World Building EasyRoads3D v3 - the upcoming new road system

Hi Peter,

Thank you for the feedback!

Indeed when setting Asset Serialization to Force Text before importing the beta package existing presets are displayed in numbers.

I have to test this more thoroughly but this is what I found so far:

1. When importing the beta package in a project using the default Mixed mode for Asset Serialization the preset names are displayed as they should also when switching to Force Text after the package import.
2. When importing the package in a project already using Force Text for Asset Serialization the preset names are displayed in numbers.

Using method 1 I created a new package and tested method 2 again. Now the preset names are displayed correctly.

So, if you want to use the current beta package in a project with Force Text for Asset Serialization and you do want to use the current presets with the descriptive names, please try the following: create a new empty project, import the package, switch to Force Text and export the full assets folder to a new package. Import this package in your project that uses Force Text. Does that work for you too?

This new package also seems to work fine in a project using the default setting, Mixed mode. I will test this more thoroughly but at this stage it seems that building the packages in a project using Force Text will fix this issue in the next betas.

Thanks,

Raoul

 

Hello,
these steps worked.

Thanks
Peter

 

Glad to hear that worked for you as well

Raoul

 

Hello,
reimporting of package also helps with one bug of runtime API. Now it's possible to attach dynamic created roads to precreated road network. It wasn't working before I reimportet package by this way.

So I have a workaround for problem with icons now showing on dynamic created road network.

P.S.:
would be there some way to create simple crossings from runtime api?
From video I have seen how to manually created crossings. But it will be not so easy from script.
Do we have have some sorf of mesh baking into one on crossings? To prevent popping of layered roads on one place? This will work of course only for simple dirt roads.
Or is there some prefered way to create crossings from runtime?
I know that runtime API is still in development, but I hope that questions from real practice will help to make it better.

Thanks
Peter

 

Hi Peter,

Good to hear that fixed other issues as well, I was wondering how else this asset serialization setting could affect the package import.

Yes, the runtime API at the moment is roads only. I will look at adding crossings to this, it needs some more thought regarding aligning the crossings with roads especially when using this inside the Unity editor without an additional GUI.

I am not sure what you mean with the "mesh baking" and "popping of layered roads" question related to crossings?

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Hi,
I have just purchased the Pro version in order to get the 3 beta from Raoul (Thanks).I have just imported the package, and loaded the example scene, however nothing is working and I get this error. The Easy Roads Buttons are not responding, the system is hanging.

 

Hi!

This is related to the beta registration. Could you check the first issue on the Troubleshooting page in the manual related to Unity 5 and Windows /Unity being launched as a user. In short please make sure to launch Windows / Unity as the administrator in order to register. After registration is succesful things will also work well when logged in as a user. That should solve it.

Please let me know if you need further help with this.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Ah! That makes things a lot clearer, thank you! I'll see if I can figure out how to do this and report back. Thanks again

 

Hello,
yeah I mean crossing of roads. I'm converting some hiking map (orienteering map). So on crossroads I have layered roads without crossing now. With usage of some uniform texture like asphalt without lines or uniform dirt. It could be peferctly enough just to blend these roads together without special crossing.

But now there is a problem that some triangle popup from some angle than another etc.
See screenshot (on screenshot there is not an good material for this type of blending, but it nicely illustrates it):


Nice day
Peter

 

Changed a bit but still error:

 

I registered the product, and looks fine. I restart, I create a new Road System istance, but I can not add anything. Also my License info Fields are empty...

 

Ok, let me know if you need further help. If things still do not work as expected after these changes, you can always send the mesh to me and I will look at it.

Raoul

 

Ok, that makes sense also regarding your dirt roads comment!

Yes, if you use this overlapping approach instead of using real crossings you must make sure the overlapping triangles are aligned correspondingly which will be a challenge especially in an hilly area. You could also try raising one of the roads a little bit higher. I would recommend to use crossing elements instead also because of the terrain flattening aspect. You will probably have to manually adjust the terrain heights slightly using this approach.

Raoul

 

I see in your screenshot that I have to change some code. In that sceenshot only the license fields should be visible, not the build settings. So indeed, now you do not get the initial errors, is that correct?

But did you actually register it with your serial number? Or do the license fields still appear after registration and restarting Unity? In that case, did you receive a confirmation message that registration was succesful? After registering and restarting Unity, the license fields should no longer appear in the Inspector.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

- I only get one error message (See the screenshot)

- I used the Serial provided by your V3 beta 6 Email

- After I attempt to register the Fields appears still empty like the first time after i restart Unity

- Message of confimration is ok, I get it, but again after I restart looks I never did it.

