Modular Building Set [UPDATED]

[Valachio]

@Jacob-3D;241397

For the Nature Pack it may be a few more weeks before I’m ready to put it up on to the Trello boards, but it’s the next one on my list

As for the interior building pieces, I had setup LOD’s on the actual interior faces to fade out at a certain distance to save on rendering performance. If you are running into issues with this, you can simply decrease the number under the LOD on the mesh to tell it to fade out when it is smaller on the screen. Let me know if you have any questions on this.

• Jacob

Which number value exactly? There are many

[Jacob-3D]

Valachio -

The value is the “Screen Size” option. Which can be found here on a per mesh basis.

If the number is grey and cannot be changed, you will notice that check box below it that says “Auto Compute LOD.” You will want to UNCHECK this option to be sure that you can change the value. The SMALLER the number, the further the object is before it drops the LOD. So you will want to make this number very small on any of the meshes that you don’t want the LOD to drop out on. Hopefully that helps!

• Jacob

[Valachio]

@Jacob-3D;243407

Valachio -

The value is the “Screen Size” option. Which can be found here on a per mesh basis.

If the number is grey and cannot be changed, you will notice that check box below it that says “Auto Compute LOD.” You will want to UNCHECK this option to be sure that you can change the value. The SMALLER the number, the further the object is before it drops the LOD. So you will want to make this number very small on any of the meshes that you don’t want the LOD to drop out on. Hopefully that helps!

• Jacob

That fixed it. I set LOD 1’s screen size to 0.001 and it still renders from a semi-far distance. Thanks for all your help thus far

[Jacob-3D]

Sure no problem! Depending on how you’re using the piece, only one side of the model should be dropping out and I meant it to be the “interior” part of it and not the exterior side. So unless you have a very large interior of your building, or a store on a corner, perhaps try rotating the piece 180 degree so that the other faces disappear. Just a suggestion of course as I don’t know how you are using the pieces.

[Jacob-3D]

Hey guys!
I just submitted a Version 4.9 for the Building Set today as well as an update for the pack. Here are the release notes.

1. Updated lightmap scale to decrease bake times and fix occasional crash issues with the Demo Scene
2. Added clean PBR versions of the Metal Trim Tiling Textures and created material instances for them
3. Added clean PBR versions of the Colored Tiles Textures and created material instances for them
4. Various other small bug fixes to the scene.

Here’s a pic of the clean textures! Enjoy

[Jacob-3D]

@TooManyfps;384638

A question about the ultra heavy lightmaps:
If I migrate all materials, textures, meshes into a new project and start building stuff there - will I get rid of the lightmaps?
I was not going to use the demo scene anyway, but just export all buildings, then import them as one static mesh into a new project and re-apply the materials.

The update 14/9 with the clean textures: can we also have that for UE4.8.3?
I am not going to update anymore into Epics buggy versions because my game is to far developed.

Hi there TooManyfps,

The lightmaps have actually been updated and no longer are heavy in the scene for all versions of the pack back to 4.7
The clean textures as well have been updated all the way back to 4.7
So you are good to go!

[Naveed]

@Jacob-3D you are not making it easy for me to hold off purchasing this pack.

[Jacob-3D]

@Naveed;385278

@Jacob-3D you are not making it easy for me to hold off purchasing this pack.

Hahaha, thanks Naveed. Please feel free to pick it up anytime

[Jacob-3D]

@TooManyfps;385986

I bought it and phew… I am a bit low on energy when I see how much manual work is required to actually built something with all the single bits in the pack.
I have a few questions:

• is there some kind of array functionality in UE4 to easily tile wall segments
• is there some alignment function to make sure wall segments etc sit perfectly next to each other without small gaps
• are the single bits in the pack matching in size? I found all door segments are height 394, but there is not a single wall segment with that height to put next to the door. If I rescale, then alignment will be difficult because UE4 does not absolute dimension for an object but only the scale and materials need rescaling as well.
• when you built your scene, did you use a fixed scale in UE4 to easily stich segments together or did you move every bit around until it fitted.
  I know UE4 is not 3dsmax, but I did not expect it to be that tedious to assemble buildings from the single bits in the pack.
  The pack should definitely have some unified scale and the single bits in the pack should be presented in groups, each group representing one scale group. Like: height 394 assets etc.
  I am having real difficulties figuring out what modules belong together in terms of scale.

Also the individual segments are not matching. When you copy/paste a segments like in the screenshot and align it next to the other one, the cutlines are clearly visible because there is not tile matching in the textures/materials.

I am bit disappointed. I bought the procedural nature pack and it was cool. But this one here is not really holding up.

