Yes it is possible, but will need some modifications. The OceanManager class (now in the plugin) performs the same calculations for the waves without actually rendering it, is used to calculate the buoyancy. Exposing these functions to blueprint should allow you to get the info needed.
Currently the is placed in the world instead of being tied to the player’s position, a procedural mesh generator would fix that. It should be possible as is, but there are some other improvements needed to get working well.
The ship positions would need to be implemented for your game though it is not built in, isn’t a ship based game template. It is just a starting point for those wanting an surface, the rest is up to you (although I may add an example ship later on).
No not at time. There is a “RiverTool” which is a pretty basic spline mesh system that could be turned into a waterfall using a tri-planar material (and particle fx), but I don’t have any plans to work on one. Trying to focus on the currently.
I will be removing all links later today for the current version (if for some reason you need that version, please PM me) and replacing it with the build, which will be going up asap here:
https://.com/UE4-/
Thanks guys!
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Will the new version have the pp fx for underwater?
Nope! Not in case at least. It would only be used for rendering the surface with dynamic LOD’s, it won’t affect gameplay at all since that would be calculated in code. is all just an idea at point anyways, no garuntees it will be implemented. But I will be testing it out.
The build is up on now. Due to the issues with the plugin I had to start a new project and recreate the blueprint, so I am working on adding everything back in. The good news is lets me push changes so much faster, so you will see much more frequent updates.
Since I have to recreate it, I am looking into possibly moving the underwater fx into a blueprint component that can be attached to the base blueprint. would be ideal since not wants the underwater FX, but more on that later.
Initial commit has been completed to the branch here:
https://.com/UE4-OceanProject/OceanProject
repo is contained within the “UE4-OceanProject” organization which allows multiple members to commit to the repo. will take some time to properly sort out, so for now if you want to be an active developer contributing to the project please PM me with your info. I don’t really know how well will work, but I am only looking for a couple of dev’s at point until we can sort out the best way forward.
As mentioned before all previous links will be removed at point, but not deleted. If you need a copy of any of the older projects please PM me and I can provide you the link.
Since it has been released to , consider version 1.0 (a branch will be made shortly). Rather than go to 0.2 I think it would be better to start fresh.
If you look at the calculations, the Z value is ignored except for when the point is near the surface within the TestPoint radius.
Like I said before if you change the test points to a struct and apply buoyancy factor to every point you can then simulate ballast to dive.
I changed my OceanActor to update it’s location to the player controller now. Can also be made to follow the Camera’s location using the camera manager. The only thing to keep in mind is to keep the vertex grid aligned so that if each vertex is 100 units apart then make sure to round off your location to 100 units otherwise you see some swimming artifacts in the geometry.
OK so change to struct variable and is all you do is tie each one to a z value, you can do that? Do I make a struct from a Z float value? I have to play with thanks for your input, I thought it was ignoring me for a while.
Hey , I noticed Handkors post as well, and think I might create the structs so they are in the plugin, and let you choose which way you need for the various types of objects. Can you give me an idea on how you are currently working it, and what issues (aside from the slowly sinking / popping back up as I can fix that with the structs).
Also just a basic example on how you are planning to use ballast, or another system, to create the proper buoyancy values? I have a couple ideas that would be simple to implement, but wanted to know how you are working it currently.
Thanks man! i will work on it some more tomorrow, a similar occurs with large ships so I want to get it right.
http://i.imgur.com/P7GXOxW.png is what i am trying to make work, If we can have the structs work way that would greatly reduce our workload and enhance your community project to simulate sinking. Thanks
so create a custom struct for each “compartment” of the ship that includes say 10-20 test points for each “compartment” and then set the buoyancy of each ‘compartment’ through the structure instead of each individual test point basically is your idea ? I have yet to play with it but I think thats the general idea you had?
A submarine has 3 buoyancy components. Ballast tanks (open to the sea, lower air pressure to let water in, raise air pressure to push water out), a negative tank at the front of the boat which is filled with water to add as much mass as possible forward to make the front sink faster and thus dive faster; like in world war two where all the crew members would run to the front of the ship to make it dive faster. When underwater the negative tank is filled 99% full of air to displace the water and the submarine is thus neutrally buoyant (negative tank aka negative buoyancy equalizer tank in other words). Lastly it has trim tanks that you pump water onboard between to balance it just right, just like a pilot adjust his trim tabs to get a plane flying straight and level without touching the controls.
