If I was to create an open world game, would I need to create separate levels for different sections of the map or can I create one map, and then get it to render in chunks when i play it to increase frames per second? In other words, can i create the world, and then add everything else to it and then produce an .exe of the /world. Would this lag out my pc, and make the game unplayable, or would it work?
Hi,
Unreal Enigne supports Level Streaming, it even has Blueprint support. You can define persistent and sublevels and as you mentioned, you can easily divide your huge open world up to smaller chunks, and then only load the relevant ones. Here is the introduction to Level Streaming by Epic:
https://docs.unrealengine.com/latest/INT/Engine/LevelStreaming/
UE4 has a tool called World Composition, there’s a limit to the size of a single level, with World Composition you can split it into sections so that you can create a larger world.
Is it possable to export “chunks” so that different members of the team can work on the open world map? Or does the whole thing have to be loaded when people go to work on it? For example if we had different people adding assets to different areas of the same large map at the same time, might they be able to only work with a certain area of the map then upload that back into the whole larger map.
With world composition the each section is a separate level, and then there’s a main file which is the one that controls how they are combined together, so you could have people working on different sections without interfering with each other. UE4 doesn’t allow you to work on the same level at the same time though. I’m not sure in terms of the source control like Perforce whether it can track changes and combine them that way, never tried to set that up.
Thank you for the help we will experiment with using this.
okay, thank you. So if i wanted to make relatively large world, but only to the size of a single level, would this work. If so, how big is the max size of a single world.
Im thinking of getting a team of guys to help me create a H1Z1 sized map or dayZ .
what is the maximum size of a single level. Because if its big enough i could possibly make a world the size of H1Z1 or DayZ.
World composition allows you to make a world bigger than the single level limitations, but I would keep a level at like 5km, and then have several 5km levels put together in world composition if that’s what you need to do.
Note however, World Composition is not supported in multiplayer, in Multiplayer you would have to keep the level smaller or you would have to code a solution.
so i am aiming to create an open world multiplayer game, so with what would i start with to allow me to do this
If you’re new to game development then I recommend not trying to do an open world game, it’s a huge challenge even for experienced developers. Plus, the market is fairly saturated with those types of games.
what would you recommend starting off doing?
Do a smaller project that you have a better understanding on how to do what you want and it’s something you could complete in a year or two.
But if you are set on doing an open world project is there a way to work on one area of the map while the rest is being worked on? For example, I want to start placing cabins and assets around a lake but our terrain team is still working with world generator? Is there a way to do this or do we have to wait until the terrain is done and work with the whole map at once?
any thoughts?
How would you be able to place objects on the map if the terrain isn’t there?
If you’re new to game development – or even not at least a couple projects into your career – I don’t even stop at not recommending an open-world game: don’t do it. It’s just bad news and sadness and you realize how complicated worlds are and then you become a misanthrope and then there’s just no hope for you while you rabbithole down a pit of despair.
What I’d recommend, if you’re set on large worlds, is “large scale” worlds. Say, 4x4 Km (that’s what I’m doing – and it’s a whole hell of a lot of world to detail). You’ll probably still end up accomplishing the feel you’re going for and you have a much, much higher chance of success.
In a single player game using World Composition, you select which level you are currently actively working on in the editor.
If it’s a multiplayer game attempting to use World Composition, you’ll need to fork your own engine version and modify it to support offsets so you don’t start ramming into maximum floats.
No, what I mean is that if you don’t have a terrain, how do you place an object on the terrain? He was asking if it was possible for someone to be placing objects in a level while the terrain is still being made in Worldbuilder, which isn’t something that’s possible.
AND HOW MUCH RAM do you need to make an open world game with these levels all in chunks?.