&stc=1&d=1443111305

Hi There TooManyfps

I’m sorry to hear that you are having some difficulty with the pack so far. I understand it can be a bit confusing at first and unfortunately I have not been able to put together a “How To” video for this pack yet. I hope to be able to put one together soon, because it will help with a lot of the questions and concerns that you are having.

I am definitely looking into new ways to make putting together these buildings much easier in the future as I have begun to see how powerful the Blueprints are inside of the Unreal Engine. My initial thoughts when building this pack, was to design the pack with the ability for the user to make the most possible versions of building as I could, while still allowing the user to combine, group, and easily copy/swap pieces on their end while building things. Luckily there are definitely great ways to speed up the building process already without requiring blueprints at this point
I will do my best to respond to your questions in order and hopefully it will help a bit

• The pack is designed to easily snap to the grid on a “10 step” factor. There is a great video on snapping and duplicating objects that can be found here. https://youtu.be/woBMRKWX0qM?t=3m4s
  The best way to “add new pieces” to the set, is to simply duplicate the wall you just used, snap it to the left or right of itself on the “10” grid size and then simply right click it and replace it with another wall Select the “Replace Selected Actors with” option
  
  
  
  This can be done with the pillars, beams and other decoration pieces with the set. After you have a good base to your building you can grab all of those pieces, group them and duplicated them to create the other sides of the building. Then after that you can ungroup them and again easily right click an asset and swap it for another one. (You can do this with multiple assets at a time by the way) So after you get started with the pack things start to speed up very quickly in the creation process exponentially. It becomes easier and easier to make new buildings and new parts of buildings the further along you get. Then I have also provided multiple material instances that you can very easily drag and drop onto the assets at this point to create even more variation with your buildings
• The doors are actually meant to be placed “Inside” of the doorways that I have already provided with the pack. So they will not match the height of any of the walls, because they were never intended to sit next to a wall, but inside of the specifically designed doorway pieces. All of the files are organized into their respective categories and all of the sizes match each other depending on what type of asset you are placing. Such as a window piece or a store front piece. Since the respective pieces all match in size as I mentioned before it is very easy to swap them and replace them with other actors I would take a look at the Demo Scene for really good examples of how these pieces fit together and belong with one another.
• When I built my scene I did it using the grid snap set to 10 and everything should fit together very well on that scale. As I mentioned, the best workflow is to create a few pieces that work well together and quickly copy and paste and move them around your scene while swapping for other assets to make variation. Another awesome tool is the “Merge Actors Tool” Here’s what i can find on the Merge actors tool online to help you get started with it Combining Static Mesh in Editor - Asset Creation - Epic Developer Community Forums But I have heard very many happy people using it along with this pack and it makes things much easier and more optimized while still allowing you to create the buildings in your very own unique and custom way!

As for the tiling issue on the bricks. I will add that to my list for things to look at, because there should definitely not be any tiling issues. So I will see if I can reproduce that on my end and send in an update if I am having the same problem.

I’m sorry to hear about your disappointment and I hope these answers help a bit, but as I mentioned I am definitely using this feedback as I continue to move forward creating content in the marketplace. It’s very much a learning process finding out what works for people and what could use improvements. So thank you for bringing this up

• Jacob

[anonymous_user_89af1b9b]

I really like it. You are gonna have to make me break down and get it next payday! Gheesh it’s pretty cool! Thanks for your hard work. Love to see a few freebies now and then too!

[thankstipscom]

@Jacob-3D;386202

Hi There TooManyfps

I’m sorry to hear that you are having some difficulty with the pack so far. I understand it can be a bit confusing at first and unfortunately I have not been able to put together a “How To” video for this pack yet. I hope to be able to put one together soon, because it will help with a lot of the questions and concerns that you are having.

I am definitely looking into new ways to make putting together these buildings much easier in the future as I have begun to see how powerful the Blueprints are inside of the Unreal Engine. My initial thoughts when building this pack, was to design the pack with the ability for the user to make the most possible versions of building as I could, while still allowing the user to combine, group, and easily copy/swap pieces on their end while building things. Luckily there are definitely great ways to speed up the building process already without requiring blueprints at this point
I will do my best to respond to your questions in order and hopefully it will help a bit

• The pack is designed to easily snap to the grid on a “10 step” factor. There is a great video on snapping and duplicating objects that can be found here. https://youtu.be/woBMRKWX0qM?t=3m4s
  The best way to “add new pieces” to the set, is to simply duplicate the wall you just used, snap it to the left or right of itself on the “10” grid size and then simply right click it and replace it with another wall Select the “Replace Selected Actors with” option
  
  
  
