Beginner's Frustrating Experiences with the Engine

[Tim_Hobson]

Hi guys,

Thanks for all the great feedback and discussion!

Forgive me if it seems a little clunky in my responses. I’m going to try to respond everyone in this one post. If I do miss someones post I do apologize and feel free to call me out on it. If there is something out there detailing how to do something you’ve listed a concern with I’m going to link to it and if you find any thing that doesn’t make sense or needs more clarification please let me know!

@Bnisbet

On the Trello board we do have some Landscape Tools video(s) planned for September release. I know this doesn’t help you now if you want a video tutorial but this search on our docs.unrealengine](https://docs.unrealengine/latest/INT/Search/index.html?q=landscape&x=0&y=0) brings back all documentation related to Landscapes that may assist you. You can always ask questions if you are having trouble finding something specific.

@ & @Mysticeti

All this is to say that some video’s that really went over the basics of integration and how they all connect in how someone would actually work would be great. In the meantime, I’ve purchase Hourences video’s and I’m hoping that will shed some light.

From my (noob) perspective there’s a bit of a gap in the ladder – a couple missing rungs – that make it difficult to get beyond simple levels into more complex level design.

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I think this is common for a lot of new users and is probably an area that could either be highlighted more clearly for new users or have an overview video that explains the simple basics of game development. It’s would probably be difficult to do this though as there are so many different forms of game development that trying to encompass an overview that includes all of those would lead to users asking why “[specific software, item, or otherwise]” was not suggested or included.

As Jamsh points out later in this post, Not everyone starts in the same place. I didn’t touch UDK/UE3 until years after starting with 3D modeling. I came in with the mindset of creating all my own assets rather than using BSP/Geometry brushes.I honestly cannot recommend this video from one of our Senior Designers Jim Brown enough, He covers the basics of level design by starting with BSP to playtest and blockout the level. If this works, then you start doing polish passes on the level and adding in different Static Meshes and effects! The level in this tutorial can be accessed by everyone by opening Content Examples > Open Map > LeveDesing_Workflow.umap.

We also have some information about BSP/Geometry brushes. One quote in there that should probably be highlighted much more clearly for new users is:

Conceptually, it is best to think of a Geometry Brush as filling in and carving out volumes of space in your level. Long ago, Geometry Brushes were used as the primary building block in level design. Now, however, that role has been passed on to Static Meshes, which are far more efficient. However, Geometry Brushes can still be useful in the early stages of a product for rapid prototyping of levels and objects, as well as for level construction by those who do not have access to 3D modeling tools.

I’ve seen this come back and cause a lot of frustration with users. We have Geometry brushes that are used in the beginner tutorials and users will build their entire level out of BSP then have issues. There are some known issues with BSP and we do have on our Trello Board to revisit BSP/Geometry and give it an overhaul at some point but right now it is on the backlog/wishlist. The great thing about BSPs though is that those who do not have access to 3D modeling tools can use them. They can be converted into static meshes and exported to a 3D modeling program as well.

@Gibdion

@ Hobson
I’m working with the content creation side of things for now and trying to teach myself materials and some mesh design tips. I think as far as tutorials or documentation, I’d like to see videos with some more detail on materials and how to create certain effects. How things work within those materials, why you choose that something to get a certain affect, and more detail on how each node in those materials function. It would also be nice to see a video (if one doesn’t exist) going over some of the other component variables related to post processing and how they work. (Assuming I’m asking right what I think I’m asking) And lastly…I’d love for more information on audio processing within code. I previously asked a question in a post related to audio that and nobody seemed to know how to tackle.

I apologize if I’ve already linked you to this series before, but we do have our Material Series on our YouTube channel that covers a lot of the basics of Materials. Zak Parrish does a good job of explaining the materials in a way for all users to grasp. I’m still learning things with Materials daily and find his videos extremely helpful! In our YouTube channel there are even a couple of videos that relate to creating specific effects. There is a tutorial on creating a “Fire Material in UE4.” We also have all of our materials are available to look at in the Content Examples > Open Map > Select one of the four materials maps to look at.

I know these aren’t videos and if they were it’d be a lot of them, but this will cover all the information you may need with Materials.

This link is a little hidden away but it can show you what the nodes are for the materials that are being used and give you a little bit of background info.

I think the idea of having some of the more popular material effects and how to create them would be great! I know the community has done this with some things, but having a walk through of why a specific choice was made would be helpful for new and veteran users as well. If you do look at some of the materials in the Content Examples from Marketplace you will find that some of the effects are fairly large to achieve the effect they want. Again, Zak does a great job of explaining some of the basic nodes and what they do. If you break apart some of the larger effect materials you’ll see that a lot of these are being used in there.

In regards to Material Functions we do not have a video (that I’ve seen anyway) that shows the power of these. However, has made a video that demonstrates this functionality. If you watch the video and are still having trouble there is of course our documentation on Material Functions Here and Here.

We do have a video planned at some point for Post Processing. Right now it’s listed as Backlog/Wishlist though.

With your audio questions, I’m not sure if we have anything planned that will deal with Audio in Code specifically. I would recommend asking that question on the AnswerHub in the C++ section if you’re not getting any feedback here. You’ll be more likely to get specific questions answer there more quickly.

@TheJamsh

Two comments on this:

1. A lot of us have come directly from Unreal Engine 3, or even versions of the engine prior to that, or perhaps even other engines. If you understand the basic premises that make up a game, it shouldn’t be too hard to get to grips with Unreal after a while. It’s toolset is radically more powerful and simplified than other engines I’ve used.

2. I’d opt to change your ego attitude Many of us discover things about the engine and work out different ways of doing things purely by playing with it. I myself have spent years working with Unreal with only a few tutorials from 3DBuzz to get me started, the rest I picked up as I went along. I come from a game modding background so I thoroughly believe in diving in and learning things for yourself, because that’s how you really learn. Documentation and Tutorials only teach you how to achieve a certain goal, but they don’t teach you the theory behind why you’re doing what you’re doing and how you can apply it to other applications. This is why I don’t really do tutorials for my work, but instead direct people to resources where they can learn the knowledge themselves (if they can be bothered).

My advice is to quite literally get stuck in. Game Engines aren’t something you can learn overnight, and there’s no quick course that will give you a solid grounding straight away, it takes many years of tinkering to learn the art of games. Not only that, but too many people get started in Game Dev with a ridiculously over-complex idea. Start small, then work up

I believe you have nailed it on the head with #2. Everyone has a different workflow and it’s really about finding what works best for you. I consider myself an environment artist and in that regard have a different workflow than someone who is wanting to be a level designer or an animator. While we may all have the same end goal, getting there may be different for all of us. But definitely using resources to look at theory and understanding the entirety of the process is a good way to start for new beginners. My lack of C++ skills has been greatly hampered in the past. Although, with Blueprints I’m able to do so much more as an artist without having to have C++ knowledge.