Dungeon Architect

[DrinkThisPotion]

Past two days I've been experimenting with an alternative to the snap build process where the contents of the intermediate levels are streamed in, then they are moved to the main persistent level and the intermediate level is deleted. (to avoid creation of lots of streamed in levels). However in some cases it crashes the engine due to some tick errors in another thread and we cannot have that.

The world composition method (with intermediate level files) works fine and I'll work on finalizing that

Did this ever end up getting built in? I'm doing an optimization pass and the ability to use level streaming would be huge for performance.

[Pinworm]

Just purchased this pack. Liking it so far, might need help with a few things though that aren't in the tutorials or have changed (for example some things can't be broken to get data anymore)

To start, is there an easy way to get the starting position? or the starting room? or something like that? Basically I just want to set up a system that generates a map, then spawns my pawn in the starting location.

Also, using the Query thing always seems to return ints.. IE get Random Cell of Type returns in an int.. but I can't find where to use that int to access the actual cell?

[Ali Akbar]

Did this ever end up getting built in? I'm doing an optimization pass and the ability to use level streaming would be huge for performance.

[MENTION=504934]DrinkThisPotion[/MENTION] It was, but it causes problems with source control (as I have to create too many level assets to stream them in). I've scrapped it all and implemented it in blueprints and the early version is looking promising. I've learnt a lot about how the engine handles world composition in C++ while implementing it in the past. I'll add world composition on top of the existing system at a later date

[Ali Akbar]

Just purchased this pack. Liking it so far, might need help with a few things though that aren't in the tutorials or have changed (for example some things can't be broken to get data anymore)

To start, is there an easy way to get the starting position? or the starting room? or something like that? Basically I just want to set up a system that generates a map, then spawns my pawn in the starting location.

Also, using the Query thing always seems to return ints.. IE get Random Cell of Type returns in an int.. but I can't find where to use that int to access the actual cell?

[MENTION=9396]Pinworm[/MENTION], thank you for the purchase. You can find examples for this in the Quick Start Guide. The Runtime demo shows you how to place your pawn no a valid dungeon platform after it is built. Check the Query System Examples to place start /end rooms in your dungeon

[Pinworm]

I was making a few mistakes, thanks. I think I got much of it sorted now. I'm still having a few issues with runtime building (it's spawning actors and lights outside the dungeon) but I've fixed my other errors so far so I'll keep messing around

Edit: yeah I've fixed it by correcting an earlier error where I was doing things wrong. Content examples sorted me out. Thanks

[Ali Akbar]

I was making a few mistakes, thanks. I think I got much of it sorted now. I'm still having a few issues with runtime building (it's spawning actors and lights outside the dungeon) but I've fixed my other errors so far so I'll keep messing around

Edit: yeah I've fixed it by correcting an earlier error where I was doing things wrong. Content examples sorted me out. Thanks

[MENTION=9396]Pinworm[/MENTION] Glad to hear. If you want to spawn props outside your dungeon, have a look at the HellForge demo where I use a EmptySpace marker emitter to spawn rocks outside the dungeon.

You can use that concept to decorate the surroundings of your dungeons like this (trees, barrels, bushes etc):

[Laurentius]

I'm currently implementing a minimap for my grid builder dungeon (runtime) and I read somewhere (I can't find it though) that I could use a different dungeon theme for the creation of the minimap (scenecapture2D) and then run the game with another theme(s).
My dungeon already consists of 3 themes (entrance, exit and normal) and I wonder what a good approach for this would be?

Should I use two separate dungeon actors with normal and minimap themes using the same seed or try my luck with themereplacevolumes in one dungeon actor?

Any suggestions?
Thanks, Lars

[dkoding]

@Ali_Akbar It seems there is a bug with instanced dungeons and clustered theming. I use the clustered theming to change some materials based on it, and this works as long as the dungeon is not instanced. If I switch over to Instanced the material is switched out with the base material in my cluster theme.

[aireverie]

[MENTION=59935]A[/MENTION]li_Akbar Just wondering if there is a way to tap into this procedural work programmatically rather than through blueprints? I've been using it and it's been great, but it'd be nice to allow for even more objects through the marker emitters and setting those affinity values to something like a probability distribution. In any case, thanks very much for this and looking forward to what else you might be working on.

[dkoding]

@ali_akbar Hello again - I am plagued witht this bug when opening my project:

UE4Editor_DungeonArchitectRuntime!SceneProviderCommand_CloneActor::ExecuteImpl() [d:\build\++portal+main+full\sync\localbuilds\plugintemp\hostproject\plugins\dungeonarchitect\source\dungeonarchitectruntime\private\core\sceneproviders\sceneprovidercommand.cpp:212]
UE4Editor_DungeonArchitectRuntime!FDungeonSceneProvider::RunGameThreadCommands() [d:\build\++portal+main+full\sync\localbuilds\plugintemp\hostproject\plugins\dungeonarchitect\source\dungeonarchitectruntime\private\core\sceneproviders\dungeonsceneprovider.cpp:90]
UE4Editor_DungeonArchitectRuntime!FDungeonBuilderTask::RunGameThreadCommands() [d:\build\++portal+main+full\sync\localbuilds\plugintemp\hostproject\plugins\dungeonarchitect\source\dungeonarchitectruntime\private\core\dungeon.cpp:298]
UE4Editor_DungeonArchitectRuntime!ADungeon::Tick() [d:\build\++portal+main+full\sync\localbuilds\plugintemp\hostproject\plugins\dungeonarchitect\source\dungeonarchitectruntime\private\core\dungeon.cpp:122]
UE4Editor_Engine
UE4Editor_Engine
UE4Editor_Engine
UE4Editor_Engine
UE4Editor_Core
UE4Editor_Core
UE4Editor_Core
UE4Editor_Engine
UE4Editor_Engine
UE4Editor_Engine
UE4Editor_Engine
UE4Editor_UnrealEd
UE4Editor_UnrealEd
UE4Editor
UE4Editor
UE4Editor
UE4Editor
UE4Editor
kernel32
ntdll

