World Building EasyRoads3D v3 - the upcoming new road system

Thank you for letting me know, I will double check the guard rail model. The current side objects are only examples, the final package will include more side objects. And just like in v2, the side objects system is flexible, you can use your own models as well.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

You can try things like that use functions, variables exposed in the dll, etc. but it is at your own risk, I wouldn't recommend it. Instead use API code only.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Looking forward to that!

If you create a commercial addon you probably want to start your own thread as well but you can post here meanwhile. What you prefer!

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Hello !

I'm having some problems preparing the layout of roads. Connecting intersections often causes Unity to crash and I was wondering if there was a way to build the basic layout using a grid or more strict snapping ?

Perhaps something a bit like the "Road Network Generator" Unity plugin, where you could draw the layout using a simple grid and it would generate the network.

There might be some tricks (didn't get to read all the posts in this thread) to accomplish something like this.

Here's what my current layout looks like (as you can see, I rarely change road types):


Any suggestions are welcome !

 

Thank's.

Sorry about delay, but, starting within 5 minute (after an one cigaret). Had a huge working phase at factory and after that had to take a little free time with huge amount of sleep

 

Hi Frankov,

Could you provide more info regarding Unity crashing when connecting intersections? When exactly does that happen? After which action? Does Unity indeed crash and is a restart required or do you get error messages?

A road network is build using roads and sepearte intersection objects. Looking at the picture you included different intersection types are required. This makes generating the road network by drawing a grid a bit complicated.

There are several ways to build the road network, connect intesrections directly to roads on connect roads (start new roads) from intesrections. Is the last option what you are looking for? Start by positioning all the intersections in the scene, pull out a road from a connection and connect it to the other intersection?

Or is this more about alignment? Currently there are no marker alignment options yet (like in v2) but this will be added and if this is useful, I could also add alignment options for crossings.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Ok , I will add your request for API access to info about which crossing is connected to which road to the next beta.

Raoul

 

Thank's I need it as you see on picture below.

I made a few modifications to get inspector much simplier & user friendly. Now it works on runtime & edit mode as well (can load & save waypoints to/from disk on both situations -> don't lost editings made on run mode when returning to edit mode).

One thing came up with "left/right" definitions. (seen on picture, looking road from "wrong" direction). I will insert "L"/"R" text gizmos to road / or change L/R gizmo colors for editing purposes.

 

Yes, I know, you need it to connect waypoints between roads across intersections.

Will you be expanding this further so apart from this being a waypoint system it can also be used as a bridge between EasyRoads3D and AI packages such as iRDS / iTS? I think that would be really useful.

This is on the list but it doesn't have the highest priority because there are so many other features I want to add directly related to the core functionality, the generation of road network / procedural geometry.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

It should be done without ripping hairs off. I try to keep API functions as usable as possible.
I have a many different kind of functions for same usage. User can get ie. waypoints as
List<t>, Vector3[] or one by one already. I learned about +30 years ago, that there is always
some function missing on 3rd party codes to get things done much easier without parsing,
reparsing structures etc... At first, as I need it by myself, I make (continue) a bridge between
Apex <-> APEXWP <-> WayPointer <-> EasyRoads. And! The waypointer will have a simple
pathfinder inbuilded also. It's middle on nowhere now as long as I get those crossing infos.
But take it easy! I may go to fishing, swimming and sauna(ferry) at weekend to my lake, so....

I have to get touch with iRDS / iTS makers later on...

EDIT (typos):

Btw. Do you have an easy solution for automated definitions for scripts. Let's say, I have
an Apex included to project and let's say, that Apex itself doesn't set any definitions for
compiler. It is not so hard to set definition to Build settings, so it is not major problem,
but it would be nice to get automized...

#ifdef APEX_PATHFINDER
// Haa, we have an apex, so we have also these
// functions available. Yeeyee...
//
void apex_findxxxxxx()
{
}
//
#endif

 

Yes, Apex support sounds good as well!

I am not in a hurry At this moment we ourselves actually do not need pathfinding / AI on our roads. it was just a question, I thought it would be useful and interesting for other people if you make this addon a complete bridge between EasyRoads3D and pathfinding / AI solutions.

I don't have an easy solution for that.

Thanks and enjoy your weekend!
Raoul

 

Thanks.

