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The Unreal Engine 4 challenge


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#1 slewin

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Posted 01 December 2019 - 06:33 AM

Hello frustrated PC golfers,
I have spent the last few years of dreaming about having an open source PC golf game that provides all the features, tools and gameplay we all really want without having the skills, resources or time to investigate how one might go about this.
Over the past weeks I have been stuck at work basically baby sitting and holding the fort. These times generally involve a lot of procrastinating and youtube and it was during a youtube marathon that I discovered UE4. In short this application has blown me away and I have decided to attempt to create a golf course visualization project.

So before you suggest I check myself into the nearest mental asylum here's my challenge to anyone of our extremely talented course developers.
-Take a look at UE4 for yourself
-Come up with a solution of getting a real world course mesh into UE4
-Find a solution for painting textures inside UE4

There are a plethora of applications to do these tasks and most play nicely with each other.

Note that UE4 and the Quixel megascans are free and the power and options of both of these applications are mind blowing.

Anyway nothing may become of the exploration but its cool to learn new tricks, and lets face it PG is dead and TGC is very limited so what is next?

I believe that we in this tiny niche community have created the best digital golf courses ever for the PC and we can put our collective minds to anything.

We have got to dream big!!

Some links:
https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/

https://quixel.com/m.../library/latest


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#2 Birdie

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Posted 01 December 2019 - 09:21 AM

Wherever this may bring us... You have my support! I also saw a lot of these videos... I even subscribed for the Megascans lib a week ago and replaced nearly all of my trees textures already. I even combined my speedtrees with the grass shader and and and... Just trying everything... It's a pain to not have all pbr surface maps working on the ground too... Wishing... Dreaming...

#3 DPRoberts

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Posted 01 December 2019 - 08:51 PM

I looked into Unreal and have always liked what they show in videos. They've got cool node based materials that are now available on Unity. Allows much better blending of materials and meshes and really no limits to what you want to try.

However, the hurdle is not our artistic usage of these engines. It is the programming side. I even thought, maybe we could do it with Blueprint. But, as far as I know, it's an inefficient way to code and unlikely to get an entire game together without a real coding team.

If you tell me that you've got 2-3 talent coders on board, I'll help move this along. Obviously, you could bring in all the meshes from your CF designs. But, that's the easy part...

#4 slewin

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Posted 01 December 2019 - 10:02 PM

Well I have a lot of time to kill over the next 12 months working remotely and need something to sink my teeth into.
We obviously have no way of funding coders but hey one can only dream
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#5 Birdie

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Posted 01 December 2019 - 10:31 PM

Yeah, lets dream of a sim which can handle things like these with ease...

https://www.blenderm...s/scatter?ref=2


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#6 DPRoberts

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Posted 01 December 2019 - 10:42 PM

I guess we could approach it with the "if you build it, they will come" approach. Make a breathtaking course that we can run around in a FPS style and prove the frame rates are good. Then, hope somebody will help with making a ball fly in that environment and go in a hole.

https://80.lv/articl...n-grass-in-ue4/
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#7 slewin

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Posted 02 December 2019 - 07:57 AM

My thoughts exactly DP
With all due respect we are spending too much time complaining about a game that was abandon and sold out a long time ago, me included.
Something open source and not for profit is what I had in mind with endless creative options for course devs.
But first I’m going to focus on at creating 1 hole and getting a character in the game and hopefully creating tools etc... for others.
We are all a clever and passionate bunch and don’t forget the PG came from the links 2003 community.
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#8 Dropzone73

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Posted 03 December 2019 - 08:11 AM

UE4 and blueprints really are an interesting option. Just quite much learning via internet and I'm 46 years old farth.

Did some research yesterday and that engine really is a jump forward. Few years in prison would do good for learning :wacko: :blink:.



#9 GolfGuy72_2000

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Posted 03 December 2019 - 02:56 PM

I just stumbled across this thread. I wish I was a coder or knew of someone who was, and who was also passionate about golf.

The four of you posting here have created some of the best looking courses in the game (can't wait to see your finished masterpiece, Birdie!) and have really pushed the envelope when it comes to getting the most out of JNPG. I wish you all the best and hope something awesome comes of the seeds you've planted here! Good luck!