  This can be done with the pillars, beams and other decoration pieces with the set. After you have a good base to your building you can grab all of those pieces, group them and duplicated them to create the other sides of the building. Then after that you can ungroup them and again easily right click an asset and swap it for another one. (You can do this with multiple assets at a time by the way) So after you get started with the pack things start to speed up very quickly in the creation process exponentially. It becomes easier and easier to make new buildings and new parts of buildings the further along you get. Then I have also provided multiple material instances that you can very easily drag and drop onto the assets at this point to create even more variation with your buildings
• The doors are actually meant to be placed “Inside” of the doorways that I have already provided with the pack. So they will not match the height of any of the walls, because they were never intended to sit next to a wall, but inside of the specifically designed doorway pieces. All of the files are organized into their respective categories and all of the sizes match each other depending on what type of asset you are placing. Such as a window piece or a store front piece. Since the respective pieces all match in size as I mentioned before it is very easy to swap them and replace them with other actors I would take a look at the Demo Scene for really good examples of how these pieces fit together and belong with one another.
• When I built my scene I did it using the grid snap set to 10 and everything should fit together very well on that scale. As I mentioned, the best workflow is to create a few pieces that work well together and quickly copy and paste and move them around your scene while swapping for other assets to make variation. Another awesome tool is the “Merge Actors Tool” Here’s what i can find on the Merge actors tool online to help you get started with it Combining Static Mesh in Editor - Asset Creation - Epic Developer Community Forums But I have heard very many happy people using it along with this pack and it makes things much easier and more optimized while still allowing you to create the buildings in your very own unique and custom way!

As for the tiling issue on the bricks. I will add that to my list for things to look at, because there should definitely not be any tiling issues. So I will see if I can reproduce that on my end and send in an update if I am having the same problem.

I’m sorry to hear about your disappointment and I hope these answers help a bit, but as I mentioned I am definitely using this feedback as I continue to move forward creating content in the marketplace. It’s very much a learning process finding out what works for people and what could use improvements. So thank you for bringing this up

• Jacob

I have this and I had to remove a lot of effects and decals and lighting and fog to get the demo map I used it in to be playable at all. I have a 6core AMD processor, 22GB ram and nvidia GTX960. But still have major problems tryin to play maps with these assets in them. That said I ripped the buildings straight from the demo as a whole since I didnt want to build them from scratch. I modified some for interiors after that. I’m not sure if the slow down is from the assets or the demo map versions though.

I mentioned this before and would still be helpful, if you just included several unique buildings already pre-done with light weight effects and uvs and whatnot. Like 5-10 finished buildings. That way people could drop them in and hit the ground running with this pack. All the other building packs(even modular) have finished buildings on top of the modular pieces. I think people that have that “underwhelming” feeling when getting the pack is because they realize how much work its gonna be to make a single building. nothing wrong with that, that IS what modular is for, but being able to get the same look as you have in the pics and demo within 5 mins of having the pack would ease that. the user knows that more complex buildings they CAN make whenever they feel like putting the time in.

Also, trying to rip the modular built ones from your demo level is a real chore in itself.

[Jacob-3D]

@TooManyfps;386488

Thank you for the details in your post.
The snapping grid of 10 is good to know. I will try this.
Also the replacing of actors is definitely helpful.
I will try all this.

For now I export the buildings from the demo map and re-import them as one mesh for migration and extent on them. That’ already a very good starting point.

Thanks for the detailed reply!

You can use blueprints to make a ‘building’ master blueprint. From that one you can access all meshes you want. Then you can do array functions etc in that blueprint. Basically what you did with your procedural nature pack. If the bulding is done, I can press export selected and get it as fbx.

Something like this was exactly what I was thinking That’s a great idea and I will surely be looking into that. Thanks for the feedback!

@BrightSoul;386961

I really like it. You are gonna have to make me break down and get it next payday! Gheesh it’s pretty cool! Thanks for your hard work. Love to see a few freebies now and then too!

Haha Thanks so much Brightsoul Absolutely, and I hope you enjoy it!

@thankstipscom;387130

I have this and I had to remove a lot of effects and decals and lighting and fog to get the demo map I used it in to be playable at all. I have a 6core AMD processor, 22GB ram and nvidia GTX960. But still have major problems tryin to play maps with these assets in them. That said I ripped the buildings straight from the demo as a whole since I didnt want to build them from scratch. I modified some for interiors after that. I’m not sure if the slow down is from the assets or the demo map versions though.

I mentioned this before and would still be helpful, if you just included several unique buildings already pre-done with light weight effects and uvs and whatnot. Like 5-10 finished buildings. That way people could drop them in and hit the ground running with this pack. All the other building packs(even modular) have finished buildings on top of the modular pieces. I think people that have that “underwhelming” feeling when getting the pack is because they realize how much work its gonna be to make a single building. nothing wrong with that, that IS what modular is for, but being able to get the same look as you have in the pics and demo within 5 mins of having the pack would ease that. the user knows that more complex buildings they CAN make whenever they feel like putting the time in.

