[BUG] Refresh Unity's asset databases when saving script option not working

[NgoTuan-Hung]

Describe the Issue

• I've to Alt + Tab back to unity after saving a c# script in VSCode for refreshing.
• I've checked the option in VSCode Unity Extension setting
• I've enabled auto refresh option in Unity preferences setting
• I've set external script editor as VSCode in Unity

Steps To Reproduce

No response

Expected Behavior

Saving script and refreshing without having to re-focus back on Unity. (This worked before, idk why it doesn't work now)

Environment Information

• Window 11 LTS
• VSCode LTS (Unity Extension LTS)
• Unity 2022.3.41f1

[sailro]

Hello, I just tried with:

• Unity 2022.3.50f1 with the VS Editor package 2.0.22
• VS Code 1.94.1 with the Unity extension 1.0.4

Everything is working as expected. No need to switch focus. So perhaps double check your setup, and in particular your firewall. Both Unity and VSCode processes need to be able to use both TCP+UDP connections.

[NgoTuan-Hung]

I have no idea what is wrong, I've checked everything:

• VS Editor package 2.0.22
• VSCode Unity extension 1.0.4
• I even switch to Unity 6.x but it still doesn't work
• all firewalls are turned off

The only thing that worked is the Unity Auto-Compile extension by Alireza Zibaeyan, but it doesn't work as seamlessly as the Unity extension.

[sailro]

And just to double-check, did you have a look at VSCode settings, under File/Preferences/Settings/Extensions/Unity :

[NgoTuan-Hung]

I ticked them all, both in user and workspace setting.

[jbevain]

This is curious. One last thing to check would be the value of https://docs.unity3d.com/ScriptReference/Application-runInBackground.html in the context of the Editor.

If it's set to false, it needs to be set to true for Unity to process our network request in the background. Unity project templates usually set that to true. Maybe that's not the case for you.

[NgoTuan-Hung]

Still not working, I think I will stick with the other extension for now.

[charlietran]

Observing this issue as well:

• MacOS 15.1.1
• Unity 6000.0.29f1
• Unity Visual Studio Editor package 2.0.22
• VSCode 1.96.0
• VSCode Unity package 1.0.5

Any way we can debug whether the package is attempting to refresh the asset DB or not? I do not see any relevant logs in the Output tab of VSCode under the "C# Dev Kit" or "Unity" sections.

[charlietran]

@jbevain @sailro could you provide any more info about the TCP/UDP connection between the VSCode extension and Unity? Is there any way I could send a test payload to see whether the issue is with Unity or VSCode?

[NgoTuan-Hung]

@charlietran I recommend using this extension for now. Worked decently for me and only cost a negligible amount of cpus: https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/tools/utilities/background-recompiler-234979#description. (You can use it alongside with Unity Extension, just turn refresh database option off.)