Hey everyone, I’m looking to tackle a fairly large project with UE4 and am wondering what everyone would recommend. I want to create a modular set of assets to build a city (buildings, streets, etc) but I’m not entirely sure which “order” I should do it in. Do I make modular pieces in 3ds Max and build variants of buildings in the program, then export full buildings to Unreal and use those - OR - create the modular pieces in 3ds Max and build variants withing UE4 using the pieces, copying and pasting structures when I can?
The scope of this would resemble something along the lines of this map created by gyldenstern over at The Cartographer’s Guild. So if something that large (or at least very close) is a bit too much let me know as well.
You would build modular meshes in your 3D program (3ds Max) and then export to UE4 where you would place them, just remember that the more objects you have the lower the performance so you have to manage how many things you have.
In the Content section of the forum someone’s made a 3ds Max tool that can help to layout a level in 3ds Max and export that information to UE4, in the case that you find it easier to position objects in 3ds Max rather than UE4.
It’ll be a balancing act. A single, large object will require a fair amount of data, and a huge single draw call. This means that all the buildings will be loaded and drawn at once, even if it’s not on screen. However, lots of smaller objects will require many small draw calls, with very little data. This will let less-powerful devices manage rending much better. Both can give you immense flexibility, but each has it’s disadvantages.
If you plan to deploy to a mobile device, there is no choice, the single large object approach will not work. Trust me I tried and found out the hard way!
