Terrain Composer2 a next generation GPU powered terrain tool.

Hi Nathaniel,

- just FYI -

I assume that the fact that TC2 doesn't do anything yet on Unity 5.6.0b3 is because the state of Metal support in the Unity editor cannot yet handle TC2.
After downloading today's TC2 update I did some more testing because, well, you never know

However, I still get the same behaviour: a completely black TC2 window with only the File - Options - Help menu, but none of those coloured stamps show up. The right side of the window with the 'Seed' input and the small buttons is not there either.

I also noticed that after enabling the experimental "Editor Metal Support" in the player settings the GPU seemed to become very unstable. For instance, when opening one of the test terrains from the TC2 menu and clicking on the Terrain Area node in the Hierarchy window the TC2, Inspector and Hierarchy windows start to flicker erratically.
Doing this apparently made the GPU choke: there are a dozen or so DiagnosticReports dumped, all with this error:

GPU Reset -
NVDA(Graphics): Channel exception! Exception type = 0x45 Graphics Engine Error (GR Class Error)

I submitted a beta bug report, I hope it is of some use. I also mention it here in case that any of this sounds familiar to you - e.g. I could be forgetting something obvious

cheers
Lúthien

 

Thanks. How functional is TC2 when running on the latest 5.6 beta?

 

I don't have a Mac, but look at the post just above yours to see a user experience. ^^

 

Collision does not work for me with Unity 5.5.0f3 and Latest TC2 with
Beta 7l patch. I set mask to the layers containing the objects and mode to mask. Is this correct?

 

Hello

I have the following issue/bug when generate a terrain by script. First I get the shifted terrain:

And only when I click on the terrain in the scene object then it shifts everything like it has to be:

So the question is: whan happens when I click on the Terrain in the scene? I'd like to add this adjustment to the terrain generation code. Or maybe this is a bug that should be fixed.

Regards
Ilya

 

Okay, so I'm running 25 terrains. The size is 2048 x 2048, with resolutions of 513 (heightmap), 512 (splatmap), 128 (basemap), and 512 (grass resolution, with 16 grass-per-patch).

In the profiler it says my camera render time is 8.45 ms. And it says culling is 4.05 ms of that. And Terrain.Heightmap.RenderStep3 takes up 1.53 ms of that.

First, is 8 ms for a frame a long time? Is spending half of that time on culling a lot? And if so, what can I do to reduce it? I know TC is planning some kind of culling or streaming system, but I don't know if/when it will be implemented.

My scene currently only holds TC, UniStorm, and Suimono.

 

Hi Nathaniel,

After installing you patch I still have some essues. Basicaly I cant do anything ))
I am using Mac Unity 5.5.0p4. And I am getting this errors:

Kernel 'MethodAdd' not found
UnityEngine.ComputeShader:FindKernel(String)
TerrainComposer2.TC_Compute:OnEnable() (at Assets/TerrainComposer2/Scripts/Generate/TC_Compute.cs:93)

Please see the screen grab for more information.
Thank you!

 

Hey Guys,
I tried everithing! I still have just a flat plane , cant make it work?

 

There will be nothing left to do for you other than wait for Unity 5.6 to get support for Compute Shaders via Metal because OpenGL 4.1 (which is still the standard in Sierra) doesn't support it, or generate the terrain in Windows. You should've read the last few pages of this thread.

 

Thank you No0B5. Yes, I read the pages befor. And asset store says it should work on Mac?
Does it work with 5.6 Beta on a Mac?

 

I did see that post, but as systems and platforms vary considerably, I'd like to hear Nathaniel's take on the maturity of OSX support. This thread is 108 pages long, the information regarding OSX is contradictory in places, and there's no information on Nathaniel's site.

 

Thank you.
Just tested on Unity 5.4.3p4 with Ma Osx 10.9.5. Still same problem.
Please see attched images:

 

How on earth is it possible that I DO see those stamp things in your TC2 window, while you are running OSX 10.9.5 (without Metal shaders) and Unity 5.4.3p4 (definitely without Metal support)?

This is what I see using Mac OS 10.12.2 (with Metal shaders) and Unity 5.6.0b4 (supposedly with Metal support-under-development):



In other words, absolutely nothing at all.

Which patch? Where? *feverishly searching all over the place*

Really, knowing how hard Nathaniel must have been working on all this I can't be but patient, but it's sure a LONG wait since last summer ... :'(

 

Hi Nathaniel.

Can you estimate when version 2.2 will come out?
I'm waiting for "Tree and Object distance (min, max) with advanced relations system." feature.

Thanks.

