Hi everyone,
I’ve been experimenting with the new Edit Layers feature in UE5.5 to non-destructively sculpt and flatten my landscape for roads and other geometry workflows. It works great in the editor but I can’t find any documentation on whether these Edit Layers actually persist into the packaged game.
My understanding so far is:
- Edit Layers are editor-only. They don’t show up in-game unless you merge them.
- The “Collapse” button in the Layers panel appears to be the only way to bake a layer’s changes down into the main heightmap (or weightmap), which makes the edits permanent.
- This collapse operation is destructive, so you need to be sure you’re happy with your edits before collapsing.
What I’ve been doing is:
- Create and edit on a separate Edit Layer while designing roads (using the flatten tool, spline-based flatten, etc.).
- When I’m satisfied, collapse that layer onto the base heightmap so that my changes actually appear in the packaged build.
This workflow seems logical, but I’d love confirmation or clarification:
- Do Edit Layers have any impact at runtime (e.g., are they automatically baked when cooking or if they have some drawbacks)?
- Or must you always collapse (bake) them yourself before cooking/publishing?
Thanks in advance for any insights or official word from Epic on how these layers are intended to work in a shipping game!