Okay. Main bridging routines done for my own path finder (coded inside bridge script) and for Apex path find. There is a more to do, like lane selection for object, constant speed, dec/inc speeds, and follow road speed limits functions. Also Hold/Wait/Resume functions for ie. traffic light behaviour handlings.... All AI/PathFinders doesn't have them (Apex have), so they are must.

Now I go to sleep. Have to wake early enough for fishing

 

Hey man, how's the v3 going ? I can't wait for it, so excited about it but it seems that it's not going really fast theese days ? Can you let us know what's going on, are you having some time issues, bugs ? Or what's cousing it to be so slow ? Tried free v2 and it's not really good without the intersections, that's why i want v3 so much ! (But ofcourse the final one not beta that has crash bugs or other sorts of bugs)

 

Don't guess me wrong, but really need it, programmers with no modeling skills need something like this.

 

Hi RickyX,

Yes, it has been a month or so since the last beta is released. But there are no issues, etc. I am just adding stuff like the v2 terrain back up / restore options, implement full support for lightmapping / bumpmaps for roads, crossings and side objects, add other additional features, improve things, etc.. A new beta will be releases next week.

As for crashes, please report with steps to reproduce. There are no known issues like that since beta for 4 or so. We use this every day and it never crashes so please report if you do experience this. Also for bugs in general. It is very much appreciated!

The development of V3 will be ongoing both regarding improvements as new features also after the first public release. Also, it will still take some time to create a new demo project, update the website, tutorials, the manual, etc. All together, you may want to consider trying out the betas meanwhile if you need it urgently.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Very interested -- we use meshes instead of Terrain, how many of these features require Terrain?

 

Hi Giuseppe,

When using a Mesh as the terrain, the only feature not working is the terrain deformation, flattening the terrain to match the road shape. You could consider to use the side objects system for this and automartically generate terrain overlay meshes matching the road shape and snapping to your mesh terrain, if your terrain is hilly.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

I have to believe it. There is something first position problems on splines with ER.
This seems to happend, when starting a road from "Left or Right hand" of "T"
crossing. The "root" of "T" seems to work correctly.

As you see, the connections surrounded by yellow circle are as they should be.
But those green ones are not.

 

Hi Jari,

Do you mean for example at the top the red handles continue at the top on the other side.

This was done in the early beginning and I may have to double check but the implemented logic is to keep the road the same at both sides of a crossing. Imagine a one lane on the right and two lanes on the left texture, it should continue in the same way at the other side. of the crossing regardless whether you start or end a road at that other side.

Is that what you mean?

Thanks,
Raoul

 

No. I mean distance between first spline marker vs. real start of spline.




Yellow and green spline points (from GetSplinePointsxxxxx() aren't at 0 position, where the marker is positioned).

Purple is.

 

Yes, sorry, I see what you mean.

You are using a 6.6 alpha version with blending for T crossings active. This will deform the T crossing according the same spline shape as the road up to the center of the crossing which does affect the start / end of a road.

It seems that when recalculating the spline points for the road either at the start of the road the first point is skipped or the last point at the end is not included in the spline point arrays..

I will look at that, thank you for letting me know!

Raoul

 

Seems most of my problems came from Unity itself - from trying to undo marker placements or rotating intersections while they were connected.

I was able to create the basic layout and place my buildings to populate the scene and it looks good - I think the fact that the placement is not 100% accurate adds to the look a lot too.

I will take screenshots of my progress and I still have some questions but I love the plug-in so far !

 

It's prob. posted somewhere in this thread, but anyway, how do I apply for the beta?

 

Hi Frankov,

Glad you like the plug-in so far and that you were able to resolve the previous issues!

Yes, please ask if you have questions.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Hi DesertRaven,

I just sent v3 beta info by email.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

We use meshes, not Unity terrain. Will this system work with meshes?

 

Hi hippocoder,

This was also asked a couple of posts upwards by Giuseppe.

You can lay out roads and side objects but the system will not update the terrain mesh according the road shape like it does with the Unity terrain object.

Alternatively you could use the side objects system for this and automartically generate terrain overlay meshes snapping to your mesh terrain. Or use the white surfaces for this as these are also generated for crossing objects.

We also use meshes for the terrain instead of the Unity terrain object. Our system is completely build around all this. It might be tricky to get this to work accurately with any arbritray mesh terrain but if there is enough demand for that, at some point I may add support for triangulation with mesh based terrains, that is what we do ourselves.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Hi raoul. why it looks like this? I can increase resolution for a bit better result but still it's kind of none smooth.