 

I hope this is not the case as there are a few bugs for 5.3, 5.4 so hoping Nath added those fixes related to Splat maps. They where easy fixes.. So hoping they where added..I have not tested the update so I cant say.. But I would think it would have some fixes for other versions but I could be wrong.. I guess we will wait for a reply as I would like to know this as well. before I bother updating.

 

I haven't updated, but I was able to use current version without any issues. Although my exploration of the tool has been very minimal so far.

 

there is two bugs in the old version, which are related to splat maps Nath fixed it by sending me the fix, but not sure if he remember to add to the build. he may have forgot. and a few other smaller issues.

 

Hi Nathaniel.

I met collision node problem after update to TC2 v.2.18. I'm using 5.4.x version of Unity.
That problem has happened before on TC2 v.2.17 if using Unity v5.5 or later.


Could you fix this problem ASAP? It's my fault, but I've forgot to make a backup for previous version.
This problem is serious for people who using 5.4 or previous version of Unity, and they cann't avoid this problem, because downloadable version at asset store is latest one only.

regards, Ryuichi

 

Hi

Wrote to support email, will duplicate here

Today we've updated to TC2 2.18 and all our terrain setups got broken

I've tried to change values in nodes, tried disabling them but I can't find a way how to make them look as before (tbh, I can't event make non flat terrain, all height outputs looks like Constant fill)

Is there an upgrade requirements which I missed?

PS: we are on 5.4.4 but planning switching to 5.5 and 5.6 beta later on

 

Hi rsklnkv, I'm same situation.

Anyway, If you planning switching to 5.5 and 5.6 beta later on, then problem is not serious, because TC2 works well if you using latest Unity 5.5.0. The problem is may be because of Unity's collision system has changed among v5.4 to v5.5.
Problem had been solved once, because Nathaniel made patches for people who asked him to fix this problem.

But Nathaniel probably forgot to provide assets separately by Unity versions. because of that, latest asset only contain for scripts which for Unity 5.5, as long as my understand.
I want to believe that he won't give up to support his asset for previous versions of Unity.

regards,Ryuichi

PS. If you planning to update seriously, Don't forget make a back up! Unity 5.5 has changed a lot of ways...Auto recompile process would perhaps failure, if you don't have plenty of lucks.

 

The problem is - I can't upgrade to newer Unity version before I'll be sure that all what we have works on 5.4.4

 

Yes it's possible. Just contact me at support@terraincomposer.com with your TC2 invoice id.

Yes DX11 needs to be enabled for the TC2 compute shaders to run.

How many terrain tiles do you use? TC2 generates much faster then TC1 does, because it uses compute shaders on the GPU for calculations.

It's possible to use RTPv3 with TC2, only I still need to finish some integration with it, like exporting colormap + normal map. TC2 is a new terrain tool and TC2 can't read a project from TC1, you can use them in the same project though.

I added a complete new noise library, which included new perlin, billow and multifractal noises which have much more variety then the old ones. On top there's completely new noises like cell-noise, IQ, Swiss and Jordan which have lots of variations. Swiss and Jordan give a nice erosion looking result. I made noise preset for it that can be chosen in the inspector of a node.

Some bug fixes (e.g. TerrainArea settings were not saved with a Scene) and that TC2 works in Unity5.5 and Unity5.6.

Like hopeful says, Unity is working on adding compute shader support for Mac on Unity5.6 with Metal. This is a much better solution then I would have to make a DX9 system which would be slower in performance.

Nathaniel

 

No this is not true, you can use TC2 without RTPv3.3 and vice versa. TC2 creates standard Unity terrain and RTPv3.3 is a terrain shader for standard Unity terrain and even meshes.

Thanks for the update, seems that compute on Metal still needs fixes, it doesn't explain the empty TC2 window though.

It works fine here. If you want to modify the height you need to more things, I explain it here:
http://www.terraincomposer.com/terraincomposer2-documentation/#manual-object-placement

Let me know if you can get it to work...

Can you explain in more detail what happens? The terrain flips x or z axis?

TC2 generates standard Unity terrain. And Unity terrain has limits. What will take most performance is the 2560 total grass resolution. If you disable the grass you probably notice it's much faster. Unature is a good solution for it:
https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/43129

No it doesn't work on Mac yet with Unity5.6 beta, and I have this in the description of the Asset Store page. If you want a refund send an email to support@terraincomposer.com with your TC2 invoice id.

Yes it's strange indeed. I would really love to see TC2 working on Mac, unfortunately I don't have a Mac to test it. Maybe we can do a screenshare on skype to try to get it to work. My skype account is Nathaniel.Doldersum

It's difficult to estimate as I don't have much time lately, but I'll try to get it out somewhere next month...

