I suspect this to be a bug.
Almost the same issue than here:
Using latest PhysX lab version, export then import into UE4.
Everything is working fine (Depths, Supports etc…) but here is the weird thing.
I can’t make the Destructible mesh to take into account the “debris timeout” settings in UE4 (Using 4.4.1)
Attached you’ll find my settings.
Now unlike the posts listed above, I did put some Debris timeout value into PhysX Lab and I used 3 seconds as Max TimeOut…and no matter what I do in UE4, all the debris disappear simultaneously after approx. 3 seconds.
So in other words, it act like if UE4 take the Max Debris Time out from the original apb file and fail to update it later on.
Note the Destructible Mesh is a root component into an Actor Blueprint (in case this might play a role here).
I hope I’m not wasting your time, I’m pretty new to all this and if needed I can provide files, screnshots or video if this may help in any way.
Everything is acting correctly based on how it’s supposed to react in UE4.
Here is a screenshot of the information for Debris Lifetime:
Essentially what this is saying is that based on the support depth you’ve selected will be considered a Debris chunk that disappears. The min and max settings here does not mean that individual chunks will disappear between this time. This time is set for the min and max of the LODs (your destruction depths).
If you have three LODs (assuming since that’s what your default impact damage depth is set to) you can adjust the Essential LOD depth to include/exclude some debris timeout.
It’s also worth noting from the image that if your debris lifetime max is less than the minimum it will get a mean average for the two values. (ie. min = 5 sec, Max = 3 sec. (5+3)/2 = 4 seconds)
The biggest factor to consider here if you want to have debris that breaks off and disappears individually you would want to use a GPU mesh particle system. This will give you the most control over the smaller pieces like this.
I hope this helps if you have any questions feel free to ask!