#10 Skunky

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Posted 04 December 2019 - 02:05 AM

got me curious,looks like someone else is thinking the same thing.
https://youtu.be/x2naSh4jWI0
go to the end of video to watch the swing.

shadowcreek: tpc avenel:tpc san antonio:valhalla:quail hollow:trump coltsneck:hudson valley:ferry point:bedminster old and new course

Pasatiempo:Kingswood:Carnoustie:Augusta:SandHollow:TPC Summerlin


#11 Skunky

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Posted 04 December 2019 - 02:11 AM

this is what i want for our next game.
https://youtu.be/iC8TjegP_I8
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shadowcreek: tpc avenel:tpc san antonio:valhalla:quail hollow:trump coltsneck:hudson valley:ferry point:bedminster old and new course

Pasatiempo:Kingswood:Carnoustie:Augusta:SandHollow:TPC Summerlin


#12 M Rose

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Posted 04 December 2019 - 02:15 AM

This is pretty exciting, although I wouldn't have a clue where to begin. I often feel like with the talent pool that loiters around this place that we should all go rogue and do something new.


VG2 • PG • 2k21 • 2019 • Links • GBC • JN5


#13 DPRoberts

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Posted 04 December 2019 - 02:47 AM

Maybe the day of team building courses in VR environments is not so far off. You'll find me near the practice green admiring the grass.

#14 jurgie

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Posted 04 December 2019 - 04:07 AM

Boy, this really sounds promising. As mentioned, there is an awful lot of talent loitering around this forum. I wish you all the luck in this endeavor. I know you guys can do this.



#15 slewin

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Posted 04 December 2019 - 04:16 AM

This is pretty exciting, although I wouldn't have a clue where to begin. I often feel like with the talent pool that loiters around this place that we should all go rogue and do something new.


My thoughts exactly Matt,
The tools are there and we are a clever bunch when we put our minds to it.
Like I said start small and go from there.
I got my first prototype hole into UE4 last night only to find out that the scaling was way too small.
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#16 DPRoberts

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Posted 04 December 2019 - 11:28 AM

http://www.aclockwor...-unreal-engine/

It appears that 1 world space unit in Unreal is equal to 1 cm. We are used to Unity which is 1 unit = 1 meter.

You'll have to see where you can scale your objects. See if you can do so by a factor of 100.

#17 slewin

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Posted 05 December 2019 - 12:51 AM

Thanks DP
The biggest challenge I see from my limited research and testing is importing 3D mesh in as a landscape from a 3D application. The landscape accepts height maps but these are limited in resolution thus detailed sculpting around bunkers etc... is not really achievable from what I can see.
The other option is to use a static mesh as the landscape but you are limited in the paint tools available.
Investigations continue...

#18 Big A HG

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Posted 09 December 2019 - 03:47 AM

I will certainly be following this, and if there was anything I could do to help, I'd love to...but, I'm afraid I don't have any expertise in this realm either.  

 

It's interesting that this thread has come about since Perfect Golf was formed almost the exact same way.  You had some folks modding a dead game, Links, who ultimately decided just to make a new game after years of modding.  

 

The possibilities with UE4 are almost certainly there.  Assetto Corsa Competizione (racing game) uses laser-scanned tracks, so getting detailed Lidar data in should hopefully be possible.


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#19 Dropzone73

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Posted 09 December 2019 - 12:20 PM

Few links below about importing height maps to UE4. You probably knew all of this by now, but it doesn't hurt to copy those links here anyway.

 

https://docs.unreale...stom/index.html

https://docs.unreale...dlandscapesizes



#20 slewin

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Posted 10 December 2019 - 07:36 AM

I will certainly be following this, and if there was anything I could do to help, I'd love to...but, I'm afraid I don't have any expertise in this realm either.

It's interesting that this thread has come about since Perfect Golf was formed almost the exact same way. You had some folks modding a dead game, Links, who ultimately decided just to make a new game after years of modding.

The possibilities with UE4 are almost certainly there. Assetto Corsa Competizione (racing game) uses laser-scanned tracks, so getting detailed Lidar data in should hopefully be possible.

Getting lidar in with an overhead image is pretty easy although you have set resolutions for the height map which don’t necessarily align with what you have.




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