Has anyone ever implemented a building system like in The Sims 3 / 4 (or RTS) in Unreal Engine 4 / 5? For a life simulation game or RTS.
I need some tips how I can realize such a building system. Starting from the landscape changes (the player should be able to raise and lower the terrain, e.g. to place pools or cellars). I have no idea, how to realize this.
My first thoughts on this are:
The landscape in UE 5 is not editable at runtime → so my idea is to leave holes in the terrain and place plots of lands there, which are generated prozedural and the player can change them. Is this a good idea? Are there better ones?
How can I draw a Grid like in this video? https://youtu.be/rd-m-aEG268?t=135
Do I need to place actors there? Or are there some commands to draw lines in the world?
How can I generate walls and replace the materials / wall painting / wallpaper at runtime?
How can I hide the ceiling or walls, if the player is inside of the house?
Hey, this is exactly the kind of system I have been working on for Unreal.
For runtime walls you usually need to solve a few separate problems:
- placing and editing wall segments at runtime
- joining corners cleanly
- handling doors/windows
- changing wall materials, wallpaper or paint
- grid snapping / preview while building
- saving and loading the created layout
I built a Wall Plugin for this use case. It supports runtime wall placement, corners, doors/windows, painting/material changes, grid snapping and save/load. If you also need floors/rooms for a Sims-style build mode, I also have a Dynamic Floor Plugin and a Wall & Floor Merger demo that combines both systems.
There is a free demo and docs here:
Full disclosure: I am the creator of these plugins, so this is my own tool. But from what you described, your use case is very close to what they are designed for.