 

Hi TwelveGames,

Please let me know if you need further help with this after the email correspondence we had this afternoon.

In general, to avoid the Unity 5 registration issue on Windows (see the troubleshooting page in the manual which also includes a fix) I made some changes. I will update the beta link. Registeration will now be handled the same as implemented for the Mac.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Are you still working with map-ity dev to have compatibility? I don't want to have to use roadarchitect which is the only road system it supports atm. Also any eta on the official release of v3?

 

Hello blueivy,

I actually got an email today from the map-ity developer. Support for generating roads should be possible through the API. So in theory map-ity can support EasyRoads3D v3. We will work this out.

That said, EasyRoads3D v3 also has build in support for creating roads from data (both OSM and KML). I didn't yet clearlry showed it in this thread because it doesn't support auto inserting crossings at this point, but it is already available since beta 2.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Ok, after the VERY FAST Raoul Support the Registration issue was fixed.

I played a Bit with the Example scene, and something is still wrong. I post this screen to see if it can be helpfull (for example I have try to add new Road/Object but nothing apparently happened, plus I moved a bit the Bridge Example Spots (and the Bridge gone, only the road mash remains)

 

Can you check the side objects (second tab from the right). Do you actually see side objects? Or select the road with the bridge and display the Side Object Status list. Are the side objects listed and is that bridge side object active?

The package I sent this morning was not the complete package (it didn't includes all the assets), perhaps something broke regarding side objects.

Another thing you can try to see if the side object presets are available in the project in general, open the test scene and create a new road network. Is it asking whether you want to import the available side object presets?

Could you try a new project, import the full beta 6 package, afterwards import the update. Then open the Main Scene.

[Edit] Also, could you give more feedback about the problem with creating a new road? Did you actually Shift + click in the scene to add markers after clicking the "Add New Object" button?

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Hey Raoul! Karl over in the ProBuilder thread showed me how to do the road how you suggested and now i've got the connection working! Woo!

New problem though, lol. In the image, the left is the prefab just placed in the scene. On the road is the EasyRoad connection with a road attached. As you can see, my materials don't seem to be correct after putting it through the Custom Prefab Editor?

http://i.imgur.com/KylJtt4.jpg

Would the alert under Materials in the inspector be the problem?

 

Hi ShinfoK,

It look related to the message in the Inspector.

What does the ProBuilder generated object look like? Does it generate child meshed or sub meshes for the different groups?

It looks like it uses submeshes. Could you send the mesh to me so I can look at it? I have to double check if submesh support is actually already fully implemented. If not, I can do that using your example as a test and send you an update so you can try it on your end as well.

If the mesh indeed uses submeshes you could also check whether ProBuilder can generate the mesh using child meshes and check if that works within the system.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

It's been exported to an OBJ with its own mesh (not sure I understand child/submeshes tbh). I'm sending you the files now Thank you!

 

Thanks, I will look at it!

Regarding child meshes and submeshes, you can see that both in the Inspector as in the assets folder. Child meshes are actually separate game objects with their own mesh filter. These objects are linked as a child to the main object. While submeshes uses a single game object, one mesh filter with multiple triangle sets. You can assign a different material to each triangle set.

Raoul

[EDIT] This was indeed an issue with submeshes, a patch is available. Next week a small package update will be released also including the currently disabled additional Terrain Alignment options for side objects.

 

I don't understand how the terrain leveler works. I can run it, and it levels the terrain to the road well. However, it seems like the only option I have at this point is to restore the terrain back to the way it was prior to leveling as you cannot do anything else unless you do this (or finalize). I want to level the terrain to a road and continue working after that point with the terrain permanently changed.

 

Hi DirtyHippy,

The Build Terrain button indeed levels the terrain to the full road network and switching back to Edit Mode restores the terrain to its original state. This is to preserve the original terrain and prevent the old road shape from still being visible in the terrain when you decide to make changes to the road network.

I can add the "Restore" checkbox option also available in v2. But it would still be recommended to keep that switched on, exactly for the reason described above, preserving your original terrain. Or did you mean something else?

Thanks,
Raoul

 

So there may be several workflows here. I understand the user story for the existing case (essentially where you only level the terrain once you are done laying them out).