Yes they should be added, as I continued working on this version where I did all the fixes...Also I fixed that objects spawn at correct terrain height.

Nathaniel

 

Well, I don't actually have any grass yet. I just mentioned what the settings are.

Do you plan on adding, or can you recommend, any particular terrain streaming solution that works with TC2?

 

Ah yes you are right. I took a look and the Unity version compilation code didn't work, it took code for Unity5.5 instead of Unity5.4

I made a fix for this...

Nathaniel

 

Yes I will keep support Unity 5.1 and up. I did platform specific compilation (#if UNITY_5_1 || ... || UNITY_5_4) in the compute shader but it didn't seem to work, so I moved it to the c# compute script. The reason why it's different in Unity 5.5 is that they inverted the depth buffer.

I recommend to use World Streamer:
https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/36486

Nathaniel

 

That'd be great, I appreciate it! I just sent you a contact request.

 

Hi Nathaniel,

Thank you quick support! Collision node is working, now.
Only my worrying that it is not working like previously and it might works strange at first generating.

I tested it in Demo scene you provided for us.
It seems that only one object had generated after pushed generate button at first time.
Object( a house) is placed unsuspected low place and collision node is digging ground.
Asset didn't work like that when I was using previous release.

It is no problem for me(because I'm planning to recreate all my scene), but it might be a big problem for people already started creating large environment with complicated Object nodes.

regards,Ryuichi

 

I'm having a problem working with different scenes; each scene has a different TC2 setup, different trees etc. When i open the second scene to work on it, the trees are brought from the first scene - but only in the editor window, the trees in the Terrain Area settings and all my tree nodes are the correct ones, but any changes I make, the other trees from the previous scene are loaded?? I was experimenting with a tropical scene and a mountain/temperate scene, and now the mountain trees are all over my tropical map, and they will not reset or refresh.
the scenes are not loaded at the same time, they're separate.

 

Hello everyone,

I finished a part of the planned update, I have a new TC2 version 2.2a. The new features are:

• Exporting heightmap (combined and for each terrain), normal map, splatmap and colormap
• Simple RTP integration. Colormap is working now and can be assigned to RTP. To assign before playmode you can use the export button in main Color output node.

The export options are in the Height, Splat and Color main output node.

* Edit, I uploaded version 2.21 with more fixes. More then 8 splat textures error is fixed now, and trees were not randomizing scale correctly in 2.2a, also in 2.2a the angle node didn't give the correct angle.

Nathaniel

 

Hello Nathaniel

No. Just the borders "window" is shifted. I generated and positioned the terrain borders (by code) to have a corner at 0:0. But the terrain mask (represented by a raw image) is positioned that its center at 0:0. But I need its corner to be at 0:0. So the terrain mask is shifted.
Then when I have the terrain (with shifted mask) generated in my scene I just click on it in scene hierarchy browser and the borders "window" jumps that its center becomes at 0:0 (the same as the mask). So after this click I have everything as I expected. The only thing that I have to do after this move is to shift the whole terrain to 0:0.
So I want to emulate this click in my code.
Once again to clarify: if I just change the position of the terrain by code it changes the borders window but the mask stays at the same position.

Regards
Ilya

 

@eagle555 i'm still getting the errors when changing splatts (after 2.2)

 

I fixed it and uploaded version TC2.21 in the post above and replaced 2.2a...

I also submitted TC2.21 to the Asset Store.

Nathaniel

 

Thanks for this update Nathaniel. Really decent additions.

 

Hi Nathaniel,

It looks like Mac version is still unusable. Do you think you will be able to fix it?
I tried all you betas and updates on different Unity versions , non of threm are working.

Thank you

 

My understanding is that TC2 won't be usable on Mac till the Metal implementation is finished on Unity 5.6, which is currently in beta.

Once 5.6 is final and out of beta, then either TC2 should just work, or maybe some tweak will have to be made here or there to compensate for bugs in Unity.

 

Hi, I use the terrain composer runtime and im trying to find out how i can change the RTP colormap via script?

You can do this via the terraincomposer editor and it automatically changes it in RTP, I have searched and searched through the terraincomposer_save object but cannot find where it is stored anywhere?

[Solved]
I figured this out in the end by controlling RTP at runtime instead of TC.

Thanks

 

Hi Nathaniel,

The problem which I noticed you before has been reproduced with your latest asset.
I'm using Unity 5.4x.
What is cause do you think?

How to reproduce the problem.

1.Import your latest asset and resources.
2.Create plane(Unity Terrain).
3.Press "Generate" button.

regards,
Ryuichi

 

Hi Nathaniel,

Oh, I forgot to tell you that I found way to avoid this issue.

