UDK Foliage Help

mixeh

Hey all, I just upgraded my UDK from 2010-09 to 2011-01. Since the upgrade, I've been unable to plug in a foliage mesh (some grass) to my terrain material, as when I double click on the material in the terrain editor I only have the menus (Displacement and Material) shown in the image below, whereas in my older UDK version, I had Displacement Material and Foliage.

Can anybody please tell me how I can do it in the newer UDK?



Thanks.

fearian

Foliage was removed a few months ago in preperation for rolling out a new system for creating terrain, However this new system hasn't been released yet.


shit sux

mixeh

Okay now I'm in real trouble as I saved my upk package in the newer UDK, and I can't reopen it in my older one, help anyone?

ultramedia

You might think about migrating to a game engine that *adds* features to new versions instead of *removing* them...

Will Faucher

This is only a temporary removal. Besides, there arent that many engines out there that can compete with UDK. Cryengine can, but it is rather quite different than UDK. Knowing epic, they'll come back with something pretty damn incredible.

mixeh

have to bump for solutions to getting the package ive saved in the newer udk, to work in my original older udk - anyone??

Will Faucher

I'm not the most reliable source, but I really don't think you can. Like most software, files saved on newer programs are not backwards compatible. There are exceptions, of course. But in this case, I don't think it will work.

mixeh

Argh, I was stupid enough to not save it as a different package. However I didn't make any changes at all in terms of the materials and so forth, so it's not like there's anything thats not backwards compatible in the package.

Looks like I need to reimport/rebuild..... sigh.

piippo

I cleverly did read about this before updating to the latest version. I'll wait until the new terrain system is added.

Ben Apuna

Can you open both versions of UDK at the same time? If you can you might be able to:

1. Open your level in the newer version.

2. Edit -> Select All -> Edit -> Copy

3. Switch focus to the older UDK.

4. File -> New... -> Edit -> Paste

That might or might not work. It's also possible that the Windows clipboard will store all the data between copy/paste so that you don't need both UDKs open at the same time.

mixeh

Thanks Ben, but that still doesn't allow me to access any of my materials/meshes/textures from the original package.

I'm thinking of just using DecoLayers for my grass, but it slows down my system big time instead of Foliage, any tips on how I could make this work?

Ben Apuna

That's true, but rebuilding a package is probably a lot less work than placing all the level objects.

You could probably just re-import all your assets into a new package using the same name as the old one. Depending on how complex your materials are, it might not be too bad.

Once the new package is set up doing the copy paste thing for the level objects might work. I wonder if material node networks could be copy/pasted between UDKs, it might make it even easier.

Of course I've never done any of this, so it might be a huge waste of time...

As for other possible foliage solutions, perhaps a particle system or custom speed tree setup would do the trick.

Will Faucher

So basically, the december UDK build still has the foliage tools?

Justin Meisse

Prophecies wrote: »

So basically, the december UDK build still has the foliage tools?

seconded, I'm looking to do a foliage heavy project and i need these features.

Will Faucher

From what I read, I think the October or November versions were the last builds to contain the Foliage tools. Not sure I understand Epic's decision to remove them, even if they plan on replacing it. Couldn't they replace it all in one single build? Regardless, I can't wait to see what Epic has in store for us.

Random foliage question however. I read that meshes used with the foliage tools aren't lit as well. Is there a significant loss of lighting quality when you use foliage, as opposed to hand-placing everything?

Darktrooper

September build is what you would want to use, it still has the foliage tools included. As far as I know, they are revamping the entire terrain set up and doing a landscape tool set up. Not exactly sure when it will be out, Epic hasn't dropped any hints yet. There isn't anyway to retro you levels from a newer build to a previous, trust me I've tried... Sorry if this wasn't very helpful.

Justin Meisse

ultramedia wrote: »

You might think about migrating to a game engine that *adds* features to new versions instead of *removing* them...

typically developers don't update to the latest engine release - it's just us home users who get all excited and always want the latest build.

It looks like the October release was when they removed it, I'm downloading the September 2011 build right now.

update: messing with it now, their old foliage method is pretty ghetto, I'm glad they put it out of it's misery.

ultramedia

I think if they took out every feature that *some* of the users didn't like, there wouldn't be any left at all. I still like the foliage system :

http://www.showmethatagain.com/videos/UDK/terrain10/

But you did say *heavy* foliage, whereas I only used it for a light smattering of grass around the player...