What I would like to do is more iterative:

1) Layout a road
2) Level the terrain to the road
3) If I like the changes, accept them and it permanently applies those changes (maybe with a yes/no confirmation "Are you absolutely sure you want permanently apply these changes to the terrain?"
4) Go to #1

This is a more iterative approach and an alternative to the existing one. The terrain may change, but so be it. It can always be fixed. As long as you check things in or make backups you will be fine.

Thanks!

 

Yes, that seems similar to the Restore checkbox in v2. That particular checkbox is obsolete in v3 as in v2 it is primarily used to handle multiple terrains which works out of the box in v3. But apart from the "Restore Terrain" button, I can add another “Switch To Edit Mode” button which will not restore the terrain to its original state.

Will that work for you? A small update will be ready in one or two days, I can implement this before releasing it.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Yes. Thanks!

 

This is implemented. By default this new button is not displayed. You will be able to activate it in General Settings > Scene Settings.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Hello.
I bought a new product. I bought the V2 version. No V3 in assets. The product is very nice. I find it hard to intersections. I find it hard to curb. I want to use the V3 version. I'm using Unity5. What should I do?

 

Hello erdoganuguz,

Can you send me a PM, email me or contact me through our website (see the link in my signature). I will send you the v3 beta.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Hello,

Do the textures must have something special? I have put the same texture in the jump and the track but looks different. The circuit is as if much will repeat it goes blurred.



A greeting and thanks.

 

Hi break_heart,

What does the geometry of this connection look like?

You can control the UV layout in the Custom Prefab Editor after clicking the UV Editor button. It works similar as in this movie starting at: 4:45

Or could this be related to the texture orientation? Does rotating it 90 degrees fix it?

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Took a short break to work on modelling some buildings for my game, I'll be back to the intersection models soon

 

Hi ShinfolK, let me know if you have further questions!

To everybody using the betas, Beta 6.1 is available, please use the same download link as the previous beta. In this build the terrain alignment options for side objects are active. In the below screenshot the side objects are aligned with the road normals (in this case the same as the terrain normals).



At the moment I am working on highway type of exit roads / race track pit lanes

Raoul

 

Some things I have noted...Overall I think this is going in a great direction. The new "save terrain and continue editing" button was exactly what I needed, thanks.

1) All of the prefabs under "standard prefabs" are missing script references. I'm sure I could resolve them by comparing them to others and manually fixing them, but I can't be bothered . This happens in imports to new projects too.
2) Undo doesn't appear to work (i.e. remove last segment you just placed in a road) this in combination with shift-clicking to add road leads to a lot of scene reloads when you mistakenly place a point somewhere you didn't need because you were trying to navigate using wasd and holding shift down to move the scene camera. Is there a way to delete a point?.
3) When you place an intersection, it doesn't respect the setting in the to disable hide white surfaces in the general settings (if the setting is off, a new intersection will still show the white surface unless you toggle that setting again). Minor, cosmetic issue.
4) Dynamic intersections are quite unstable. I'm not even going to list issues with them as it takes maybe 15 seconds messing with them to cause exceptions. I don't see them as usable right now. I haven't been able to use non-dynamic intersections yet - maybe they are better (because of #1). This is not to say I don't have some dynamic intersections in place - but often this takes several tries, and messing with settings after they are placed and connected is a recipe for a scene reload.
5) I've seen a number of odd bugs with terrain leveling - i.e. not respecting the height above terrain setting, even placing the mesh below the terrain, etc. It still fails in some cases requiring custom road changes.
6) Many times when you create a new road you will get an exception. I've been deleting these roads, and creating another when this happens. Most of the time the second road is created without an issue.

Unity 5p2

 

Hi DirtyIppy,

1. Please ignore the "standard prefabs" option, I have to remove this. The two final crossing types in v3 are Dynamic Crossings (built-in customizable crossings) and Custom Crossings (crossings / connections based on your own meshes).

2. Undo indeed won't work at the moment in scene view. At this moment implementing all the features has priority, afterwards I will will see to what extend the Unity Undo class can be used to implement undo functionality and check the other options for this.

3. That is on the list to fix, when you switch on/off "Hide White Surface" in General Settings > Scene Settings the white surfaces should disappear though.

4. I think it is useful to report issues with this, especially issues related to the X and T crossings. Roundabouts should be fairly stable as well but you have to be careful changing the radius and adding connections or changing connection positions, you will see warning messages in the case the roundabout cannot be rebuild. Improving this is on the list.

What actions/changes cause issues on your end?

