[Community Project] WIP Weather & Water Shader

Community Showcase Game Development
242

Download the windows GUI client. Its incredibly easy to use and everything else can be done online. I had never used it before I started my project and after reading a few how-to pages I had it more or less figured out. I never saw your from Vancouver! I take it you went to siggraph? Im from Edmonton. I can make a post on my basic understanding of it tracker with tags/release milestones is easy, wiki is self explanatory and once you get the formatting down you can add readmes in any directory you want, other than that what Iā€™ve done is created a directory on my spare harddrive called ā€œ#ā€ and then my repo is linked to directory within there called ā€œColdWarSubSimā€ and then I copied all my project files there. I still have a backup that I backup every week but I do all my work in that directory. I leave the client for Windows running and it detects changes to any files and then when you think youā€™ve made some progress you commit it with a title and a description and it gets uploaded online.

Users can clone the repo to get the current files you have and then anytime you make a change, they can hit ā€œsyncā€ to get the latest changes, and you can do the same. Iā€™m sure other people could add to that short description. Although that might clutter up the thread more than I already have.

243

Hi ,
Iā€™ve seen in one of your videos that you have implemented Flocking behavior to make fishes behavior more realistic.
Iā€™m doing a project for where I have to implement collision avoidance (steering behaviors, flocking, etc.) and Iā€™m interested in see how you have solved it, if itā€™s possible of course.
If not, could you give me any advice about how to achieve the behaviorā€¦ Iā€™m new using unreal 4 and Iā€™m a little bit lost with monster engine.

Thank you very much !!

244

Now that Unity hit back with free Unity 5 (I have to check out how unfinished it is, its a half year early) now I have a hard choice. you may lose a coderā€¦ I started with Unityā€¦ TOUGH TOUGH super tough call.

Edit: Wow, they have implemented a LOT. Once their servers stop choking Iā€™ll see how buggy it is, if it all. Heres my overview of features I posted on the wikiā€¦ realtime global illumination. Being that C# is much easier to learn Iā€™m gonna have to make a tough choice soon. God I have bad timing, I just cancelled my Unity subscription, renewed my UE subscription and started learning more C++ after learning C# for Unity, after learning JavaScript as my first programming language.

245

Hey guys I got my AI patrolling correctly now here is a video update on it. I will continue working on the combat systems and keep you updated on my progress. of course is in the 4.6 version and I would like to make it to 4.7 with Hankorā€™s help on the buoyancy. I understand that he needs to make it all in BP only is that still happening?

watch?v=INvXT6alqbY&=youtu.behttps://youtube.com/watch?v=INvXT6alqbY

246

I had some free time tonight and I rewrote the OceanManager to be 100% Blueprint. Iā€™ve also created a BuoyancyComponent with the new ActorComponents. I just need to finish the applying the buoyancy forces to the objects and the 100% blueprint version will be complete.

247

Another Canadian eh! We will be known as the Canadian Team lol! Are you going to share that? Iā€™m a visual learner and would love seeing all the blueprints to get up to speed on project so I can start tinkering with underwater fluid dynamics and addons. Been so busy modelling some ships I havnt gotten around to even opening the project yet.

248

Iā€™d like to share it but It looks like I am going to have to recreate everything again. The project keeps giving me external reference errors when I place an pawn with the buoyancy component in the map it is then preventing me from saving the map. Iā€™m thinking it was caused from migrating some of the old blueprints that were referencing the code OceanManager but I canā€™t seem to be able to shake the reference. I just tried to Fix References on the folder and just sent the engine in an infinite loop. Other than that the components works and I made a float.

249

reference thing is weird. It goes away when I reopen the project but comes back as I edit the BuoyancyComponent. It does not always come back immediately though.

Anyway I just did some performance testing and the C++ version 1 or 24 object the framerate is the same. The Blueprint version 12 object cuts the framerate in half and 24 cuts it in quarters. seems to be too much math for the Blueprint system to handle.

