalled all the SQL server related packages, silverlight, helpviewer etc. from add-remove programs in windows, they come with VS minimum install..
– Unity installer doesn’t allow installing VS to other drives, its forced to C: drive, which is annoying.. tried to uninstall VS, re-install by manually downloading VS + unity plugin, but it didnt allow changing the target folder, its grayed out.. still have to look for some solution to that, there is no proper full uninstaller for VS2015 community update 1 either..

What i’m still missing:
– API help should open to separate browser, not inside VS and not IE
– Duplicate line shortcut (i think in mono CTRL+D used to work), although currently you still can do CTRL+C, then CTRL+V (without anything selected it duplicates the current line)
– Would be nice to have that “Refactor/using system.io..” in right click menu, instead of the slow dropdown.. (when you write File.Exists(), right clicking File would allow adding the using System.IO..)
– Pressing F5 in VS would compile scripts, and hit play in unity..

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Separate VS Downloads *These are also included in unity installer if you select [x] Visual studio there
– Visual Studio Community (free) : https://www.visualstudio.com/en-us/products/visual-studio-community-vs.aspx
– VS Tools for Unity (free) : https://www.visualstudio.com/en-us/features/unitytools-vs.aspx

Tags: monodevelop, settings, visual studio, vs2015

About the Author:

.fi

20 Comments + Add Comment

Splashman 26/12/2015 at 19:58

Thanks, didnt know formating was there 😀

Reply
EMGPY 26/12/2015 at 23:09

Thx, I didn’t know about the Quicklaunch, very helpfull for know about UnityAPI

Reply
mgear 31/12/2015 at 12:49

This might help having less of those “solution has been modified outside the environment” – messages:

“Options/Environment/Documents and checking Auto-load changes, if saved”
http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/ide-insanity-visual-studio-monodevelop-and-xamarin.356569/#post-2442392

Reply
TopoR 28/01/2016 at 14:51

Maybe it’s too late, but about API question:
In the options you can change which way to open documentation.
Options — Tools for Unity — Use external browser [True]

Reply
- mgear 31/01/2016 at 09:58
  
  Finally! Thanks!!
  
  Reply
mgear 13/02/2016 at 17:11

one more annoying feature, pressing CTRL+Z to undo, undoes only 1 character at a time.. would rather undo whole word at least..

haven’t seen solutions yet..
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5767520/visual-studio-undo-one-letter

Reply
mgear 20/03/2016 at 13:56

Create and share Visual Studio color schemes
https://studiostyl.es/

Reply
mgear 15/08/2016 at 20:25

Shader extension for VisualStudio 2015
http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/free-shaderlabvs-visual-studio-extension-for-unity-shaderlab-programming.425922/

Reply
mgear 24/03/2017 at 10:59

Rainbow Braces, Keyword Highlighting
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=TomasRestrepo.Viasfora

Reply
mgear 04/05/2017 at 16:27

This Add-in converts the text format of a file when it is saved in Visual Studio
http://www.grebulon.com/software/stripem.php

Reply
mgear 28/05/2017 at 12:20

in 2017 can download Visual Studio Tools for Unity as a component
https://forum.unity3d.com/threads/support-for-visual-studio-2017-rc1.444124/#post-3045829

Reply
mgear 17/03/2018 at 12:03

jump to matching Braces, set your shortcut key at
Tools>Options>Environment>Keyboard, for command: Edit.GotoBrace

Reply
mgear 17/03/2018 at 12:08

vs2015 show vertical lines for matching braces
https://stackoverflow.com/a/20424258/5452781

Reply
mgear 08/04/2019 at 02:18

Remove Context Switcher navigation bar
“Tools > Options > Text Editor > All Languages > Navigation Bar”
https://stackoverflow.com/a/23682387/5452781

Reply
mgear 20/09/2019 at 22:47

Unity + Visual Studio 2017 intellisense extremely slow? Disable/uninstall vs extensions, restart vs, autocomplete appears 10 times faster! *although when i enabled them back, its still fast.. so i’m not sure what fixed it..

Reply
- mgear 21/09/2019 at 03:30
  
  ok so its a known bug.. using vs2019 is supposed to be better.
  https://forum.unity.com/threads/visual-studio-intellisense-slow-down.666412/#post-4984919
  
  Reply
mgear 29/09/2019 at 03:09

vs 2019
hide reference count line
search: codelens
then turn it off

Reply
mgear 23/10/2019 at 22:11

vs 2019
hide updates popup
search: updates
disable: environment > extensions > check for updates

Reply
mgear 23/12/2019 at 15:34

remove “open in visual studio”-context menu item
https://superuser.com/a/1192205

Reply
mgear 15/01/2020 at 01:15

edit default snippets to make them better:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\Community\VC#\Snippets\1033\Visual C#
https://stackoverflow.com/a/48579598/5452781

Reply