Surface boats have trim tanks too, they just call them buyouany or ballst tanks and are much larger.
So were trying to simulate not only the “tanks” (test points) changing to change buoyancy but for a damage model also so that we can take a large number of test points (hence why a struct would make sense) for each “tank” to simulate it flooding, which could be applied to watertight compartments on a surface boat flooding.
PS any major changes in the plugin versino on except underwater caustics?
Edit: Unzipped the version and then ran the project, no underwater FX, theres no PP volumes or whatever from before. Only 7 actors in the scene. I dont have time to compare the old vs the new plugin one but what am I missing… Ps cant wait for the water drops on the camera and stuff
Edit: Didnt see
Since I have to recreate it, I am looking into possibly moving the underwater fx into a blueprint component that can be attached to the base blueprint. would be ideal since not wants the underwater FX, but more on that later.
Will push another commit a little bit later on.
Will stick to the uploaded version. If you dont like the client sourcetree is great too, lets you make multiple commits before a push and directory trees etc. Will be watching excitedly waitng for the changes! You can always make multiple branches ie: , +underwater, +swimming+underwater, +swim+underwater+fish etc.
Here is what the test point structure looks like. Not only can you vary the buoyancy of each point but you can also change the volume of each point. In the first image I’ve set each corner of the to be small and only a small positive buoyancy. The two spheres are large volumes and LMB and RMB varies their buoyancy between 1 and -1 making the front or back sink or float.
Do you have any news on being able to create rivers with tool? (I read you were interested in the idea on page 1 or 2.)
I ask with substance (as opposed to some people wishing for miracles - no offense intended towards anyone), meaning I am already considering adding it myself to the tool, as I have recently brought game development out of hiatus in my business and we are using UE4 to create our new Proof of Concept video and using Community projects and Marketplace content will play a substantial role in the development of video game.
Thanks for sharing project, it’s much appreciated! However could you give someone who is more of a designer and less of a programmer some rough pointers on how to import that (-plane) into, say, the Flying template? Just a couple bullet points would be great I could totally google the details by myself.
At point there is a basic spline mesh generator “BP_RiverTool” included in the \Old folder. It could be useful as a base to create a winding river, but the mesh (which can be changed easily from the details panel) is pretty flat, as tool was originally a RoadTool. But using your own mesh surface and creating a material with normal maps being panned in a positive Y direction will give you the effect of flowing water.
is something I will revisit and improve in the future, but currently it is a fairly simple tool.
And you too, welcome to the !
First thing you need to do is create a new project with the flying template, open t up and make sure to save it and then exit. Next you will want to open project project, then in the content browser right click on the “” folder and choose Migrate from the menu (if you don’t see it in the list, go to Asset Actions -> Migrate).
will open up a dialog box showing you which files will be transferred, just click OK on that window. The next popup will ask you where you want to save the content, find your new project’s folder, and then click on it’s “Content” folder. Now you can press OK and it will transfer everything over to that project.
Close down the project, then open Windows Explorer and navigate to the project folder. You need to copy the “Plugins” folder over to your new project, so right click on the Plugins folder and choose copy. Then open up your new project’s folder and right click / paste it in.
Now open up your new project and you should see an “” folder in the content browser, to get the in your world simply drag “BP_Ocean” into the viewport and you can then start modifying it to suit your needs.
Let me know if you have any issues. Hope that helps!
Hey man,
I have seen the PDF in the first link before after finding video on youtube:Gk0AeRufsws
I will need to go over it again since it has been a while, but PDF is using more of a fluid surface actor which may be difficult to implement along side the wave system. I definitely want kind of behavior though, so thank you for the links I will add it up to Trello. has a FluidSurface plugin that uses a very similar technique that could be helpful here as well. Will need to do some more research.
Well we don’t have to simulate nearly as much as some of those examples. There are tricks/fakery that can be done.
I’m not much of a coder, but if you need any 3D meshes or animation, just let me know
Im wondering if it is possible to make waterfalls with system.
