Saving/Exiting/Reloading, Cascade keeps undoing the mesh / mesh particle's material

Update4: Problem Solved: I remade the entire static mesh asset from scratch in 3ds max, exported it as FBX and imported it and this time it worked fine :slight_smile: Again the offending FBX is on drop box in case you want to take a look at why it would cause Rocket to have a conniption and keep resetting the material to default material every time I save/exit/reload editor, behavior only occurs with just that one static mesh asset.

Update3: Actually it has nothing to do with Cascade, if I import this one static mesh asset and apply a material, and then save quit and reload, it loses its material even if it is not used in cascade. I’ve uploaded the FBX file in question for your perusal.

Update2: I was not able to reproduce the issue using a different static mesh, but the static mesh in question is on drop box for your perusal :slight_smile:

Update: Reproducing Error With Just The Single Static Mesh Asset

I am having a very easy time reproducing this bug with my specific static mesh asset.

I’ve uploaded the exact static mesh asset to Drop Box separately from the .rar file if you wish to narrow down the issue.

Reproducing issue with my uploaded static mesh asset:

  1. make a new particle system
  2. assign material of your choosing to the static mesh asset. ( I’ve tried several materials it doesnt seem to matter which I choose
  3. in the new particle system, make a meshdata for your module and assign the mesh
  4. everything will look fine, static mesh will have correct material and do whatever your module wants it to do

now

save, quit, and reload editor

and now

the actual static mesh has had its material changed to editor material, and in cascade this is what you see, your mesh particle is using editor material again.

Why is Cascade changing the actual mesh asset’s material??

this does not happen unless I am using the static mesh with cascade as mesh data

Again I’ve verified this is reproduceable several times now :slight_smile:


Original Message, including whole set of assets as a Drop Box Download

Dear Friends at Epic,

I am trying very hard to make my mesh particle effect, and Cascade keeps undoing the mesh’s material every time I save, quit, and reload :slight_smile: The material is being changed in both cascade and the actual mesh asset itself that is being used as a mesh particle.

The proper mesh material that has particle color expression used, and the material works fine on two of the mesh particles in the entire particle system.

But for the other two mesh particles, the proper material keeps getting replaced with the default editor material, making it impossible for me to complete my particle effect.

correct, and looks fine in editor and cascade

after exiting and reloading Rocket editor:

I’ve deleted the static mesh and reimported it from FBX twice now, and the effect is the same.

When I removed the old mesh from the cascade mesh data, then the original material was restored to the actual mesh asset.

When the mesh asset is being used with cascade, and I save quit and reload editor, the actual mesh asset itself has its material switched to default texture, Cascade is editing the actual mesh asset’s material.

I tried making a new mesh particle and I get the same behavior

the odd thing is that two of the mesh particles using the same exact material do work correctly

but for all my efforts I cannot get all 4 mesh particles to use the material and it’s halting my game development

My project assets uploaded to Drop Box

Nathan Lyer / mesh particle issue .rar

I’ve uploaded a .rar containing all the necessary files

I rearranged the particle so all assets come from same directory as particle, so hopefully everything should load for you folks

again,

it will look like it is working if you manually set the material in the cascade or on the mesh itself

cascade will indeed look correct

but then

  1. save
  2. exit
  3. reload editor

and then reload the asset and if your build is same as mine the outer swirls will be using default material again

I know the material itself works because the two mesh particles in the center work fine

please let me know the work around for this so I can finish my particle :slight_smile:

Rama

Okay, I did reproduce the issue. So it’s not just a fluke on your end. :slight_smile:

Actually we have seen this issue before, and I wish I could have responded to you before you remade the mesh from scratch, because there is a pretty simple workaround. In our case, we were able to export the asset from Rocket, import it in Maya, re-export, and import it into the editor again. After this, the materials stick.

Also, I believe that whatever caused this situation has been resolved, since I cannot get the problem to reproduce on our latest internal version. So hopefully this does not occur in a future release of Rocket.

Cheers!

" I wish I could have responded to you before you remade the mesh from scratch"

Hee hee no worries, it only took about 10 min :slight_smile:

here’s two pics of the effect in game :slight_smile:

Very nice. It’s a pretty effect.

Hi Rama,

First off, thanks for keeping us updated as you made new discoveries regarding your issue. And I am glad that you have found a solution for the problem.

I downloaded your folder and took a look in Rocket. Of the three StaticMesh assets, which is the one that has been giving you a problem? Also, in what way are you applying a material? I opened all 3 in the StaticMesh Editor and applied a material to them. I saved, closed, and re-opened the editor; and all the assets still had a material applied.

Should I be trying this another way?

Thanks

Always great to hear from you Stephen!

:slight_smile:

The FBX in question (on drop box) is:

StaticMeshFBXInQuestion_JoySwirlsStatic.FBX

To test the issue you could:

  1. import the FBX as static
  2. apply a material of your choosing, using static mesh editor
  3. save, exit Editor, reload

and if the mesh still has its material than it was just some sort of odd fluke I was experiencing.

The odd part was, I tried changing the UV and other aspects of the FBX, the one in question, including removing the UV modifier in 3ds max

and the odd behavior was occurring every time, even after re-exporting the FBX!

In any event it seems limited to just that 1 FBX file, as when I remade the whole thing everything worked again.

But the FBX on drop box was definitely causing me issues even up to the point that I uploaded it :slight_smile:

If I see this behavior with any other meshes I will let you know


In the mean time

I am loving UE4! Thanks so much!

:slight_smile:

Rama