How to avoid Problem (in my case)

1.Import your latest asset and resources.
2.Create plane(Unity Terrain).
3'.Generate terrains with "turn off" Object nodes.
4.Turn on Object nodes and Update nodes.

I hope it might be help you analyzing this issue.

regards,
Ryuichi

 

Hi Nathaniel,

in the latest version you've added Color output. How I can access it from custom shader? Is this texture stored somewhere or it's globally set texture?

Thanks

 

Hi all,

Do you know if now we can stream worlds around player and so as with the close objects like in the trailer?
Many thanks

 

Hi @eagle555 ,
downloaded latest update ...but whatever I do i get the below errors .. and I cannot work with the asset ...
I use Unity 5.5.

First Error
IOException: Failed to Copy File / Directory from 'D:/Unity_ShowCase/TC2/Assets/TerrainComposer2/Defaults/TC_GlobalSettingsDefault.asset' to 'D:/Unity_ShowCase/TC2/Assets/TerrainComposer2/Defaults/TC_GlobalSettings.asset'.
TerrainComposer2.TC.LoadGlobalSettings () (at Assets/TerrainComposer2/Scripts/Misc/TC.cs:229)
TerrainComposer2.TC_Compute.OnEnable () (at Assets/TerrainComposer2/Scripts/Generate/TC_Compute.cs:189)
UnityEditor.DockArea:OnGUI()

Second Error

TerrainComposer2/Scripts/Nodes/TC_LayerGroup.cs:143)
TerrainComposer2.TC_LayerGroupResult.GetItems (Boolean refresh, Boolean rebuildGlobalLists, Boolean resetTextures) (at Assets/TerrainComposer2/Scripts/Nodes/TC_LayerGroupResult.cs:359)
TerrainComposer2.TC_LayerGroup.GetItems (Boolean refresh, Boolean rebuildGlobalLists, Boolean resetTextures) (at Assets/TerrainComposer2/Scripts/Nodes/TC_LayerGroup.cs:143)
TerrainComposer2.TC_TerrainLayer.GetItem (Int32 outputId, Boolean rebuildGlobalLists, Boolean resetTextures) (at Assets/TerrainComposer2/Scripts/Nodes/TC_TerrainLayer.cs:158)
TerrainComposer2.TC_TerrainLayer.GetItems (Boolean refresh, Boolean rebuildGlobalLists, Boolean resetTextures) (at Assets/TerrainComposer2/Scripts/Nodes/TC_TerrainLayer.cs:123)
TerrainComposer2.TC_Generate.RefreshOutputReferences (Int32 outputId, Boolean refreshPreviewImages) (at Assets/TerrainComposer2/Scripts/Generate/TC_Generate.cs:150)
TerrainComposer2.TC_Generate.MyUpdate () (at Assets/TerrainComposer2/Scripts/Generate/TC_Generate.cs:119)
UnityEditor.EditorApplication.Internal_CallUpdateFunctions () (at C:/buildslave/unity/build/artifacts/generated/common/editor/EditorApplicationBindings.gen.cs:197)

 

Does the current version allow you to start with an existing Unity terrain? I thought I read somewhere that that wasn't implemented yet, but I'm not sure.

 

Tell me, how good this plugin for mobile gaming? The plugin generates a mesh and no longer uses the standard terrain?

 

It does produce standard unity terrain and I see no reason to change that. You can however convert it to a mesh afterwards like normal using a seperate tool

 

No, besides doing it manually (exporting the maps and using them as a base)

 

Ugh! OK, thanks for the info.

 

Standard terrain strongly squander FPS (
It seems to me to be problematic to translate to a mesh retaining all the texture ... I used T4M plugin, but it no longer supported.

 

Thanks for reply.
Have had to put TC2 to the side and use an alternative package.
Perhaps will come back to TC2 once all your issues are resolved and package is working properly,

 

Hello. I want to transfer my old project from TC1 to TC2. I've used terrain 16x16 and textures 8k. Unfortunately, I can't apply this texture as raw image in height node inspector. (it was in .raw, now I resave by photoshop as .jpeg but texture still useless despite of save preferences form this this http://www.terraincomposer.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/PhotoshopImportExportRaw.jpg). I thought since I can't do it in PS, maybe script which using for stamp folder will help me. This script makes small previews from .raw, so I would know how I can change output resolution inside code and what name of that script. Or maybe I'm doing something radically wrong.

Also I would not refuse from small guide about TC2 + RTP. Now I see white textures after recompiling shaders
though I do all like in old project...Thanks for helping))