[Released] Modular Building System (Realtime/InGame building system)

Cool. Would love to see some shots of your system working with the exteriors pack as well. You would get an instant buy from myself and a pretty sizable community I think

 

Well, now the word is out! I was hoping to keep you my secret from that sizable group. LOL

Adam is correct. I think you will find a lot of customers with this sort of asset.

 

The whole reason there is white placeholder models in the MBS currently is because they are supposed to be swapped out with other meshes. You can simply copy a wall prefab, rename it and change the meshes, collider meshes then modify the grid size in the wall placement script via the inspector. Then you simply equip the new wall prefab in game and that's it.

You can use this with any size models.

If you need a different type of behaviour from the standard placement scripts (wall, foundation, prop, etc etc) you can copy an existing script and modify it as needed.

That's good to hear

 

I can't wait to try it. I have all sorts of ideas in my head for how this will benefit our game.

 

When is this being released mate?? I will buy it straight away!

 

Submitted for review on the 1st of June, so just going through that process then hopefully it will be up soon!

 

Yay!!! So excited. So many great assets recently.

 

It is there to buy now

 

Hi, @ModularTech3D - I couldn't see this detailed anywhere, but can you save the position of the prefab objects after you quit the game and go back in, they load up? Plus how would this work on multiplayer - XML, loads up the prefabs into the client games?

edit: Then sync up any new additions to all clients so they can see the changes on multiplayer?

 

Found it! Thanks.

 

It depends on the Networking system you are using.

If you are making a small game say 32 people type of death match, yeah you can just send out packets to everyone and make the modules appear on the terrain or your level. Obviously tho this doesn't include zoning so it's not as optimized.

The standard unity networking allows you to use buffered packets, so when new players connect, these packets get sent to them (building packets for instance) then the building sections will appear to them

TNet also uses something similar to buffered packets but it actually saves them into a dat file, so you can shut the server down and restart it. Then when players connect the packets will be sent to all the players just like with buffered packets but this actually does save it to a dat file so they will survive the server shutting down.

With Bolt you can use the event system to spawn objects but i haven't got around to getting saving working with this yet.

But to answer, yeah you can save them into a dat/xml file etc.


For things like zoning or using in MMO, you don't want to send every buffered packet to every player as they might not even be in the same area to be able to see it. So you would use a zoning system to check what areas a player is in and then send him the building information for that zone only. Might be easier to keep a dat file for each zone but i suppose this depends on the size of the game world etc.

If you have any other questions feel free to ask, and keep your eyes open for the Networking Example scenes once i add them.

I will be making examples for as many of the unity networking assets as possible which will include, unity standard, bolt, photon, ulink, tnet, smartfox etc

 

I hope Unity standard is uNet since the old system is not available anymore.

 

Ah ok, well if that's the case it will be uNet then (i've not been keeping up with things as too busy! )

 

@ModularTech3D - great! Looking forward to these updates/examples. Off to purchase!

For the record, using Photon atm, but would also like to support uNet.

 

uNet please

 

Really looking forward to those samples and some more videos before I purchase. It looks perfect for us but I would like to see more.

 

I bought it already thanks, looks great, just having a problem with the example scenes - the terrain is missing?? the fps contoller falls through the scene, and I added a terrain in but the foundations won't place anywhere but on the existing building examples. I'm sure I'm missing something..

 

This really looks amazing.
Reminds me of Rust's building system, and looks like it's almost like what I've been looking for.

Would this work with Inventory Pro?
https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/31226


Also,
I've recently been playing a game called Tree of Life, and am really loving the way they handle building walls and fences in that game,
is it possible to have meshes snap and connect to each other using both straight and corner meshes?
I've attached a diagram of what I'm trying to achieve

 

Hey i have messaged you regarding this.

 

Currently it doesn't do this but i am going to add in an option to turn this on and off for certain pieces, such as roof, fence and walls etc.

It should work with Inventory Pro, as long as when you equip an item in the inventory you can make it instantiate a building item and when unequipping you need to Destroy the building item. I am nearly finished a couple more example files that have inventory examples included so this can also help you to figure things out.

 

Sounds great, thanks for that!
Will definitely be buying it

 

Works great Busy putting new materials on the cubes and making the doorway different size. Thanks for helping me with the terrain, it was the terrain tags were wrong. Excellent work!

 

You will like the Fallout 4 Building system

 

Sweet glad you got it sorted, keep an eye for updates too as i will be adding more type of placement modules such as doors, windows and props, will add more as is needed as well. Also have a new example scene with inventory coming next, show how you can equip items from an inventory system!

Haha, is this a good thing or a bad thing?, i need to see it haha runs to youtube*

*Edit haha! damn! The game which my building system was being made for has a settlement system lol! Didn't know FA4 had added this!!! Hopefully more people will see the potential in modular building systems

 

keep up the good work. by the way Bolt joins Photon (if you plan on supporting it also) https://www.exitgames.com/en/bolt

 

Interesting! i will look into this, cheers.

*edit

Whoah!, had no idea this was on the cards haha, thanks for the heads up i must look into this more. Been a while since i worked on my game so not been using bolt lately...

 

Would any of you find it useful if i built this in an earlier version of unity 3.x , 4.x etc etc, i read it's better to use an earlier version as more people are using previous versions. What do you guys think? Or would it be better to make a separate asset for earlier versions?

With regards to news etc, an update is coming within the next few days, i will put up 2 more web player demos showing the MBS used in conjunction with an inventory, action bar, item system and item database. There is 2 new Example scenes and several new scripts as well. What's good about this is i can now add more building modules as we wont be limited to 8 items Items can be stacked and will be depleted upon usage but i am going to include an option for creative mode so they can also be infinite.