5. Also, regarding this, can you give further feedback, screenshots? When exactly does this happen. Currently the only known situation where this will happen is when the roads / crossings are below the terrains Y value. This cannot be fixed as the terrain cannot be deformed below this Y value, negative height values are not possible.

6. When does this happen? Can you see a pattern? For example, does this happen when you create a new road from the Inspector or when you pull out a new road from a connection?

Thank you for the feedback, much appreciated!

Raoul

 

So, I was testing all this on a terrain of height 0 - that was my bad. Many of the issues seem to have gone away once I wrote a little script to reset the terrain height above 0 (#6 definitely, and #4 is much better). I still see random exceptions and your non-descriptive internal warnings aka "Blah - check this", but they definitely happen less now.

I still see problems with leveling the terrain - I can't seem to get the mesh to offset above the terrain - even by changing the offset value, and without that of course I run into z-fighting issues.

The roundabout insists on displaying the white surface even if I uncheck/check the hide white surfaces in general settings. Cosmetic issue.

Also, sometimes road marker selectors stop working until you restart Unity. I think the last time I saw this happen I mistakenly clicked on a prefab in the intersection window rather than adding it by selecting a road marker and clicking the intersection.

 

Hi DirtyHippy,

Yes, raising the default starting terrain height is recommended, definetely when you also want to add rivers.

I made a note to fix the small issues with white surface on crossings ignoring the "Hide white surfaces" option for the next beta.

Regarding issues related to error message, it is very hard for me to fix these or comment on it without further info. When you report a bug to Unity, they want a full bug report including scripts (or a project) with clear steps how to replicate the issue. At this stage of the beta, error messages are a result of specific actions (or sequence of actions). All known bugs with crossings are fixed, the only known issue was with sidewalks, enabling a sidewalk on one end resulted in errrors when the crossing on the other end of the road had no sidewalks at all (middle green handle in the corner switched of as well). This issue was fixed in beta 5. How can I recreate the errors you are getting? After which actions do you get the exceptions? What are the error messages? Are the issues related to using crossings in the scene (attaching roads etc.) or to customizing the crossing settings?

Can you show screenshots of the terrain levelling issues? What heightmapscale (terrain heightmap vs terrain size) are you using , what does the road and the terrain look like ? flat, hilly? The Unity terrain object is grid based, it is impossible to add points for details, so depending on your terrains heightmapscale you are limited in the complexity of road shapes. Is the issue you have related to this? You can still have reasonably detailed roads on terrains with a a bigger heightmapscale, by using the sideobjects system and generate terrain detail meshes blending with the real terrain.

Regarding selecting road markers, do you mean you cannot select a road marker after selecting/adding an intersection through the Inspector? That is a known bug, which occasionally can happen. Instead of restarting Unity, a workaround for when this happens is to add another crossing to the scene, click on the terrain to deselect it, afterwards reselect and delete the additional crossing. Both road markers and crossings in the scene should now be selectable again. I think this issue is mentioned in the Troubleshooting / Known Issues section of the manual.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Hi Raoul,

Thanks for all your previous help. I am currently trying to use the "Import Road Data" feature to import data from osm. The system works if i enter a road in to all of the osm settings and open the osm file , but if i enter anything in to the Global Terrain Coordinates the road meshes are not generated , We are using an awkwardly sized terrain tile so this would be a really useful feature. Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.

Regards,
Gareth

 

Hi Gareth,

Yes, when using real world data the road data import option is a huge time saver. It hasn't been featured yet because auto creation of crossings is not implemented yet.

In general, when you keep the Global Terrain Coordinates fields empty when importing road data, the bounds corresponding with the terrain(s) bounds will be calculated based on the bounds of the imported road data. Otherwise the entered Terrain Coordinates will represent the bounds of the terrain. Just to double check and eliminate possible reasons why roads are not generated, do the entered coordinates actually surround the coordinates of the road data in the osm data file? And are the lon / lat coordinates entered in the correct fields?

Although the v3 implementation hasn't been thoroughly tested on irregulary sized terrains, the code is ported over from the project we used internally before v3 and our terrains are always irregularly sized.

What is your terrain set up? Did you test the data on square terrains? If you want you can send a test osm data file to me including your terrain settings and global coordinates so I can check this on my end?

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Hello,
it's possible to add segmented objects like fences through runtime API?

