# WaterBodyRiver not carving into landscape properly 

**URL:** <https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/waterbodyriver-not-carving-into-landscape-properly/2844449>\
**Category:** C++\
**Tags:** unreal-engine, editor, question\
**Created:** [October 23, 2026, 9:02pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/waterbodyriver-not-carving-into-landscape-properly/2844449 "2026-10-23T21:02:46Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![wholehuman](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@wholehuman](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/wholehuman)\
**Post date:** [October 23, 2026, 9:02pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/waterbodyriver-not-carving-into-landscape-properly/2844449/1 "2026-10-23T21:02:47Z")

</div>

![image](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/9/4/6/946503bd8e6302c280ee2af2582073b3e32d93b9.jpeg)

I am trying to make a river for my map but for some reason it refuses to carve or morph into the terrain surrounding it. I have been battling with this for hours and finally decided to ask for some help. I’ve searched on every forum I could find and there didn’t seem to be anyone else with the same issue. My lake seems to have no problem whatsoever doing what it is supposed to. Both of these were just imported and have no changes made to default settings.

For context to answer some basic follow ups:

I’m on Unreal Engine 5.8.4

I have the Water, Buoyancy, and Water Advanced plugins enabled properly.

The river disappears/clips when I move it below the terrain, while the lake carves deeper into the landscape.

I have made sure that the brush is attached to the water layer in the landscape settings.

Both the lake and the river have “affects landscape” checked on.

Any assistance is more than appreciated. I am happy to provide more screenshots if necessary.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ChenDong](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@ChenDong](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/ChenDong)\
**Post date:** [October 26, 2026, 5:47am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/waterbodyriver-not-carving-into-landscape-properly/2844449/2 "2026-10-26T05:47:19Z")

</div>

The lake and the river do not carve the same way, which is why defaults can make one work and the other look broken.

A lake stamps a radial brush from the actor. A river stamps a ribbon along the spline, and the depth comes from each spline point’s water metadata, not from the actor transform. Affects Landscape being checked is not enough if those point depths are 0. Select the spline, click each point, and in the details set Depth and River Width. Then nudge one point so the landscape brush rebuilds. You should get a Water edit layer on the landscape. If that layer is hidden, or the landscape does not have edit layers enabled, nothing will deform.

Do not sink the actor under the terrain to dig the channel. The carve is measured from the spline. Once the spline is below the surface, the water mesh clips through the ground and the brush is under the heightmap, so the river disappears instead of cutting a channel. Leave the spline on the surface and raise the point Depth.

Two other things block the rebuild on 5.8. Edit layers were turned on after the river was placed: delete the river and add it again after layers are enabled. With World Partition, the landscape cell under the spline is not loaded in the editor, so the brush has nothing to write to. Toggling Affects Landscape off and on forces the same rebuild if a nudge does nothing.