Tips wanted! Large-scale (40km+) ocean rendering

[baalimago]

Hello!

To begin with, I appologize for such a diffuse title. I’m a game dev hobbyist and beginner, and as such I don’t know the terminology very well.

My goal is to recreate an area in Tromsvik, northen Norway, where I were on vacation this summer since it’s so terribly beautiful up there. I’ve found an heightmap and started to build the landscape + automatic landscape material, this is good enough for now:

But! If i turn around, it’s much more disappointing:

For reference, this is what it looked like at that place and angle (at ~23.50, with midnight sun):

So, primarily I’m wondering how to render an ocean view similar to how it looked IRL. This doesn’t need to be within the game map, as I don’t plan on implementing any swimming.

Secondly, you might notice that there’s an island to the left of the IRL picture, but not in game. How could I create a “fake” island that is low on resources? I know the term “sky box” from a long time ago, could this still be relevant?

I don’t ask for answers to my problem directly, mostly hints on where I should move on next, what fields I should learn in order to maybe find a solution.

Many thanks,

Imago

[ShawnDaGeek]

this is what it looked like at that place and angle (at ~23.50, with midnight sun):

You may need a mesh under the water that can block the light from under, since at midnight the sun would be below the water.

But! If i turn around, it’s much more disappointing:

Increasing cull distance may improve the view for meshes, but will add to overall resource budget use.

How could I create a “fake” island that is low on resources?

In the model editor you can reduce the poly count, or number of triangles in a mesh. If it is only used as a backdrop it should have little to no visual impact. As like using LOD’s.

Have you tried any of these, if no i can link you to docs and maybe do a sample or 2 to help out.