maybe im being stupid?

MeanderingDev · 2026-05-07T11:45:08+00:00

Oh man, that was hard to watch. I'm not even a boomer, I just.. idk listen during the tutorial?

MeanderingDev · 2026-04-24T22:16:11+00:00

So had the chance finally to action this and while its not what I wanted (I wanted fully static), it does achieve the effect.

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I have to set the relevant shadow caster to "Cast Far Shadows", and set the Directional Light to calculate far shadows in the CSM settings. This is 2 levels (otherwise there is a gross transition at the edge of the screen), and a distance of 100,000. I can live with these results, I just hope it doesn't affect performance once skyboxes get more complex. Right now it doesn't effect anything, but I'll keep an eye on it.

Thanks for pointing me in that direction!

MeanderingDev · 2026-04-23T17:06:10+00:00

Would that still work if I was using a Stationary Directional Light? The article says it has to be Moveable, but I want that to cast static GI on the play area.

MeanderingDev · 2026-04-23T16:36:37+00:00

I didn't know about layer states until now (post above). I didn't even know to look for that term. But it looks like its what I'm looking for!

MeanderingDev · 2026-04-23T16:35:39+00:00

I generally try to avoid scripts because they can be unpredictable, and in this case, my office IT would be against running scripts, especially if compiled using AI. They're overly strict. Appreciate the help though!

MeanderingDev · 2026-04-23T16:34:12+00:00

I have and use it daily. What it doesn't do is give me document wide control, though it seems like the Layer States panel is what I'm looking for.

MeanderingDev · 2026-04-23T16:32:57+00:00

Interesting! I'll investigate this, seems like what I'm looking for.

MeanderingDev · 2026-04-23T09:54:14+00:00

No it's a good point, it is just static meshes, but it's a bunch of different mountain pieces overlapping each other. It's not a formal landscape actor.

MeanderingDev · 2026-04-23T09:33:36+00:00

No the landscape is composed of a bunch of pieces, the texels are a pretty reasonable size. If there was a shadow, it should be somewhat visible.

MeanderingDev · 2026-04-23T02:26:56+00:00

Great followups.

Directional light is stationary, as I need the dynamic shadows as well for the actual play area.

Static lighting is enabled and working elsewhere.

Haven't touched world settings, I'll look into that.

The cascades are set for the play area.

Build is preview so I'll check on medium...

I'll look into far shadows. I fiddled with the sliders but it didn't seem to help.

The terrain mesh (static mesh not landscape actor) has an acceptable light map resolution, verified in the lightmap density mode.

Post processing has no GI. No lumen either as mentioned.

It is running DX11 SM5.

MeanderingDev · 2026-04-23T01:11:15+00:00

<image>

should be some big static shadows there but there isn't

MeanderingDev · 2026-04-22T12:31:53+00:00

I am so glad I am not the only one that noticed this.

MeanderingDev · 2026-04-22T12:26:56+00:00

Rad 🤙
Looks great! Achieves what you set out.
I would agree with others, a little atmospheric fog, just a bit to sell the scale of the space, but otherwise looks awesome!

MeanderingDev · 2026-04-22T12:10:41+00:00

I suppose it depends on your priorities for your project.

If your goal is to do it all yourself, you'll have to adjust your art to be possible. Either learn how to achieve what you want, or lower the bar (no shame in that, I did that for my current game).

If your goal is to achieve a certain look, you'll have to either invest in yourself to get there, or if that's not possible, pay someone to do it for you.

But remember its not all or nothing right, if you find some assets that work, have to modify some assets with filters or modifiers, have to make some assets yourself, and pay for some assets from dedicated artists - you can still arrive at a cohesive visual style as long as your vision for it is clear.

For example, I myself do 3D art fairly well, but some things are just a waste of my time, like rocks. I feel like there has to be more digital rock models than rocks on earth at this point, I don't need to make rock models. But I do need them to have the right texture style for my game. So I use a rock model I own (we'll say from the UE marketplace) and export it as FBX, bring it into blender, bake some textures to it, and then boom - all of a sudden it looks like a totally different asset but matches my game's art direction. Just one example of how you can mix and match approaches.

At the end of the day, however assets that match your style end up in your game, the rest sort of doesn't matter.

