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LandForge - DX11 Procedural Terrains

Discussion in 'Made With Unity' started by jesta, Jan 17, 2013.

  1. Jacob-Williams

    Jacob-Williams

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    Hey jesta - it's been quiet for a few months. How are things coming on this project?
     
  2. jesta

    jesta

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    I put the project on the side for now because the dx9 version is just not good enough. The quality and performance are not acceptable. The dx11 version looks great and performs really well, but I'm afraid only a small portion of users want to target dx11.

    It saddens me that everybody is still hooked to dx9 and shader model 3. Dx11 has been out for like 5 years and has so much potential for games... I'm not even a Microsoft fanboy. I'd be even more happy if Unity had support for Opengl 4.3+ and Opengl compute shaders.

    So unless I see demand for a dx11 only terrain engine, I'll have to put Landforge on hold.
     
  3. aaronhm77

    aaronhm77

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    can you get this on unity assets store?
     
  4. sloopidoopi

    sloopidoopi

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    I also think it's not a real problem to have a DX11 only solution at the moment. There are a couple of assets on the AssetsStore that are only DX11 . If the customer is aware of it I don't see a problem. I think there are many developer that use Unity for other stuff then cross platform games, so they could use this asset even if it's only DX11 bound.(Think of visualization/simulation)
    Why wait and worry if someone else is publishing a similar solution without any concerns?
     
  5. ZJP

    ZJP

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    This ....
     
  6. CaptCanada

    CaptCanada

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    Wow, Vista on the Amiga. There's a program I haven't heard mentioned since my own struggling Amiga 3D modelling days. I have fond memories of creating terrains, though as you state, it would take hours
     
  7. runonthespot

    runonthespot

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    I'd buy a DX11 solution- since game dev for anything of this scope is going to be 1 year + anyway, and we need the head start ;). If there is no DX11 penetration within 1-2 years... hell, I'll start making twine games. :)
     
  8. omarzonex

    omarzonex

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    Wonderful Realism
    How much Pixel Point High ??
    are your sure not Speed CPU Engine DX11 with procedural or Mix Noies Randomz !!!!
     
  9. reefwirrax

    reefwirrax

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    are you sure that statement is still relevant with DirectX 11? That work dates from around 2007, as long as it's 1- 2 orders of magnitude faster than processor!
     
  10. reefwirrax

    reefwirrax

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    I'm sure that this would have had plenty of demand, all serious gamers on PC that hang around on steam etc, want DirectX 11 games and they buy them
     
  11. Marionette

    Marionette

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    holy crap Jérémie, i didn't know you were serious about this when last we talked. if you don't have plans to put it up on the asset store, please contact me and we can work out some other way to purchase.

    i am one of the ones that want DX11, don't care about DX9 or mobile. i really want this! ;)
     
  12. jesta

    jesta

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    Hey guys,

    Since I received a LOT of emails asking for this, I decided to put some polish on the project so that it can be used. Right now even if I sent you the tool it would be a nightmare to figure out how it works, so some cleaning is necessary.

    Also, the project is going to be open source, and free. In fact this will be the case for all my other WIP projects: GPU multi-material fluid/liquid simulation, procedural tree generator, painterly image effects and other minor tools.

    Keep watching this thread, as I should be updating it shortly :).
     
  13. Marionette

    Marionette

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    dude!

    i am absolutely dumbfounded! free? as in FREE, free?

    you can't be serious man.. at the very least, set up a donation thingy.. i for one would be one of the first to press the button ;)

    btw, i'm messing around with the 4d shaders in turbulence and was wondering, how difficult do you think it'd be to convert one to a spherical FFT type ocean thing? basically, the idea is to have an ocean sphere for planets, or is that something you've already looked into? can it be done convincingly?

    EDIT: btw, i also sent you a PM.
     
    Last edited: Mar 10, 2014
  14. Marionette

    Marionette

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    you there jesta?
     
  15. jesta

    jesta

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    Yes, sorry for the delay.

    I'll have to think about oceans on a planet. It's certainly doable, but might be a challenge.

    I might put a donation thing, but all the money would go to charity anyways. I have a job, so I don't need more money.
     
  16. Marionette

    Marionette

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    I'm not a shader guru by any stretch of the imagination, but if there is anything I can help with, don't hesitate to ask ;)
     
  17. Baldinoboy

    Baldinoboy

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    Man This looks great and you are planning for it to be open source.:D Looking forward to trying this. Do you have threads for the other WIP projects you mentioned.
     
  18. lazygunn

    lazygunn

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    The things you're offering for free are pretty remarkable, but I guess I would keep my questions to this in particular for now. In an earlier post you stated you could sculpt the surface using masks, would this imply that the surface is quite versatile and the difference to what was seeded be stored only as a referenced area. If this is the case then would it be feasible to import heightmaps onto the planet surface from GIS data? Even applying noise to the surface of the import? And finally, would it be possible to texture the entire planet surface, using a spherical mapping? Reason I ask is, I love the look of this, I use rtp for a terrain shader for various reasons and the creator has already shown interest in adapting his work for use on planets, the shader or simply needing minor tweaks to the terrain implementation for them to work well together. I'm hoping to, after getting the basic shader(s) done work on a water system that can be used on planets, that is viable for gameplay, although maybe you'll beat me there (or Marrionette might), i'm not the most talented of... the various craftsmen of all the skills needed in these things
     
  19. Marionette

    Marionette

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    hehe, tell you what man, if i get mine done first i'll open source it as well ;)
     
  20. lazygunn

    lazygunn

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    Don't start being too helpful, i'll become a drain on your sanity!
     