 

Hi ksam2,

You mean the terrain, is that right? What you see is the grid nature of the Unity terrain object, it becomes visible with bigger height differences.

Something to do is copy over the v2 terrain smooth options but it will probably not help a lot in this sort of situations assuming you want to simulate a steep cliff right next to the road?

V3 has additional options to achieve that by using mesh overlays simulating terrain, see the screenshot in the first post of this thread. This way you can create smooth cliffs right next to the road. That screenshot has a wall on the outer side of the road but that can terrain as well, it is a shape type of side object snapped to the terrain.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

HI Raoul, been some time... have been working on other models before working on roads again.

Ok I have started looking into the side object issue.
I am looking into a Palm tree side object.
This Palm Tree exists in all 4 Terrains.

I get error...

Side Object detected with empty Side Object Instance: Palm Trees Center, parent object: Motorway 2x2 04_2_2
UnityEngine.Debug:LogWarning(Object)
EasyRoads3Dv3.OOOQQQODCO:OCQQQOQCDO(ERModularBase, ERModularRoad, SideObject)
EasyRoads3Dv3Editor.OOCQCCCQCC:OOQCQDOODQ(ERModularBase)
EasyRoads3Dv3Editor.OODQDDCDDD:OQODOCQDDO(ERModularBase, ODCOOODOQO)
EasyRoads3Dv3Editor.ODCOOODOQO:OnInspectorGUI()
UnityEditor.DockArea:OnGUI()


This sideobject is turned off on ALL roads.
But I get this error even if sideobject is not active on this road.
I get error on 3 roads all with this side object off.

Motorway 2x2 04_2_2
Motorway 2x2 05_2
Motorway 2x2 03

I next tried to do a "Refresh Road Network" then Unity Hangs upon refreshing side objects with error...

ArgumentOutOfRangeException: Argument is out of range.
Parameter name: index
System.Collections.Generic.List`1[UnityEngine.Vector3].get_Item (Int32 index) (at /Users/builduser/buildslave/mono-runtime-and-classlibs/build/mcs/class/corlib/System.Collections.Generic/List.cs:633)
EasyRoads3Dv3.OOOQQQODCO.OOCOCOCOOD (UnityEngine.GameObject go, EasyRoads3Dv3.SideObject so, EasyRoads3Dv3.ERModularRoad roadScr)
EasyRoads3Dv3.OOOQQQODCO.OCQQQOQCDO (EasyRoads3Dv3.ERModularBase scr, EasyRoads3Dv3.ERModularRoad roadScr, EasyRoads3Dv3.SideObject so)
EasyRoads3Dv3Editor.OOCQCCCQCC.OOQCQDOODQ (EasyRoads3Dv3.ERModularBase scr)
EasyRoads3Dv3Editor.OODQDDCDDD.OQODOCQDDO (EasyRoads3Dv3.ERModularBase scr, EasyRoads3Dv3Editor.ODCOOODOQO eScr)
EasyRoads3Dv3Editor.ODCOOODOQO.OnInspectorGUI ()
UnityEditor.InspectorWindow.DrawEditor (UnityEditor.Editor editor, Int32 editorIndex, Boolean forceDirty, System.Boolean& showImportedObjectBarNext, UnityEngine.Rect& importedObjectBarRect, Boolean eyeDropperDirty) (at C:/buildslave/unity/build/Editor/Mono/Inspector/InspectorWindow.cs:1150)
UnityEditor.DockArea:OnGUI()


Will move on to next side object issue when this is resolved

Best
G.

 

Raoul also getting this error....

The tree PalmTree_single_2sided couldn't be instanced because the prefab contains no valid mesh renderer.

The tree object does have mesh renderers but its on two separate objects, theres one for leaf canopy and another for trunk and both in the Tree gameobject.

If you want to test I believe the Palm trees are : Yughues Free Palm Trees : from asset store.

Can this be worked on or just change to another tree.

Thanks

Gus

 

Hi Gus,

Yes, it has been some time, how are you?

The Palm Trees warning is not so much related to side objects being active on roads but more related to previously generated instances of that side object for a road. It means this side object was previously active.

When you deactivate a side object for a road, you will see that the side object is removed in the scene. I think this is still a warning as a result of these instances not being removed correctly in previous betas. The object still exists in the scene but the reference to the side object was removed.

The warning outputs the associated roads, can you select these roads in the hierarchy and look in the child objects for that specific side object instance “Palm Trees Center” and delete these objects (they are no longer active). The error should no longer appear.

