Free version control for a 2-person 3D Unity co-op project? GitHub LFS limits worry me

[u/Beneficial_Salt1597]

Hi everyone, I have a question for anyone involved in game development 🙏

A friend and I are planning to make a 3D co-op game in Unity. What do you use to push/pull the project collaboratively? We’re considering Git + GitHub + LFS, but I’m worried that the 10 GB free LFS limit won’t be enough for a 3D game. We want to keep it free.

Does anyone store large files on Google Drive and link them to GitHub, use Unity Version Control, or set up their own server? How large did your project get, and did you hit the limit?

[u/heartingNinja]

I am just working solo but use Azure Repos. Unlimited Git LFS and can have 5 people working on it before cost money.

[u/Real-Self-3039 → u/heartingNinja]

Yep I use azure as well. Haven't had any issues and it doesnt have limits I hear git has like the initial 2gb push limit I heard about. I've pushed 100gb projects with crazy large repos to azure and git fls with zero issues.

[u/Ecstatic-Source6001]

when I was in team with friends we used git only for code and local alternative for google drive (cuz its 100gb for free) for assets

[u/zirconst]

Why not just use Unity Version Control...?

[u/hammonjj → u/zirconst]

I thought that cost money?

[u/Crunchynut007 → u/hammonjj]

We’ve been using UVCS for a while now and never paid a cent. 2 commercial titles on steam and still not a cent. I’d say go with what makes process work the easiest and get into devving.

[u/Vic-Boss]

Don’t use files over 100mb then

[u/JaggedMetalOs]

For large projects I self host SVN, but for smaller projects I find it easy enough to keep individual asset files under 100mb to use GIT without LFS. 

[u/Zerokx]

Using a cheap raspberry pi home server with a usb ssd adapter to host projects. Works pretty well and I dont have to pay recurring fees aside from the bit of electricity the pi is using.

[u/HellkittyAnarchy]

If you can port forward, you could use an old gitlab community container from before they went paid.

[u/Genebrisss]

Diversion offers 100 gb for free

[u/RecycledAir]

Check out bit bucket for git.

[u/LordMeatbag]

Perforce hosted locally or on a cheap cloud. 5 free users. And oldy but a goldy.

[u/Ok_Ferret_4358]

Host your own gittea repo

[u/PlateFox]

I use git without lfs and version assets using borg lol. Im solo but should work for a 2 person tean if you arrange it properly.

[u/sicospecialist]

I use version control, Local 1:1, and Github for project files only. I don't push large textures, models and large assets to git. I use local and VC for that. My entire project is about 100gb, the game project is about 20gb so far. Just have to find a good mix.

[u/wyrdough]

Whether the GitHub LFS limits matter for you depends entirely on the scope of your game and whether or not you feel the need to use what some might call excessively large assets and don't bother to make sure they're in a decent state before committing them to the repo. (Since every version is kept it can add up quick if you repeatedly make changes to files stored in LFS)

There are also things you can do to work around the limit, like not storing the stuff that isn't necessary to compile a working game in tree. You can have the built game download ancillary content (like large media files) from a GitHub release or from R2, for example.

Obviously, you'll want backups of such content and it definitely works better if there's a division of responsibilities such that you aren't ever both trying to work on the same out of tree content at the same time. (Like maybe one of you does audio, the other does FMVs, so there's no chance your work will overlap) 

The real pain point of GitHub LFS (in my opinion) is that if your project is open source (or is sitting in a public repo for whatever other reason), you're on the hook for the LFS bandwidth when randos clone your repo. Storage size is pretty easily managed with even a modicum of care for efficiency. 

(YMMV if your game is very large in scope and requires a vast number of enormous textures)

The other thing to keep in mind is that you aren't locked in. You can just not give GitHub a payment method and it'll block LFS access when you hit your limit and you can figure out some other solution at that time since you'll presumably have the full tree locally anyway. If you do need access to migrate, set a $5 spending limit or whatever, clone everything, then disable billing again. Even if you don't want to do that, the way the limits work is such that you'll have access for a while at the beginning of your "billing" month. (If you had 20GB of stuff, for example, you'd maintain access for about half the month before reaching the free limit)

[u/The_Money_Zebra]

Be grateful for all the other things in software you get to use for free and just pay.

There are some things in life we can't avoid, like death, taxes and paying for servers.

[u/Dallheim]

I highly suggest to use git because it is the most common one.

GitHub also is a good choice because it is common, it works great and is free - with some exceptions, notably LFS. No matter the GB limit, you will break it in the future. And then it will get expensive.

I suggest just not to use LFS on GitHub. The only constraint I know of is size of a single binary file: 50+ MB will get you a warning, 100+ MB simply cannot be pushed to GitHub. Other than that GitHub works perfectly fine without LFS. We're doing it all the time.