It seems to appear when UE4 crashes for some reason, and when reopening the project after this. When the project is reopened, a lot of the actor nodes in the dungeon theme is missing, and this I guess is what creates the error. I then have to remake my dungeon theme for the n-th time, which becomes annoying fast...

[DrinkThisPotion]

[MENTION=504934]DrinkThisPotion[/MENTION] It was, but it causes problems with source control (as I have to create too many level assets to stream them in). I've scrapped it all and implemented it in blueprints and the early version is looking promising. I've learnt a lot about how the engine handles world composition in C++ while implementing it in the past. I'll add world composition on top of the existing system at a later date

That would be good, because currently I need to load maps or suffer performance hits. I was thinking once the new snap builder changes are out some level streaming might be possible using runtime generated streaming volumes between snaps?

[Ali Akbar]

I'm currently implementing a minimap for my grid builder dungeon (runtime) and I read somewhere (I can't find it though) that I could use a different dungeon theme for the creation of the minimap (scenecapture2D) and then run the game with another theme(s).
My dungeon already consists of 3 themes (entrance, exit and normal) and I wonder what a good approach for this would be?

Should I use two separate dungeon actors with normal and minimap themes using the same seed or try my luck with themereplacevolumes in one dungeon actor?

Any suggestions?
Thanks, Lars

[MENTION=121838]Laurentius[/MENTION], I have a game in Unity that has a minimap using this concept and it works well. I create another minimap dungeon (with the same configuration) somewhere far away. A simpler theme is applied to this minimap dungeon so it looks good at a smaller scale. I capture that in a Render texture and display it on screen (check lower right corner)

[Ali Akbar]

@ali_akbar Hello again - I am plagued witht this bug when opening my project:

UE4Editor_DungeonArchitectRuntime!SceneProviderCommand_CloneActor::ExecuteImpl() [d:\build\++portal+main+full\sync\localbuilds\plugintemp\hostproject\plugins\dungeonarchitect\source\dungeonarchitectruntime\private\core\sceneproviders\sceneprovidercommand.cpp:212]
UE4Editor_DungeonArchitectRuntime!FDungeonSceneProvider::RunGameThreadCommands() [d:\build\++portal+main+full\sync\localbuilds\plugintemp\hostproject\plugins\dungeonarchitect\source\dungeonarchitectruntime\private\core\sceneproviders\dungeonsceneprovider.cpp:90]
UE4Editor_DungeonArchitectRuntime!FDungeonBuilderTask::RunGameThreadCommands() [d:\build\++portal+main+full\sync\localbuilds\plugintemp\hostproject\plugins\dungeonarchitect\source\dungeonarchitectruntime\private\core\dungeon.cpp:298]
UE4Editor_DungeonArchitectRuntime!ADungeon::Tick() [d:\build\++portal+main+full\sync\localbuilds\plugintemp\hostproject\plugins\dungeonarchitect\source\dungeonarchitectruntime\private\core\dungeon.cpp:122]
UE4Editor_Engine
UE4Editor_Engine
UE4Editor_Engine
UE4Editor_Engine
UE4Editor_Core
UE4Editor_Core
UE4Editor_Core
UE4Editor_Engine
UE4Editor_Engine
UE4Editor_Engine
UE4Editor_Engine
UE4Editor_UnrealEd
UE4Editor_UnrealEd
UE4Editor
UE4Editor
UE4Editor
UE4Editor
UE4Editor
kernel32
ntdll

It seems to appear when UE4 crashes for some reason, and when reopening the project after this. When the project is reopened, a lot of the actor nodes in the dungeon theme is missing, and this I guess is what creates the error. I then have to remake my dungeon theme for the n-th time, which becomes annoying fast...

[MENTION=411872]dkoding[/MENTION] I've added a null check on that function which was probably causing this error. As a workaround for now, when you level loads, select the dungeon and click destroy, then save the level

The actor issue should also be solved. The theme editor now lets each node initialize itself when it loads, and the actor node should initialize properly

[Ali Akbar]

[MENTION=59935]A[/MENTION]li_Akbar Just wondering if there is a way to tap into this procedural work programmatically rather than through blueprints? I've been using it and it's been great, but it'd be nice to allow for even more objects through the marker emitters and setting those affinity values to something like a probability distribution. In any case, thanks very much for this and looking forward to what else you might be working on.

[MENTION=559120]daeilkim[/MENTION], you can directly access and use the dungeon actor and all the other features from C++. I'll create a programming guide with examples

[Ali Akbar]

@Ali_Akbar It seems there is a bug with instanced dungeons and clustered theming. I use the clustered theming to change some materials based on it, and this works as long as the dungeon is not instanced. If I switch over to Instanced the material is switched out with the base material in my cluster theme.

[MENTION=411872]dkoding[/MENTION] I just tested with the sample scene and it works fine for me. Make sure your material has "bUsedWithInstancedStaticMeshes" flag set