# Procedural Terrain **URL:** \ **Category:** C++\ **Tags:** unreal-engine, Engine-Source-Code, GitHub, Engine-Source-GitHub\ **Created:** [August 12, 2014, 7:18pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/procedural-terrain/9265 "2014-08-12T19:18:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![anonymous\_user\_b7c8cba0](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@anonymous\_user\_b7c8cba0](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/anonymous_user_b7c8cba0)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 7:18pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/procedural-terrain/9265/1 "2014-08-12T19:18:34Z")
After scouring over the engine code, I am still 100% clueless about how to modify the heightmap at runtime. I realize that I wouldn’t be able to use lightmass for terrain anymore, but my game requires terrain generation at runtime. Anyone have an idea on how I could approach this? There are very few comments in the source code in respect to Landscapes, nor is there ample amounts of documentation 😕 ---
**Author:** ![SRombauts](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@SRombauts](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/SRombauts)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2014, 8:39am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/procedural-terrain/9265/2 "2014-08-13T08:39:28Z")
Hi MatrixCompSci, have a look at existing forum threads and answershub questions: AnswerHub “How do I procedurally generate landscape?” (short answer: currently not supported!): > **[How do I procedurally generate landscape?](https://forums.unrealengine.com/questions/43950/procedural-landscape.html)** > > Hey, I’m looking to create a landscape that randomly generates height map information on each play / level load, so everytime it looks like a new landscape. I was thinking there was some way of using a material to do this effect but come to a dead... Forum “Does anybody have any experience with procedural planet generation?”: > **[Does anybody have any experience with procedural planet generation?](https://forums.unrealengine.com/showthread.php?8148-Does-anybody-have-any-experience-with-procedural-planet-generation)** > > Hello, i have a neat Idea for a game, which would som sort of procedural planet generation, like Planetary Anihilation has. Here is what i need: LOD implementation, so the generated planet can be seen from far away and close up and... Wiki “Procedural Mesh Generation”: > **[A new, community-hosted Unreal Engine Wiki](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/a-new-community-hosted-unreal-engine-wiki/141494)** > > After over a year in maintenance mode, the official Unreal Engine Wiki is now permanently offline. These resources now live on a new community-run Unreal Engine Community Wiki — ue4community.wiki! You will be able to find content from the official... And also a nice example of “Procedural Voxel Generation In UE4”: > **[\[WIP\] Procedural Voxel Generation In UE4](https://forums.unrealengine.com/showthread.php?3229-WIP-Procedural-Voxel-Generation-In-UE4)** > > Hey everyone! I just wanted to show off my progress working on procedural voxel generation in UE4. Ive only spent 4 or 5 days on this but Ive made some pretty good progress on it, but it still isnt much. The voxels are 50^3 UUs each and uses 2D... Hope that help! ---
**Author:** ![anonymous\_user\_b7c8cba0](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@anonymous\_user\_b7c8cba0](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/anonymous_user_b7c8cba0)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2014, 2:24pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/procedural-terrain/9265/3 "2014-08-13T14:24:44Z")
Huh… Is there a way to build the world on a cloud server, and then send that to the player? Or am I stuck waiting for Epic to support it in the engine? Edit: Sorta like load the heightmap into a pseudo editor on a cloud server, run lightmass/physics prebaking, then send the umap to the player. I understand the networking issues at play here, as I’ve already made a cloud server for AI prebaking. Would UE4 allow for this though ---
**Author:** ![SRombauts](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@SRombauts](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/SRombauts)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2014, 3:18pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/procedural-terrain/9265/4 "2014-08-13T15:18:46Z")
MatrixCompSci, I think that with enough C++ development you could do whatever you want… But to get some advice from Epic you should absolutely ask your question to the Epic AnswerHub, with enough details, backgroud, and a link to this thread (and back-link it here for future reference). Cheers! ---
**Author:** ![anonymous\_user\_b7c8cba0](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@anonymous\_user\_b7c8cba0](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/anonymous_user_b7c8cba0)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2014, 4:48pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/procedural-terrain/9265/5 "2014-08-13T16:48:13Z")
> **[Is generating umaps on cloud servers possible?](https://forums.unrealengine.com/questions/83137/is-generating-umaps-on-cloud-servers-possible.html)** > > Recently in this thread: Procedural Terrain - C++ - Epic Developer Community Forums I had asked if it would be possible for a cloud server to have access to the unreal engine building process without any form of human intervention. I plan to have... There is the question I posted ---
**Author:** ![anonymous\_user\_b7c8cba0](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@anonymous\_user\_b7c8cba0](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/anonymous_user_b7c8cba0)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2014, 10:03pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/procedural-terrain/9265/6 "2014-08-13T22:03:35Z")
One of the threads you posted claimed it was on UE4’s roadmap. Was it implemented, or taken down? ---
**Author:** ![anonymous\_user\_b7c8cba0](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@anonymous\_user\_b7c8cba0](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/anonymous_user_b7c8cba0)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2014, 7:37pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/procedural-terrain/9265/7 "2014-08-15T19:37:02Z")
I decided to implement my own terrain engine, dedicating 3 of my programmers to work on that for a few weeks. I see no other way to do this with the current state of the engine 😕 ---
**Author:** ![SRombauts](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@SRombauts](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/SRombauts)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2014, 9:51pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/procedural-terrain/9265/8 "2014-08-15T21:51:12Z")
Hi, so are you going to mod Unreal Engine for your custom Terrain engine? Or are you talking of making your all game engine from scratch? ---
**Author:** ![anonymous\_user\_b7c8cba0](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@anonymous\_user\_b7c8cba0](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/anonymous_user_b7c8cba0)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2014, 12:22am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/procedural-terrain/9265/9 "2014-08-16T00:22:59Z")
I am considering implementing my own terrain engine over a class like this: [A new, community-hosted Unreal Engine Wiki - Announcements - Epic Developer Community Forums](https://wiki.unrealengine.com/Procedural_Mesh_Generation), then using compute shaders to manage my LODs