The only thing I might have concerns with is the modularity of this pack, since there are so many details / complex structures. Can you show off the modularity of this asset please?
Keep it modular and it will be a great pack, nice work so far 
The models look great, but it’s monochromatic.
Is this an architecture prop rather than a game prop? What sort of framerates do you get?
Alright, thank you! If I get the time to do something similar, I will 
Let me know what you think:
Thank you!
Yes, it’s monochromatic. That’s a decision I’ve made early to make sure everything blends together. Now, they’re not all on the same shade, they have some variation (toward green and red). There are two reasons behind this: The stones and wood all come from the same environment. They’re all exposed to the same environmental hazards (water, sand, dirt, wind, sun, etc), so obviously they’re going to be weathered in a similar fashion. But that’s not the only reason – something that is important with architectural sets is that they don’t impede gameplay with distracting elements. By keeping it monochromatic, elements like flags, NPCs and various key props can stand out, preventing useless visual clutter.
To answer your question about FPS, as of right now, in 1440p with a 980GTX, I get almost exactly 60 FPS (currently stands at around 65 on average) with the whole scene fitting inside the camera. Actively, I get about the same, depending on the area (it fluctuates between 60 and 80 during gameplay aka alt+p).
But there’s a few things to consider: There has been no merging to generate bigger meshes and to reduce the amount of draw calls. In any game, you should do this and regenerate LoDs based on these merged meshes. Since I have a demonstration map and since I want people to be able to understand how it was built, I cannot do this in my example map. Because the amount of meshes present in the scene is tremendous (as of right now, I have 4000 meshes in the master scene), obviously this takes its toll on the FPS. With an optimized scene, I’d expect 90+ FPS. The other thing to consider is that the interior meshes have not been properly optimized just yet. That’ll come this week, which should boost the FPS.
Big update in first post – Let me know what you think. I’m getting very close to the end of the pack and -obviously- release!
This looks really nice! I like the modularity as well.
Here is some food for thought:
Personally speaking, I would like things like walls to be more semi-procedural-generation friendly. I wouldn’t mind paying extra for assets like a tilable wall material (that I could use as a fill-in in a semi-procedurally generated scenario)
I’m not sure if this is clear, but if you want to consider this, I would elaborate on this (just pm me). It might also be that your assets are semi-procedural-generation friendly, I dont know since I cant see the mesh clearly.
Btw, there are other assets on the marketplace, who provide wall materials and assets, that you can place in/on the wall to add some details.
(btw, just to make one thing sure (even if not needed): I say semi-procedural because unlike in a prodecural scenario, where everything is generated procedurally, you utilize static meshes in a semi-procedural scenario as well. Those meshes would mostly serve as a means to add details and in general, to replace very complex meshes, whose procedural generation would be undesirable)
I’m going to buy this asset even without extra.service like this, though 
Btw, could you show different lighting scenarios? I’m curious about how this looks in a cloudy scene or a scene at night for example
Hey rYuxq,
I’ve joined the complete showroom with some examples of how the modularity works within the pack. That should shed some light on your questions. Since the pack was made with a specific mesh pipeline rather than the usual tillable map, I’m not entirely sure if it could be used the way you propose. Although, there are some tillable materials right now – For the ground, fake interior walls and plaster interior walls. So you could probably use these and use some vertex painting algorithm to add some life to it.
I’ll see if I can do some beauty shots under different lighting situations before release and join them to this thread
Also, rather massive update on first post of this thread with a lot of information about the pack.
I am unsure how to change the thread’s title, but the pack is officially submitted!
Unfortuenately, you can’t do it yourself. You have to pm a moderator.
Great news, can’t wait to buy this … a few comments were made above concerning FPS. I have not compared how may FPS you can get back by merging assets verses instancing … not sure which is the better way to go. But personally, I have used the “Instance Tool” offered on the Marketplace, and it works wonders, increasing the FPS by about 30 percent. I think Wolven’s modular design will make this a perfect candidate for instancing. If Wolven’s demo level is currently getting 60 FPS, instancing will most likely bring it back over 100 FPS. I built an Atrium with 1,200 glass windows, and after instancing, my FPS went from 50 back to 115. Extreme case, but really reduced the draw calls. Anyone have any comparison data between merging and instancing? Would be nice to know which is the best method. The instancing tool lets you manipulate each copy independently. Merging sounds a bit limiting during developing, fixing your configuration, and making changes more difficult. Any thoughts?