  21. Marionette

    Marionette

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    hey jesta?

    are you using compute shaders for tessellation? so that you can get the verts etc into a collision mesh? and if so, is that part working? i'd love to see it ;)
     
  22. Thargus

    Thargus

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    Excellent work, watching this thread for more updates!
     
  23. Marionette

    Marionette

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    how's everything going jesta? need help with anything? ;)
     
  24. Marionette

    Marionette

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    so jesta, you still with us man? ;)
     
  25. HeadClot88

    HeadClot88

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    Hey Jesta - I am really interested in this!

    I am currently working on a Mech combat game that would be awesome with this.
     
  26. davidsirmons

    davidsirmons

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    Hmm. This is really interesting. I've been looking for a procedural terrain generator for a game idea for some time now. This looks pretty sophisticated, and if by 'free' you mean actually "free" then I'm astonished. As a professional game developer, I see expansive worlds as the next big thing for MMOs. If you'd be interested in working together via trade, I'd be willing to make some models/textures for you if you like. I've worked closely with programmers before so it's in my comfort zone. Here's some of the work I've done, including the Onslaught vehicles for Unreal Tournament 2004:

    $Leviathan.jpg
    $Manta.jpg
    $PRV.jpg
    $Raptor.jpg
     

    Attached Files:

  27. davidsirmons

    davidsirmons

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    ....

    $tank.jpg
    All the UT2K4 stuff is just straight forward diffuse and spec, no normal.

    And some other stuff from Igniton Entertainment a few years ago...

    $vtol_topBottom.jpg
    $First_gunbotRender1.jpg
    $tanknormalrender2.jpg

    I got tons more. So if you'd like to work together on a trade, let me know man. I'd really like to find out what this terrain method of yours can do.

    David
     
  28. davidsirmons

    davidsirmons

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    So is there any update for this promising generator? Two months without a peep and we're all getting nervous/concerned. Are you still working on it?
     
  29. HeadClot88

    HeadClot88

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    Getting concerned as well.
     
  30. davidsirmons

    davidsirmons

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    Yeah, hope he's alright.
     
  31. jesta

    jesta

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    I'm always working on it, but I really should stop saying that the release is "soon". That's an error on my part, sorry.

    I think the main problem is that procedural terrain made with noise isn't really useful for games. Let me explain before you hit the quick reply button: noise can look natural, but good gameplay depends on much more than that. It's quite a challenge to procedurally generate a "playable" map, so I'm looking for solutions to this problem.

    I honestly (and naively) didn't think the demand for this would be so high! I understand that you guys prefer to at least have something even if it's not perfect, so I'll head in that direction. No more ETA though, as it's nearly impossible to predict time frames for such an experimental project. The only thing I can say is that I'll do everything to put a first version on github ASAP.

    Thanks for your patience and sorry for all the frustration.
     
  32. davidsirmons

    davidsirmons

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    "....before you hit the quick reply button..."

    Too late! :D

    For my design, fully procedural terrain is eternally acceptable. It won't be the standard terrain usage kind of game by a longshot. So, as it stands, there will be minimal need for 'flat areas' for roads, paths, etc. since all planets will be likely uninhabited, and terrain won't be part of miniscule gameplay. It will be a directly huge part, but not in the standard way. Still, for the design as-is, a truly planet sized approach has to exist. Honestly, as I said before, I'd love to get ahold of some kind of super big-time terrain method along with in-game terrain deformation. So if you would like to work together, I'm "in like Flynn."
     
    Last edited: May 27, 2014
  33. jesta

    jesta

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  34. Xantheron

    Xantheron

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    Would still love Landforge to be released as it includes procedural terrain generator to be created.
    Would still love Landforge to be released as it includes procedural terrain generator that has different biomes in it.
     
  35. jesta

    jesta

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    Ya, I tested Scrawk's terrain and there are still a few things missing, so LandForge will remain in development.
     
  36. Sir-Spunky

    Sir-Spunky

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    I just found out about this, and I'm really impressed. I think your terrains look much more interesting and varied than Proland's.

    You're right that a game needs more than a terrain, but additional content might look very different between games so I think it's hard to include that in a generic terrain package anyway.

    Although planetary generation is very cool, I think most people are mainly interested in the procedural and seed-based terrain generation part.

    Wish you all the luck with the project!
     
  37. drudiverse

    drudiverse

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    I wrote a procedural terrain code and it's totally working and tidy and ready to code with. it's not as pretty as dx11, here's a player, the only difference is that the recent version has normalmaps, i didn't make any effort to make amazing mountains, it ok for a background scene, it uses about 2-3 percent of processor at walking speeds and about 40 percent at 200kph flying. space button is forwards.
    https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/114667999/landscape flying hd/landscape flying hd.html
     
  38. khos85

    khos85

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    How can I get it?
     
  39. drudiverse

    drudiverse

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    send me a message :)