Overlapping UVies error when merging actors

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So this is a very old problem and I think the only issue here is that you cant have the static meshes you are merging into one actor’s UVies overlap each other.
Now I have just over 3000 individual wall pieces that make up a maze and I didn’t see this coming.
… and its hitting me harder than a freight train :slight_smile:
I had to overlap some of the wall pieces.
(The merge test I did when I started of course none of the pieces I tested were overlapping so I didn’t see this error pop up) LOL
So now I am scccrrrreeee …… ed. :slight_smile:

Now I can go through each wall pieces and just scale them shorter and long on the X and Y that should work, so none of them overlap and they barely just touch each other.
Pretty sure that would solve the problem.
I did group them. But I don’t know if this would really help with performance it looks like an in editor feature only.

Anyone have any ideas? :slight_smile:

2

Right now the plan is to go through all the little wall pieces and scale them on the X and Y and make sure the all just touch and don’t overlap.
With merge actors tests as I move along.
Probably a good idea to group them into folders.
No choice really.
I just wish I saw this coming when I built the maze :slight_smile:

3

You could do it in a batch using either BP or Python instead of doing it manually for 3000 wall pieces:

https://docs.unrealengine.com/en-US/PythonAPI/class/Actor.html

You could calculate the distance between the 3000 pieces and move them accordingly to remove any overlapping and apply rescaling only if needed as well.

4

O.k. great thanks.
You know I am just looking at a very old tutorial from UDK.
Precomputed visibility volumes.
According to the UE4 docs those are best choice for lower end hardware and mobile, exactly what I need.
There is also camera frustum that is always on but that I believe is harder on the GPU.
So looks like I want the individual pieces actually. HEH :slight_smile:

5

O.k. so looks like I don’t even need a cull volume.

In each wall mesh’s LOD section there is the default 0 LOD and you can set min an max draw.

I just tested it and it works fine.

So why don’t I just set the min and max draw for the default LOD for each wall piece and then just go with that?

Sounds like a plan? :slight_smile:

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Isn’t this all I need to do?

7

I guess I am a little confused too as to why in the tutorials on culling they insist that you use a culling volume otherwise culling wont work and then when I set it up in the editor culling min draw and max draw works just fine without a culling volume. Is that the newer versions of UE4? Or is there a difference between the culling with and without the volume, like dynamic or static?

8

So everyone else is telling me cull volumes are not really needed if its a simple setup with one LOD in each mesh.
So I guess its true. The tutorial was wrong then.