Also, trying to rip the modular built ones from your demo level is a real chore in itself.

I absolutely agree. As this was my first pack in the marketplace I was and still am learning the best way to create packs and what it is people are looking for in the packs. So feedback like this is very much welcomed. I am also continuing to learn how best to optimize my assets and how the engine works better. So I will be implementing all of these things and continuing to grow my knowledge as I move forward and keep working in the Marketplace. Thank you for the comments!

[SaOk]

Thanks for that snapping video. I have made my editing over-tricky for months. What took hour before takes probably 15min or less now. Anyway big thanks again for the pack. I hope to take proper screenshots when getting enviroment more finished.

[Naveed]

Purchased! It’s just so darn beautiful. I am going to spend tonight admiring your wonderful assets…you heard me.

[Jacob-3D]

@SaOk;387738

Thanks for that snapping video. I have made my editing over-tricky for months. What took hour before takes probably 15min or less now. Anyway big thanks again for the pack. I hope to take proper screenshots when getting enviroment more finished.

That’s great that it helped I will definitely be making breakdown videos for all of my packs as I continue making new content and will try to get around to making one for the building set at some point.

@Naveed;388677

Purchased! It’s just so darn beautiful. I am going to spend tonight admiring your wonderful assets…you heard me.

hahaha Thanks for the support and compliments Naveed Enjoy the pack!

@TooManyfps;385986

Also the individual segments are not matching. When you copy/paste a segments like in the screenshot and align it next to the other one, the cutlines are clearly visible because there is not tile matching in the textures/materials.

&stc=1&d=1443111305

Also I put together a screenshot here for you TooManyfps to clarify what each wall piece is used for. The two pieces that you tried to snap together are end pieces and not the tiling pieces. The reason for this is to ensure that all of the bricks are the same size on all of the different wall pieces and that it isnt simply the same wall scaled down and scaled up. Here is the image to help clarify what each piece is for Hope it helps!

[Naveed]

I spent a large part of last night looking at this pack and was truly blown away. For me the absolute standout aspects are your textures (let’s be honest though everything about this pack is stellar, I won’t even start on the decals!). The way you’ve packed different components in the trim and concrete textures is a lesson that should be followed by all content creators. I was so inspired by them that I decided to create my own modular house pieces using your textures. This is what I came up with:

This image quality doesn’t do the textures justice but they’re definitely poppin’! 3 textures in use here brick_red, trim and concrete. I’m trying to get my head around why certain light positions produce seams and others don’t but that’s neither here nor there. You’ve got yourself a life long fan Jacob, many thanks.

[Jacob-3D]

@Naveed;389216

I spent a large part of last night looking at this pack and was truly blown away. For me the absolute standout aspects are your textures (let’s be honest though everything about this pack is stellar, I won’t even start on the decals!). The way you’ve packed different components in the trim and concrete textures is a lesson that should be followed by all content creators. I was so inspired by them that I decided to create my own modular house pieces using your textures. This is what I came up with:

This image quality doesn’t do the textures justice but they’re definitely poppin’! 3 textures in use here brick_red, trim and concrete. I’m trying to get my head around why certain light positions produce seams and others don’t but that’s neither here nor there. You’ve got yourself a life long fan Jacob, many thanks.

Woow!! Thank you so much Naveed! It is really uplifting and motivating to hear all of that from you Thank you!

That’s really awesome to see how you were able to use the assets and textures to start making your own modular sets with it That’s great! I can’t wait to see more pictures of what you’re up to in the future and and again the feedback is very much appreciated. Thank you

[Naveed]

My pleasure, keep up the great work mate! Here’s a (British looking :))house I put together in a couple of minutes using those pieces. Still a work in progress but this pack made it a lot easier:

[Jacob-3D]

@Naveed;389449

My pleasure, keep up the great work mate! Here’s a (British looking :))house I put together in a couple of minutes using those pieces. Still a work in progress but this pack made it a lot easier:

That’s awesome!! Thanks again for sharing Naveed

[Naveed]

I wouldn’t base any opinion on this pack from the work I’ve shown. The stuff I posted only used Jacob’s textures, how it tiles and the general UV’ing is all from my inexperienced hands. Also the above was a rush job just to show how this pack helped me with modularity, I mean look at that roof, it’s gross.

The only time I’ve seen a seam in this pack is when my lighting wasn’t set up correctly so perhaps look at that? Failing that, screen shots always help. I will say again though not to judge this pack by my screens. You’re better off loading the example map included with the pack and replicating your issue(s) there if you can.