Most Castle or Stronghold architecture is based on using repetitive assets, so I think you are selling yourself a bit short by quoting 60 FPS. After instancing, the FPS would be very acceptable, even on a massive castle design in a large map level.
The interior stair case is perfection, looks exactly like the real deal. Been in may castles all across England and the rest of Europe, and this is a great addition to the Marketplace. Come on EPIC, don’t sit on it, get it released!
Thank you for the feedback! Those stairs have been a nightmare to create, but I’m really happy with how they turned out to be.
Instancing is something that is extremely important when working in large environments like this one, you’re absolutely right. It’s something I speak a little bit of in the documentation, but ultimately I didn’t have the chance to test it myself.
To give an idea, several modules are used well beyond the three digits. Some modules are used almost 500 times in the scene - instancing is something that should be done if it’s possible. In the case where it is not, merging become the second option, but it comes with a few downsides - more poly to render, which is not too bad with baked projects but quickly becomes overwhelming in real time projects.
I’m curious since I didn’t get the opportunity to try it myself - Can you bake lighting with instances? If so, that’s an incredible gain in performance all around.
PS: Epic have the project in their hands and are currently Q&Aing it. I should get feedback soon enough and apply some fixes (if necessary). I’m really excited to finally be able to release this project, it’s been one hell of a ride.
my only reservation is the level that the bricks stick out. They should stick out but not to that extent.
Looking at the updated video, my biggest concern is the scale on the interiors. If you have any kind of character that is larger than the default epic skeleton, it’s not going to fit in those tight doorways/cramped spaces. Most games give some padding for that. I’d have to scale everything up for any kind of gameplay purposes.
Wolven,
I just got a response from Nate, the designer of the Instance Tool, and he said you can bake lighting with instances. That is good news, and will really increase the FPS.
chierfarchon and Schags also make good points. I personally like the current look with stones that stick out, and that fits with a certain stronghold style. But you may consider an add on kit with smooth surfaces, for building different style strongholds. Many of the castles in Briton and Europe had smooth slooping walls that allowed them to roll stones down upon defenders, and made the walls harder to assail. But I like the way this looks. Perhaps kits for Orc, Elvin, and other style castles and strongholds could be part of your future plans.
Also, the spiral stair should be a tight fit, they were designed that way on purpose, to make them easier to defend from the top, and only allowed a single line of attackers to go up. The current tight spiral stair should block NPCs from getting past a character above them, which is exactly what I want on those stairs…and they look so good!
But on ramparts, you don’t want NPCs to get stuck. After watching the videos, the standard mannequin appears to fit, but just barely. Might be a good idea if your check to see if on major nav areas there is room for TWO characters or NPCs to walk or pass side by side, and wear tall helmets and carry spears, and still pass thru doors and walk around the ramparts. That is a kit design criteria of most large gaming companies, like Bethesda … at least that is what I read in an article on the Fallout 4 kit design process.
I have already purchases several knights and Medieval characters, the collisions on their armor and weapons might keep them from passing through some of the doors and hallways. Have you tested a character in armor with a spear or tall helmet, or a slightly larger character, in your demo level?
Just a few larger/taller/wider pieces in this kit, with the same size stones, not just scaled up, would be fantastic. Sometimes scaling destroys the look of a mesh, like in this case, scaling a door piece, or wall, might make the individual stones or wood planks in the mesh look too large, if they are in the mesh and not just the material.
Looking forward to your interior furnishings and add on kits. Need lots of colorful flags, tents, character uniforms, armor, etc.
Hope no one gets offended, but would love to see the Marketplace offer more Medieval army and Castle characters, in more colorful uniforms and clothing … the drab colors most offer do not give the characters that Medieval look. Noticed a new offering just became available, hope Wolven follows up with Lords and Ladies, merchants, peasants, knight/crusader, Templar, Tuetonic, Malta, Garter, Saint John, Arabs, Vikings, Mongols, Turks, Swiss, Welsh, Irish, French, Italian knights, etc. as well as some fantasy, Orcs, Trolls, Elves, Goblins, Dragons, Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings …
Also, one quick question. Are the collisions on the arrow loop slits complex enough, and open, so as to allow characters to shoot arrows through them? That would really add to the game play if we could shoot attacking NPCs through tower arrow slits. Instancing is going to save a lot of FPS, and should allow for more attention to details like this, such as more complex collisions. Not sure if that even makes a difference. But an arrow slit that is blocked off with a collision is not useful in gameplay. Battlefield 1 made sure to address this in their wall pieces.