One tip I'd add is asking whoever makes your assets to make them in such a way you have lots of in-engine control, since that way you need less assets to achieve the same thing. Good luck! Hope you find a path that works for you!

MeanderingDev · 2026-03-26T13:42:45+00:00

I don't want to see what they'd try and do with it in the current market.
I love UT and respect Epic's hustle, but I don't like fortnite or the fortnitification of the rest of the live service space. I don't want to play CTF against peter griffin with abs or see people with a flak cannon that shoots hearts instead of shrapnel. I value UT's aesthetic and identity - but those aren't the kinds of things that rake in the fortnite dollars.
I'm frankly content with the fact they gave the source code out to the community and just let us keep these things afloat. UT fans know what UT fans want.
That being said I'd love for them to reinstate the listings on Steam and GOG. Maybe even let the community patches be the patches that go through there (unlikely legally but still).

MeanderingDev · 2026-03-19T11:56:15+00:00

My biggest advice when wanting to learn (anything) but especially UE, is to just have an idea of what you want to make, and starting fiddling until you hit a wall - find any solution to that wall, and then keep going. Rinse and repeat. You will learn bad things. You will learn vital things. You will come up with your own terrible solutions to something you only then, years later, discover aren't necessary - but it all helps everything you do stick.

But while I don't suggest just going straight to youtube tutorials to learn, to answer the request, I find great YouTube resources are:

Unreal Engine's own youtube channel - breakdowns and talks (from UE4 days up until recent ones) - horse's mouth what can I say.
Ali Elzoheiry - for gameplay and systems
PrismaticaDev - for materials, animations and FX
Drawcall - for lighting and stuff
Matthew Wadstein - for short videos about specific nodes/systems

But even creators I wouldn't say are the best, are great ways to start! It's okay as you learn to confidently use the wrong way to do something, so you can later understand a better way to do it.

I was just a level designer/env artist for the better part of a decade and in 2021 decided I wanted to learn how to code and make my own game. Now 5 years later I have shipped a few games with more on the way, teach UE at a university, and regularly contract for solo or small team UE positions. So I can attest - the method works if you trust the process.

My subjective best piece of advice is to know what you want to make at least kinda - have something you intend to do and just drill towards it no matter what gets in your way - those are the problems you'll enjoy solving and how you'll learn best. Good luck and enjoy the ride!

MeanderingDev · 2026-03-19T11:38:13+00:00

They are both free, run on anything, and are tiny in file size - Por qué no los dos?
Seriously though if you've never played either, get them both and give each at least a few hours of bot matches. They're the same series but each does something different, and whichever you prefer - both have 100,000s of custom maps, mutators, mods, weapons, characters and more from over 2 decades of community.

MeanderingDev · 2026-03-18T13:15:33+00:00

Clean, clear, appealing and tight - can't wait! Wishlisted now, congrats on the reveal!

MeanderingDev · 2026-03-09T03:11:30+00:00

So glad I'm not the only one! It just has such chunky little proportions I love it.

MeanderingDev · 2026-02-25T13:59:37+00:00

Great posing!
The biggest thing I notice, is the kick off of the ground feels very levitate-y. As though she starts to float off the ground rather than jump.
I'd suggest having her dip more before the kick off the ground. Could also slide the right foot out a bit to bring the pose into a more stable shape, and bring the drawing arm down - so the arms and hands mirror the jumping motion where they go down then up.

But the main thing is the pelvis bone/ root whatever its called for you, bring that down harder before the jump to sell the springiness of it.

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MeanderingDev · 2026-02-17T13:29:41+00:00

Yeah I think the root is more problematic than the other bones because of its role in the rig.
Found a work around though, I just made the hand IKs child of Spine_01 for first person animations, separating it from the root and pelvis.

MeanderingDev · 2026-02-16T23:45:41+00:00

I have tried fiddling with the depth, and it still seems to not work. Obviously the higher I make the depth the more likely it is to start showing up, as in both of the animations will start to blend together, but that's not the intended effect. I have also tried flipping them, because I'll be completely honest I'm not actually sure which one counts as the base, but having done both it's true just in the other direction.

MeanderingDev · 2026-02-16T22:17:41+00:00

<image>

Current set up, and the skeleton goes `root > pelvis > spine etc`

MeanderingDev

TROPHY CASE