I just started working with Unreal Engine this past week and ran into this same issue. The fix in the video listed here did not work for me for whatever reason. However I did find something that did work and I’ll share some screenshots to help explain. I specifically used the ocean body of water so I can’t verify if this will work for other types.
Under the waterbodyocean item go to the details and look for the terrain tab and uncheck the Affects Landscape option.
Doing this is what fixed it for me and I could adjust the water without the spline comp outline distorting my landscape.
Not sure if anyone else will find this helpful or not, but after just downloading Unreal Engine 5.4.1 I was having similar issues with the water functionality. The landscape was editing for my river bed and incorporating the right landmass characteristics but the water would never show up. I realized unreal automatically created a waterzone with a water mesh inside it when the river was added to the scene. Except it put the waterzone and mesh all the way up in the clouds for some reason. Deleting the waterzone seems to have fixed the issues with the river bed I was adding to an already existing project hope this helps someone!
Hello! It sounds like you’re encountering a common issue with the water body system in Unreal Engine 5 (UE5), particularly when working with landscapes that have “Edit Layers” enabled. Here are some steps and tips that might help you resolve this problem:
Steps to Troubleshoot and Fix Water Body Height Issues in UE5
Ensure Proper Layer Setup:
Verify that your landscape is set up correctly with “Edit Layers” enabled.
Make sure you have a water layer created for your landscape.
Align Spline with Landscape:
Double-check that your spline is properly aligned with the landscape. Sometimes, the spline may appear aligned, but there could be a slight misalignment causing the water to render incorrectly.
Adjust Water Body Settings:
Select your water body and check the properties panel.
Look for settings related to the water height and make sure they are correctly configured.
You can try adjusting the Z Offset to manually align the water body with the landscape.
Landscape Collision and Rendering:
Ensure that the landscape collision and rendering settings are properly configured.
Sometimes, collision issues can cause the water to render at incorrect heights.
Rebuild Landscape:
Try rebuilding your landscape to ensure all layers and settings are properly applied.
Right-click on your landscape in the World Outliner and select Rebuild.
Check for Updates and Patches:
Make sure you are using the latest version of UE5, as water body features may have received updates and bug fixes.
Check the Unreal Engine forums and documentation for any known issues or patches related to water bodies.
Experiment with Water Body Types:
If you’re using a specific type of water body (e.g., Ocean, Lake, River), try switching to a different type to see if the issue persists.
Sometimes, different water body types have different behaviors and might work better with your landscape setup.
Delete and Recreate Water Body:
Delete the problematic water body and create a new one.
When creating a new water body, make sure to follow the steps methodically to avoid any misconfiguration.
Known Issues and Workarounds
Landscape and Water Body Synchronization: There have been reports of synchronization issues between landscapes and water bodies in UE5. If the above steps don’t work, consider creating a smaller test landscape and adding a water body to see if the issue persists. This can help identify whether the problem is with the landscape or the water body itself.
Community Feedback: The Unreal Engine community often shares workarounds and fixes for common issues. Check the Unreal Engine forums or the UE5 subreddit for any threads related to water body height issues.
If none of these steps resolve the problem, it might be a bug or a feature that is not fully supported yet in UE5. In that case, consider reporting the issue to the Unreal Engine support team or forums to get further assistance and potentially contribute to future bug fixes.