When you Refresh the Road Network this same message will appear. But it will not remove it automatically at this moment so I don’t think the second error is related to that.

Can you try the above steps, check if the first warning indeed disappears. And whether the other “Refresh Road Network” error still appears afterwards?

Thanks,

Raoul

 

Hi again,

I don't think this an error thrown by EasyRoads3D.

I am downloading the Yughues Palm Trees package at the moment and will have a look.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

But in V2 I haven't issue like this and build terrain was really smooth but in V3 B6.5 when I build is looks like that. I wouldn't to create cliff, want it be as it is.

 

I just tested this palm tree.

It works fine when you assign it directly to a side object.

However, as soon as I add this palm tree manually to the Unity terrain object I get the same error:

Code (csharp):

1. The tree PalmTree_single_2sided couldn't be instanced because the prefab contains no valid mesh renderer"

Manually adding this tree to the terrain in the scene indeed fails. This looks like an issue with the specific Palm Tree prefab, it doesn't work with the Unity terrain object..

You can still use it as a standard side object, it will not be added to the terrain object in Build Mode.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Hi ksam2,

In my previous reply I mentioned that the smooth options in v2 are not implemented yet, I will do that.

But this will round the edges. There is no way (neither in v2) to create a smooth edge as sharp as in your screenshot. That is impossible because of the grid nature (heightmap) of the unity terrain object.

You can experiment with this using the terrains Smooth Height tool using a small Opacity level. The EasyRoads3D v2 smooth option has similar results.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

OK I removed those sideobjects and warnings are now gone.

But I still get error with refresh road, but I can see it stops/crash at refreshing side objects, last time it stopped at 133/213 and now it seems to have progressed 1 more >> 134/213.

Error:

ArgumentOutOfRangeException: Argument is out of range.
Parameter name: index
System.Collections.Generic.List`1[UnityEngine.Vector3].get_Item (Int32 index) (at /Users/builduser/buildslave/mono-runtime-and-classlibs/build/mcs/class/corlib/System.Collections.Generic/List.cs:633)
EasyRoads3Dv3.OOOQQQODCO.OOCOCOCOOD (UnityEngine.GameObject go, EasyRoads3Dv3.SideObject so, EasyRoads3Dv3.ERModularRoad roadScr)
EasyRoads3Dv3.OOOQQQODCO.OCQQQOQCDO (EasyRoads3Dv3.ERModularBase scr, EasyRoads3Dv3.ERModularRoad roadScr, EasyRoads3Dv3.SideObject so)
EasyRoads3Dv3Editor.OOCQCCCQCC.OOQCQDOODQ (EasyRoads3Dv3.ERModularBase scr)
EasyRoads3Dv3Editor.OODQDDCDDD.OQODOCQDDO (EasyRoads3Dv3.ERModularBase scr, EasyRoads3Dv3Editor.ODCOOODOQO eScr)
EasyRoads3Dv3Editor.ODCOOODOQO.OnInspectorGUI ()
UnityEditor.InspectorWindow.DrawEditor (UnityEditor.Editor editor, Int32 editorIndex, Boolean forceDirty, System.Boolean& showImportedObjectBarNext, UnityEngine.Rect& importedObjectBarRect, Boolean eyeDropperDirty) (at C:/buildslave/unity/build/Editor/Mono/Inspector/InspectorWindow.cs:1150)
UnityEditor.DockArea:OnGUI()


Thanks
G.

 

Hi Raoul, ok removed offending trees from terrain.
Added as standard side object.

Thanks!
G.

 

Raoul - getting the following errors on build...

This comes out 2x:

Code (CSharp):

1. cleaning the mesh failed
2. UnityEngine.MeshCollider:set_sharedMesh(Mesh)
3. EasyRoads3Dv3.QDQDOOQQOOQDD:CreateMesh(Transform, List`1, List`1, Int32, String)
4. EasyRoads3Dv3.QDQDOOQQOOQDD:OQOCCCOCQD(ERModularBase, Single&, Single&, Single&, Single&, Single)
5. EasyRoads3Dv3Editor.OOCQCCCQCC:OQCCCOQDOC(ERModularBase, ODCOOODOQO)
6. EasyRoads3Dv3Editor.ODCOOODOQO:OnInspectorGUI()
7. UnityEditor.DockArea:OnGUI()
8.  

