I finished a small test island,
Now I want to move to the big Island again.
I plan to restart my Island map project, learn from my many mistakes and re-use the island map.
But before I start and ake a lot of progress only to send it to the dust bin again I would try to share some doubts I have.
I plan to import the current Island landscape onto a existing new grid.
Unknown size; the current idea is to add the size of the current Island incl. sea to the new Island landscape, and from there on create a new sea outward.
Basicly the area between the world barriers should become the new Island.
I plan to build further outward, up and down from the original Island map.
Are there map depth/height limitations to take into account and how much bigger can the Island be expanded before I run into map loading/crashing issues as far as size is concerned?
For example: can I freely build below the Island map or do I have to make alterations in the editor to reserve sculpturing space there?
2)What maximum grid size is recommended as playable?
Can I import any textures I want into the ark dev editor to create new landscapes? I used some of my own in the UE4 editor, I have not tried to import textures and new materials into the ark dev editor(yet)
1.) Yes with caveats. The depth/height limit is governed by the landscapes Z scale value. You can change this but it will change the height overall. The current island map size is about as large as you would want to make it, any bigger will begin to have even more performance problems. And by bigger I mean larger in resolution at the current scale, you can scale the landscape however much larger if you want . The largest performance impact in that case is going to be what you put on the landscape, not the landscape itself.
3.)Yes, but you will need to either make your own landscape material or modify and or copy the landscape material used on TheIsland. I would copy the master material used on TheIsland then make a material instance of that material. That way you can modify the master material if needed (adding more materials, changing certain values that are not parameters you can change in the material instance, etc.)
Why are you planning on importing the island landscape? I don’t understand exactly what it is you want to do here. Could you just make it a map extension?
I am not that familiar with map extensions.
My plan is to use the Island, add many caves, change existing, change the vulcano, add another with crater, add landmass around the island, change the snow biome, and change the existing island landscape somewhat.
Also change the weather system. (more extreme)
It was my impression that such changes would go beyond a ‘simple’ map extension and would require a redevelopment of the Island map as a whole.
I finished a small test island,
Now I want to move to the big Island again.
I plan to restart my Island map project, learn from my many mistakes and re-use the island map.
But before I start and ake a lot of progress only to send it to the dust bin again I would try to share some doubts I have.
I plan to import the current Island landscape onto a existing new grid.
Unknown size; the current idea is to add the size of the current Island incl. sea to the new Island landscape, and from there on create a new sea outward.
Basicly the area between the world barriers should become the new Island.
I plan to build further outward, up and down from the original Island map.
Are there map depth/height limitations to take into account and how much bigger can the Island be expanded before I run into map loading/crashing issues as far as size is concerned?
For example: can I freely build below the Island Woodcut Maps or do I have to make alterations in the editor to reserve sculpturing space there?
2)What maximum grid size is recommended as playable?
Can I import any textures I want into the ark dev editor to create new landscapes? I used some of my own in the UE4 editor, I have not tried to import textures and new materials into the ark dev editor(yet)
[/QUOTE]
Hi ,
i am new to this game and forum too. I hope all the information and tips that you provide will help me out to clear all the map and stages. Thanks a lot and best of luck.
Are there map depth/height limitations to take into account and how much bigger can the Island be expanded before I run into map loading/crashing issues as far as size is concerned?
For example: can I freely build below the Island map or do I have to make alterations in the editor to reserve sculpturing space there?
[/QUOTE]
On the Z, dont go above, i think, 1400? oh man, now i am second guessing … there isnt a limitation i am aware of, but, it looks bad when your too high above the cloud line.
2)What maximum grid size is recommended as playable?
[/QUOTE]
between X and Y: 1,000,000 and -1,000,000; reason is replication stops about 1.2 million and you get some REALLY bad results on dinos playing magician and going invis.
Edit: i know you asked about grid size, but, anything between those coords are ok. I personally dont suggest using 8k maps, anything above 2k gets big hits to overhead, but, thats on you as the dev to work out.
Can I import any textures I want into the ark dev editor to create new landscapes? I used some of my own in the UE4 editor, I have not tried to import textures and new materials into the ark dev editor(yet)
[/QUOTE]
Yes, as long as they are compatible with 4.5.1. Ark uses 4.5.1 with some features from 4.7. Shouldn’t be any issues, if there is, it will let you know.