Difference between Bolt Builds

Bolt comes in two different builds, DEBUG and RELEASE. This text briefly explains the purpose and use for each.

What builds are available?

DEBUG

This should be used when developing your game, it is a lot slower than the RELEASE build because it has checks and asserts for almost every piece of code in Bolt, which will give you errors and warnings when something is done incorrectly.

• The Console and Debug Info features are visible only in DEBUG.

RELEASE

This should be used when doing final testing of your game before release, and to make sure performance is good enough. Almost all errors and warnings are disabled except for the critical ones which causes Bolt to shut down. All checks and asserts are disabled in RELEASE builds.

• The Console and Debug Info features are not visible in RELEASE.
• The RELEASE build is between 2x - 10x faster than the DEBUG build because all safety checks are disabled, the exact performance difference depends on your game.

You can switch between debug and release by choosing which you want to use in Bolt settings.

How do I check which build I'm using?

At the bottom of the Bolt Assets window you will see either something like: Debug v1.2.0.0 or Release v1.2.0.0. The current version of Bolt (in this example set to 1.2.0.0) will most likely be something else for you.