This comes out 4x - I suppose one for each terrain object.

Code (CSharp):

1. cleaning the mesh failed
2. UnityEngine.Collider:set_enabled(Boolean)
3. EasyRoads3Dv3.QDQDOOQQOOQDD:OQCQOOQDOD(ERModularBase, ERTerrain, Terrain, Single, Single, Single, Single)
4. EasyRoads3Dv3.QDQDOOQQOOQDD:OQODQOQCCD(ERModularBase, ERTerrain, Terrain, Single, Single, Single, Single)
5. EasyRoads3Dv3Editor.OOCQCCCQCC:OQCCCOQDOC(ERModularBase, ODCOOODOQO)
6. EasyRoads3Dv3Editor.ODCOOODOQO:OnInspectorGUI()
7. UnityEditor.DockArea:OnGUI()

These are the only errors I now have on build - managed to clear everything else.

G.

 

Hey again Raoul,

Unfortunately I seem to have another "bug" to report here with beta 6.5 in that the roads are not aligning to the crossings despite the road being snapped to it:



As you can see, the Y position for both the road markers/object and the crossing are set to 60.15:




Both are using the default road material as well and no side objects are added to the road; it's just a straight shot in to the crossing. Any advice or workarounds would be much appreciated.

 

Hi Gus,

I will send you a test build that will output more info.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

The first error seems related to removing vegetation. There is a Mesh.Clear() that may cause a problem. I changed that so that can be tested too in the build I will send you.

I cannot trace the second error. Which version of Unity and with beta version are you using?

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Hi Besus,

The current version has a bug related to the "Raise" option in the middle "Build" tab in the Inspector. When you deselect / reselect the road network this can become noticable.

Can you double check the Y position of the main Road Network Game Object, this should be 0. But more importantly the Y positions of both the child objects "Connection Objects" and "Road Objects". These should be the same matching the "Raise" Value.

This bug is fixed in the next beta available later this week. For now it is better to keep the Raise value at 0.

Please let me know if your issue is not related to this.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Unity V5.0.2f1

ERV3 Beta 6.5t1

 

Yes, the error matches Beta 6.5t1, thank you!

I will send you a new build later today.

Raoul

 

A-ha, that was it. Two of the child road objects in the hierarchy had incremented themselves on position.y by the raise road value while the others (and the connection objects) remained at 0. Thanks for the prompt response!

 

Glad to hear that was indeed the problem! In the next beta these two objects will be in synch both adjusting identically to "Raise" changes.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Hi Raoul.

I do not want to hesitate, so, do you have an any idea about eta for beta, what includes runtime
crossings (for my roading system + waypointer system)?

I feel, like I have no hands currently what comes on waypointer system ;-)

Thinking................. Yep, I can do that too ;-)

The most urgent commands for runtime roads are:

- Those previous, that I can get info about crossings & connection for waypointer.

And for realtime roading. Simple one:

- AddCrossing(name, type/material, size, position, rotation);

Next needs a copy from editor behaviour. The idea is. I have a runtime crossing. I drag a road
near to it, and "ask connection" for first or last roadmarkerID to one of crossing point.
After that the routine "incjects" the road in to it.
Or if you have a better way to do it....

- ConnectRoadToCrossing(myroadname, roadmarkerID, crossingname,
connectionpoint); or similar...

And for connecting purposes I need info about crossing connections like (to find nearest and free one):

- GetConnectionVector(crossingname, out vector3[] connectionvectors, out bool[] used);


Glad, that I have so much more to do with game, so I can wait, but lazygun rip his cloths off
soon . I got finally my Kinetic for Xbox One V2 work with PC (and Unity) by hacking it, so
I really have a fun time while making grazy animations for my game with >60000 npc character
variations (originals are from Honeti)

btw, If anyone is interested. I have a nice Donald Duck model (ripped), but I never learned
how to connect skin to bones. (I created those bones for it earlier with 3dsmax), so, it would
be nice, if someone will do that. An one extra funny worker for visiting time to time on my
game scene

 

Hi Jari,

Either tomorrow or in the weekend the new beta will be available. I belief everything that has been discussed lately here on the forum has been added (access to the crossing info for your waypointer code) or fixed (missing spline position at the start when connected to a T Crossing).

Connecting roads to crossings at runtime as you mention in your last post will also be added but that needs more time.

Good luck with your Donald Duck model

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Hey take your time jokaida, no rush from me right now