Offer alternative to Babylon.js CDN

Completed Features
1

I installed Babylon.js through npm, as in npm i @babylonjs/core. Then I imported it, and happily used it on a website.

Problem

However, when using the Babylon.js WebGPU backend, it makes a request to https://cdn.babylonjs.com/glslang/glslang.wasm every time a user visits the website.
That is a potentially legal problem, which is never any fun. Essentially, it means that personal data is being sent to a 3rd party, which means that the GDPR applies in the EU.

Request

Could we get an alternative for that, be it a note somewhere in the documentation, or something that’s done by default?

I absolutely do understand that Javascript’s story for loading WASM binaries, and distributing it in a proper package, is a tad irritating at the moment. Hopefully you’ll still find a decent solution for this.

2

The best option is for you to host it on your own server and then set the correct path with initAsync

const glslangOptions = {
  jsPath: baseUrl + "/glslang/glslang.js",
  wasmPath: baseUrl + "/glslang/glslang.wasm",
};

const twgslOptions = {
  jsPath: baseUrl + "/twgsl/twgsl.js",
  wasmPath: baseUrl + "/twgsl/twgsl.wasm",
};

const options = {
  // ... webgpu options
};

const engine = new BABYLON.WebGPUEngine(window.canvas, options);
await engine.initAsync(glslangOptions, twgslOptions);
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3

You can also use Tools.ScriptBaseUrl = “absoluteUrlWhereYouPutAllYourBabylonThinggies” :slight_smile:

https://doc.babylonjs.com/setup/frameworkPackages/CDN#deploying-your-own-version-of-the-resources

4 Likes
4

Lovely, thank you for the solutions!

I see that it is in the documentation after all, that’s nice. And here’s to hoping that at some point, Babylon.js will have an even cooler solution, like

  • no longer needing glslang and twgsl
  • shipping them by default on npm
1 Like
5

I noticed There seems to be omissions in the Doc file you mentioned that are coming from the CDN. I am thinking specifically about Havok. You are probably very busy right now, but as that has an asm file too it might be a good idea to include something about it.

6

Havok will not be automatically loaded from the CDN. If Havok is not available in the global namespace, it will simply not work.
But I agree, we can document that as well. I need to also document how to use the @babylonjs/ktx2decoder package (and the wasms in @babylonjs/core), i’ll add something about havok as well.