Terrain Deformation System

Development Rendering
1

Hello everyone.
Im working on a game based on a real-time terrain deformation system. There are 2 layers of terrain: 1. rough, with mountains and valleys; 2. plain and smooth. #2 is under #1, decals of explosions are revealing the second layer throughout the game. I was trying to implement it with the help of Unity which proved to be rather pointless -- its heights system doesnt allow my concept to work properly.
http://postimg.org/image/xmgygp4tr/ — here is a good example of what I`m looking for.

The question is: is Unreal Engine the appropriate tool for such idea?
Could you show some examples, projects or maybe tutorials where it was achieved before?
Thanks.

2

Unreal has as much support for this out of the box as Unity does. You’ll have to implement your own system with these engines, unfortunately.

3

Perhaps you could suggest some useful tutorials, or a least the general direction in which I should dig :slight_smile:

4

You can’t currently modify terrain objects at runtime like that, but for mesh objects you could do it in the shader. You’d need a solution for collision since modifying vertex data in the shader doesn’t change the collision.

Of course, since Unreal 4 gives you access to the source code, your options are wide open if you can code C++

5

Per Hyperloop- this is the kind of problem you’ll need extensive knowledge of the engine to write yourself. There is no tutorial or plug and play option for real time terrain deformation.

6

Could you by any chance write such a modification in code? We can discuss the price in PM; Im ready to pay the reasonable wage; if thats not super-complex and expensive.

7

If you’re serious about looking to hire someone for this task, it’s probably worth posting an ad here: https://forums.unrealengine.com/forumdisplay.php?25-Got-Skills-Looking-for-Talent

8

Also, it’s going to be super-complex and expensive, just so you’re aware.

9

imo there is a high interest in it, hopefully Epic would realize it… It would make my life a lot easier :slight_smile:

10

Problem with all those “high interest” things is that each one of them bloats engine a bit more, and most of them are quite specialized or situational tools.
We all have C++, so develop your own solution and share source code. People really should learn what is easy and what not, making your first game with
insanely hard and complex features will probably kill project before it even started. Sadly to learn what is hard one needs to burn self few times.
For eg. that deformable terrain, or point gravity, C# scripting, or many “very needed” features, really are not needed that much. I rather have more polish
for features that everybody uses.

11

I’ve seen a few posts about this on this forum before so a simple search should bring up some goodies. Also, there is a plugin in development called Cubiquity, they have a video showing their voxel based real time terrain editing features which might be something to think about.

12

You say that as if the engine weren’t modular and modules couldn’t be enabled and disabled at will :slight_smile:

13

I simply need this engine feature for my little strategy game (I utilized terrain deformation in the engine I’m switching from to ue4, where it is very simple, to make moats and to smooth terrain at building placement positions by simple terrain vertex heigh manipulation with vertex normal and collision shape update).
fortunately, I can wait for this while I’m working on more important game parts, and probably I would spend a little money on it if someone could make it in future if Epic does not find it important.