Which brings up another request, some small level of destructable walls or at least the large gate in the kit would be fantastic. I already have a working battering ram. Would be nice to set up a damage system on the gate.
Anyways, just a few comments intended to give you some constructive feedback. This is by far the best Medieval kit I have ever seen, and a great addition to any Medieval environment. Great job. Really looking forward to the Marketplace release.
The mortar assets were made with that in mind. Making the bricks stick out that much gives a defined, next-gen look to it, but obviously it’s a little bit too much to be realistic. So there’s some assets that you can put over the regular walls to patch it up.
The demonstration scene is there to show what can be done, however not necessarily what should be done in a gameplay context. I’ve made the video in that regard, but more precisely regular doors and interiors won’t be a problem for larger characters (under 2m). Some areas like the spiral towers will definitely have issues if you try to push through a large character.
I think this goes without saying but I have to say it: thank you for the thorough feedback.
About my future plans, the next pack I want to work on will be elvish, but it won’t release before summer next year. However I’ve seen a lot of requests to add diversity on this pack. I may be able to fit this in my schedule for this winter - definitely a lot of good ideas here.
I think that adding more diversity for door sizes is also something that I should work on. Right now you either have big or small, but no medium sized doors. Perhaps I can work on something along these lines for better navigation, or at the very least allow more bulkier characters to fit in.
The good thing about modular sets like this one is that the length of some architectural elements like the remparts is purely arbitrary to the person who use the pack. I’ve made it relatively small (2m), but someone could use the assets and make it 3m or well beyond 4m+ - on my side it came down to what was purely cosmetic, but it wouldn’t quite fit in a gameplay setting.
The arrow slits, like regular windows, can’t be shot through for the time being, although it would probably be possible to tweak it through the regular boxes offered in the in-game editor. Something else to add to my checklist of things I’d like to do for this winter!
Thanks for all the information Wolven,
If you do find time for an update or add on before you move on to your Elvish project, my vote is for some interior furnishings! Come on Wolven, you can’t release a beautiful Castle kit like this without giving us some interior furnishings. My peasants, merchants, Lords, Ladies, and knights will revolt, if we don’t give them somewhere to sleep, sit, and eat!
I am going to try my hand at adding a bit of Radiant AI to my Medieval level. Reading everything Bethesda has released on what they had planned to put into Oblivion. So I am going to need a rich asset filled Medieval environment to give some dynamic life to my NPCs. I have bought almost every Medieval asset off the marketplace already, but I would like to see what interiors you have in mind.
Anyways, perhaps someone has ideas on how we could create working arrow slits, and a destructible Portcullis or main gate, without creating too much work on your part. If anyone has any ideas please post them.
I check ever day for this on the Marketplace. Already spent hours collecting a reference library to use during design of my level. Having too much fun … thanks Wolvin.
Yeah the big thing to think about as far as scale is, think about a third person camera like WoW where it’s behind and up in the air some. If the height/scale of rooms and doorways are too tight, that camera is going to be stuck in the ceiling. Not a big deal for a first person game but since this is modular and I’m sure you want to cast the biggest net on people who purchase it, making sure it works great in 3rd person and multiplayer/combat spaces is key. It’s good to hear there are options though.
It looks gorgeous. I already have your Dwarven set. I’m also hoping you do more fantasy, High Elf/Dark Elf/Halfling/Barbarian/Orc etc. And yeah. more game of thrones stuff would be awesome.
Its been over a month … do you have an update on the status? Any release date for us?
I think you should resubmit this through the new seller portal.
The Epic service took a lot of time to go through the pipeline on their end. Well, with that said, it’s live right now!
You can access it here: Medieval Stronghold Architecture in Environments - UE Marketplace
The issue was that they needed to validate it first on their end, but now that it’s done, I’ve been able to make my submission through their seller portal. I have to admit that the new system is way better than the old one. I just wish the processing could’ve been faster.