A rough road map will be once the new update is out, i will add more building module types, settlement system with building plots. After that i will start doing the networking examples.

I will also add in any other features people can think of that will benefit the system so keep the suggestions coming.

On a side note if anyone here prefers to use Sellfy you can get the Modular Building System with 30% off for a limited time.

 

I'm using Inventory Pro, so examples of stacking and consuming items would be great. I would have thought that people would have upgraded to 5.x of Unity as its free, unless they don't like the eye watering editor colour, or their project is too far in to upgrade.

 

It used to be the more people were using 4.x but I think the latest numbers are 60% using 5.x. I think it would fine for you to make it work in 4.x but probably a separate version since 5.x has different capabilities and we don't want a watered down product.

Still planning to buy this, btw! Need to get terrain set first. Looking forward to the new videos and the networking example!

 

I agree with Telia on keeping things separate, however supporting older versions on two builds may only be time consuming for you, but could also cause issues and generate more support. If you supported just 5.x - your product would be sustainable long-term. It may not bring in those 4.x sales, but you may see the benefits further down the line when 4.x is no longer supported. Maybe if you developed a version that up to a certain point works on 4.x, but then anything above that is 5.x onwards with a feature list comparison.

 

I agree makes perfect sense.

If it's 60% using 5 then i guess there is nothing to fear And cool glad to hear it, coming very soon with updates, next one will have HUD examples, then the update after that will start to get networking example scenes, which networking library would you guys like to see first?

 

If i get enough specific requests i guess i might do a separate 4.x version providing it isn't going to hold up any other features that have priority, such as networking examples+scenes etc. It shouldn't take too long as there was only a few things that i needed to update when i moved my survival project to 5.0, just had some warnings about certain commands being deprecated soon, in fact, Unity was able to auto convert most of the issues to the new commands. But yeah i'll only do it if there is enough interest because by sounds of things if 60% are using 5.x now and in such a short time then it seems it wont be long before 80% are on 5.x

 

I think many of the people sticking with 4.x are developers who had projects more than half done. It made no sense for them to start all over. Once those projects are done, I would guess it would bump up quite a bit. That is probably why it went from 40% to 60% in a few months.

 

Photon then maybe uNet.. I think uNet is still early for me to implement.

 

We will either use Forge Networking or Unet.

 

Is Forge networking still in BETA as I've not seen any updates on it since Jan?

 

They just released it on their website. Their thread here on the Unity forums is pretty active!

 

I agree with @Teila - anyone still left on Unity 4.x is deep into their current project and unlikely to incorporate a new fundamental asset like Modular Building System. My vote is to focus your effort on improving and supporting the Unity 5.x version.

 

Don't think i've heard of Forge but i will check it out.

Agreed.

Inventory + action bar, complete, added doors and windows. Tonight i will be adding a Prop Placement script and a few example items such as a table, chair and picture, then tomorrow i will upload the updated package.

After that i can start the networking examples.

I'll probably start with photon but tbh it's really easy to convert to networking btw, you just have to replace the instantiate command in the placement scripts with the networking instantiate commands

I'm thinking i will just include a manager type script where you can switch between the different networking libraries instantly. Well at least for the ones that use network instantiation.

 

@ModularTech3D - nice idea on the network switching. Will come in handy if you have more than one networking solution implemented. Thanks for joining my group btw, don't forget you can promote your asset in the General discussion, it'll get seen more.

 

Ah ok, I'm new to linkedin will post in the general, cheers for heads up

 

No worries, not all groups allow it. But we're all for promoting Games, Tools, Tech and Tutorials Keep us updated on your progress.

 

Thanks for the support, appreciate it.

 

Hi! Is this still being developed? Waiting for more information. My team is bugging me to buy it but want to make sure it will work with our own models. Are you going to still update it so players can place their own land/plots as well?

Thanks.

 

Hey,

Will you be making tutorials for this any time soon?
Would really help with more indepth tutorials, especially for inventory systems.
I will be trial and erroring though, to see if I can figure it out myself, but a few tutorials would be nice.

Also, how do you get that nice free and flexible placement you have in your medieval video with the fences?
Would that also be possible with foundations and pre-made buildings?

 

Nice job, that you have done in the assets.And after looking a glance at your viewers i think i can use it for my game too!

Asset Store Link:
https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/publisher/13387

 

Hey yep still working on it, next update is coming very soon. It will have Doors, Window and prop placement as well as an inventory, action bar and item system. With the item system, you will be able to add your own items to the database and select which prefabs you want to use or instantiate upon equipping said item.

Territory system will be coming soon it's just i really need to wait until i start with the networking examples. Unless you want this in single player also? Not sure if it's needed for single player. If you are doing single player and want players to be blocked from certain areas or only allowed to building in certain areas i can make a prefab that you can place on the maps to block or allow building.

Aside from that it will probably come with the multiplayer updates. Let me know your point of view on this as i may have missed something.

Yep i am going to be doing that once i got most of the example scenes sorted, there is quite a few planned. Including one that will show how to do the same as the "Free & Flexible Placement". Yes it is possible with foundations and also premade buildings but for foundations after testing i decided the make them stick to a grid. It's possible to make other versions tho which i can include.

Thanks, yeah you can use this to place prefabs on the terrain or if you have modular collections of meshes you can make them snap together etc.

 

Great! Very happy that we will be able to easily add our own items.

You are right..wait with the territory stuff and include it with the networking examples. Makes sense.

I like the grid a lot. Makes it easier to be precise. Will the snap be part of your asset or something we need to add to our models?

Thanks!

 

Cool.

It's built into the system, but you can change the grid size for each mesh if needs be or you can make it more rigid by turning up the grid size so it can only snap into certain spots.

Thanks to you guys also.

Lee.

 

Any ETA on the update which includes the example scenes?