250

Maybe we can reduce the number of calculations in Blueprint by using a multiple Blueprint approach with some calculative C++, or just add more Blueprints to support the load on one of the blueprints. In C++ you perform the calculation needed for the Gerstner wave. But then pull variables created from the C++ into the blueprint.(Now I have seen you doing already in C++ and using variables in the BP but Iā€™m trying to think of a way to reduce the overall math in the one or more BP.) I run into the same frame rate when I attach my AI script to one Character BP. I instead have to make new Blueprints to reduce the number of functions on the one blueprint.

For instance the P(x,y,t)= [x+sum(QA *D.*cos(x,y) + pt)), y+sum(QA *D.*cos(x,y) + pt)), sum(A sin(x,y)+pt))] can be used In C++ to carry out some sort of background calculation and then pulled into the blueprint using created variables. Then we make a Calculation Blueprint that takes these variables and just calculates variables for use in other blueprints. It sounds like building more structure to the blueprint can help lower the load on the blueprint system for one or more of your blueprints. Let me know if helps.

251

Or you can write everything in C++, compute shaders and provide blueprints as an interface solution :slight_smile:

252

Yeah, if itā€™s not 100% Blueprint then might as well keep the C++ I already have. At least now I know the impact of doing in blueprint. I also ended up doing dome refactoring/simplifications when converting that I will apply to the C++.

253

Have you tried splitting up some of the Blueprint and using event dispatchers or even the blackboard system? Iā€™m not against the idea for C++ if it lowers the frame rate, but maybe we are looking at using the blueprint system improperly for the scope of the project. Also sorry about the Kandkor, I corrected it in my video.

254

Wow, so itā€™s confirmed then. I thought I was doing something wrong when I used BP in the past with similar performance, thatā€™s crazy!

255

For example I canā€™t imagine calculating FFT on blueprints for large (at least 512x512) displacement maps without killing performance completely. :slight_smile:

P.S. Do you have a list of programming tasks for your project?

256

Hey man, wasnā€™t able to make the last Siggraph, but hoping to go to the next! Funny how Canadians seem to be obsessed with water, eh? :wink:

As far as you project goes, please do what is best for you. I would love to have you work on project as well but I donā€™t want to get in the way of your game whatsoever. So you do what is best for you okay? I totally understand either way. :slight_smile:

257

Looking good ! :slight_smile:

Looks like we wonā€™t be going to blueprints only in the next version, there are some performance issues currently. I will be uploading a 4.7 version (and a new 4.6 version) asap though.

258

Well, we can make do with the C++ if Blueprint cant handle the math. Iā€™m just glad its working for you guys. I would like the idea of a Blueprint version for Buoyancy but I would not want to sacrifice performance at the cost of nice Blueprint format.

259

Hey LUX,

That implementation is actually my own, and I will be releasing it to project very soon, so sit tight :wink:

260

I tried Unity 5. Its nice compared to Unity 4 but it was CLEARLY rushed out the door the second they heard UE4 was going free. Its unpolished, unfinished, buggy, etc. and SLOW, the editor is fast I like Unity for that aspect, but the performance sucks I mean. A single on a plane with no HDR, no AA and highest detail settings otherwise with their global illumination (which is no better looking than UE4ā€™s lighting so far) I was getting 66 fps! Before I would get nearly 200! In UE4 a similar setup nets me 110-130.

Iā€™m willing to code some things in C++ once I start learning the UE API. Anything you need code wise just ask! Otherwise once I finally get my models ready and my co-founder up to speed on UE to start playing around on my project Iā€™ll start making additions on a (or yours if you set it up soon).

Not to hijack the thread but does anyone have any game title ideas for our game? A cold war era submarine simulator like Silent Hunter 4&5 but vs Russia instead of Japan/Germany. Red Waters is the only thing I can think of. Any suggestions would be welcomed.

I hope the 4.7.2 update doesnt break more thingsā€¦

261

Here is the 100% Blueprint version for anyone to play with. I may have done something stupid which would explain the performance as was done quickly last night. Performance aside though if anybody just needs a couple of actors to float, solution is at least more portable.

Buoyancy 100% Blueprint Implementation