I was trying to use newly implemented GetRoadTypes and used Fence 2, but it still created normal road.
Or I'm trying it too early?
Regards
Peter

 

Hi Peter,

Accessing roadTypes through the API is indeed possible in the new beta. But the runtime API is still roads only at the moment.

However, when using an already existing road network, with presets that have side objects assigned as active, it should be relatively easy to implement this in the API.

I can add this for the next beta. But this is probably only useful for presets that are used for side objects only (no roads) which is what you seem to be looking for at the moment. Full support for side objects in the API will need more work as usually you only want side objects active for specific markers.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

I will try to give you more repro info when it is possible. I should be able to provide a pretty solid repro case for the terrain levelling. It would be far easier to give useful information if I had the source code and could see what was happening when exceptions occurred. I also recommend providing more descriptive error messages instead of "check this" and "road is null" and putting sanity checking in for known error cases such as road geometry placed at terrain height == 0.

For example, I have two fences that were laid out as side objects. They are set to stick to the terrain contour. Even though this is the case, they don't seem to change when the terrain is levelled with the levelling tool. What i usually do when this occurs is just unclick/clilck that option (or just move up) the fence and it would refresh. Instead, touching these fences now crashes Unity. I've tried about 5 times now, and Unity consistently CTD if I try to touch those fences. If I had the source code, I could track down what was occurring. Now, I could have deleted these fences and recreated them, but I have kept them in for now in order to see if I could help track down what the issue was.

 

Hi DirtyHippy,

Ok, thank you! Hopefully further info regarding the fence example is included because I cannot recreate that. I tested several fence objects, they all update fine in Build Mode when selecting the handles in the scene and activating / deactivating side objects in the Inspector also does work without problems in Build Mode.

Indeed currently side objects are not automatically updated after switching to Build Mode. A simple refresh is required for that, I will add that on the list for the next beta.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Hey Raoul,

I bought but since I have a regular mesh for my terrain I can't use the Easy Roads Pro I bought.

I would like to know if I convert this mesh to terrain, lay out the road, and then convert back to polygon mesh I will still be able to manually place all the road pieces from Easy Roads right because Easy Roads will bulldoze a path? Most roads model pieces will not lay flat on typical modeled surface.

Thanks.

 

Hey Goat,

Yes, just like in v2 you can convert the mesh to terrain > create the road network > convert the terrain back to mesh > optimize the new mesh terrain keeping detail near the created roads.

Another option, in V3 side objects can also be build Edit Mode (no terrain deformation). A new side object feature is the option to create shapes snapping to the terrain. This way you can use a low resolution terrain and add more detail near the roads using side objects simulating terrain. Also, in your case, (untested) when you put your mesh mesh terrain temporarily on layer 31 and you add a flat terrain (the functionality does require a Unity terrain object in the scene), it may not be necessary to convert to terrain object first, the side object should snap to the mesh terrain. This is also done with side objects in Edit Mode snapping to the generated white surfaces surrouding the roads which are on layer 31. The only thing that will need attention with this approach is the terrain below crossings, although you could also use these white surfaces to simulate terrain.

Or did you mean, continue building the road network after converting the terrain back to mesh? In that case, actual deformation of the mesh terrain based on road network changes will not work.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Thanks, I meant the 1st explanation you gave. I have a link you sent for Easy Roads Pro Beta 3.0.2 last October. Is that still the link to use to retrieve the newest version of the beta?

Also, I want to place house on my land mesh. When I convert it to terrain to make roads with Easy Roads will Easy Roads have a functionality that I can bulldoze flat places to put a house or other building. Or maybe it would be better to create a rectangle foundation with a Unity cube mesh as in done in many places and then place the house on top of that instead of using Easy Roads.

Finally, can I make sidewalks and driveways with Easy Roads?

Thanks.

 

I will send the latest download link to the email address I have on file, please let me know if your email has changed!

Regarding houses and flattening the terrain. There is no specific implementation for that but you could try the same approach as mentioned in my previous message. Use for example plane primitives, resize them and place them on layer 31. This could be easier then manually flattening the terrain when you have many similar type of house shapes.

Sidewalks is part of the dynamic crossing type, you can switch them on or off per road per side. What type of driveways do you need, with or without sidewalks? If you need this with sidewalks the current options for dynamic crossings may not be sufficient. It depends on the look you want. More dynamic crossing options dealing with this type of situations will follow. In any case, you can do all this already in the current betas by using the custom crossing / connection system based on your own connection meshes. The previous page includes questions from ShinfoK related to the same, subject, driveways.

Thanks,
Raoul