Dynamic Map System

Dynamic Map System

Price: $15
Asset Store Link
Web Player Demo

Say goodbye to individual region scenes, and hello to infinite regions in only one scene!

This system will allow you to create limitless game worlds by only loading the map chunks near your character or camera. It uses two maps, a Floor Map (Terrain), and an Object Map (GameObject Collection).

You can customize the system to your liking by changing the dimensions of the maps, as well as how far away the character needs to be to load a map region.

This system is also easy to use, and does not require any packaging of map files. It loads each map from your resources folder in an average time of 1 Millisecond.

The package also comes with an Example Scene, as well as a Step by Step guide on setting up a new scene using the system. It also comes with Realtime E-Mail support for help, as well as suggestions for future versions.

If you have any questions, email me at GambinoIndustries@live.com.

 

Current Version 1.4.2
Current Version on Asset Store 1.4.2

 

Hi,

Looks interesting. Does the ground have to be a terrain or can it be a mesh object?

Also, does this reposition everything when the player gets too far away from the origin to avoid jitter?

 

Well it supports Terrain maps, and Object Maps. Basically an Object Map is an empty game object, with child game objects being whatever you want! So you could disable floor maps, and only use object maps and add your mesh object to the object map.

For the second part of your question, I'm not quite sure I understand.

Also, If you do plan on purchasing it, I recommend waiting until Version 1.31 is accepted in the asset store. The current version is very primitive compared to 1.31.

 

Unity has an issue where when you get far away from the origin the floating point precision decreases and objects jitter when they move. They normal solution is to dynamically move the current scenery to origin. It should be easy to test with a large terrain.

 

I understand exactly what you're saying, and no it does not, BUT I'll add it in Update 1.4.
How should it be done? Say when the character reaches 50k+ in an axis, it moves everything to 0? Or should, as you walk, the actual tiles move and the player stays at 0,0 at all times?

 

I think it only needs to done periodically. Needs to be tested to be sure the problem exists then we can fix it.

 

I'll test it out now.
Edit: Alright, I coded it. You can set how many unitys before it readjusts. It works with with any number, including 1 etc, with no issues.

Uploaded Version 1.4 to the Asset Store with this update.

 

Nice one, just purchased. Is there a max amount of tiles that's supported - I take it they are handled by a double array.

 

Nope, that would cause too much of a memory leak. It just checks for mapdata based on your map region (X/Map Size, Y/Map Size).
If none exists and it's set to generate a default map, then it'll generate a default map, otherwise it will generate nothing.

You can have a map chunk at 100,0,100 and a map chunk at 5,000,000 0 5,000,000 and it wont cause any issues at all. Just make sure you have version 1.4 or higher.

 

Hi,
Would your system work with Magic Portals, Teleporters, ...?
Aka, not preloading the chunks next to you, but preloading a portal destinations?
Thanks.

 

There is a Coordinates.cs file in Version 1.4, which allows you to use "real" coordinates.
You would have to create a method (which I'll include in the next update) which will sort of set the offset.

This is the real coordinates method

Code (csharp):

1.  
2.     //Returns real coordinates for exact coordinates
3.     public static float[] GetCoordinatesForPlayer (float x, float z)
4.     {
5.         return new float[] {x - xAdjustment,z - zAdjustment};
6.     }

This is the method you are looking for:

Code (csharp):

1.  
2.     //Moves an Object to the desired "real world" coordinates
3.     public static void MoveObject (float x, float z, GameObject movingGameObject)
4.     {
5.         float[] coords = GetCoordinatesForPlayer (movingGameObject.transform.position.x, movingGameObject.transform.position.z);
6.         movingGameObject.transform.position = new Vector3 (movingGameObject.transform.position.x + (x - coords [0]), movingGameObject.transform.position.y, movingGameObject.transform.position.z + (z - coords [1]));
7.     }

I tested this and it works perfectly.

What it does is it checks the distance away from the desired position using "real" coordinates, and adds them to the exact coordinates making the player end up in the correct spot on the map without truly being at those coordinates and still at the center.

Without the adjust for origin system, Deferred Rendering would not work on most machines (It bugs after a few thousand units away from origin) and jittering would occur at 100,000.0001+. It takes a little getting used to.

Also, it wouldn't need to preload an area. The loading is done in around 1 millisecond per map chunk. In the current version on the asset store, it takes around 3 seconds, but once version 1.4 is approved it will be instant.

If you are talking about loading an actual destination object as a reference point, this can't really be done UNLESS you load the object map without actually instantiating it, search through the children for the teleporter object, and find its coordinates based on that.

Also if this isn't a very serious professional game you could keep the teleporter objects always in the scene and not inside of an object map so they are always loaded since they wouldn't affect performance really.

There's always a way to do it,

 

Version 1.4.2 is now accepted and live on the asset store.

 

bump

 

Nice on, missed this post last week.

 

Nice plugin!!!!This is exactly what i've been looking for, bump it to spread to more peeps!!!!
Could you please upload the documentation so that we can have a look of the workflow Thanks!

 

HI ! I know it might be a Litle bit Too much to Ask ... Of your STill humble But Amazing Development Reached here ...



But I got Some Ideas / that We been Trying IN house ...
That maibe you COuld reach it !





- Could you get to this extension a Spherical world Tipe of map ?

... And one that You are not just on the Ground But That you can fly Around Also .

In a Way to Put the Area Blocks not just on x/y But Lay them out in X/Y/Z

- Ok Let me have a visualization:

Instead of having Areas layed out Side by Side like this



Each area is a Cube right .

So Each cubic area they could be loaded And Streamed on any axis Side and up



Now reaching to a point we could load any amount of Cubic Areas Stacked and Load them on The STreaming Sistem



Ok now next would be to be able to position those Level areas - Even "inside eachothers" and STacked in a Way That is Non linear ..



Allowing Areas That Are Diferent Sizes To be Stacked Anywere in WorldSpace / Even Inside eachothers ANd be Still Streamed

Allowing also a Way for us to RESIZE Them for not be just Cubic ...

But Also rectangular



So we can pipe them out ...


-----------------

Also having Custom "portals" At each Area - That Would Send us to Another Area, Even far Away ...
like having a Expecial Teleporter Area "cube" were if the player enters there , It will be Sended to Another Place Linked..

http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/19...al-Gate-Portal-for-Unity3d-(Pro-amp-Standard)


...

That Way having 3 Types of Cubic Areas ,

1 - Level Areas - Cubes Areas with Terrain And Objects

2 - Transition Areas - Cubes that are "3d elevator" tipe of areas that we can Animate and they take the player there to the destination at the end of animation

3 - Teleporter Areas - Cube Areas that Are linked with Eachothers .. You put 2 Teleporter Areas in a huge world scene, and if the player enters there , go end up at the other Area were its linked



On the Level Editor Each Area is Represented by a Simple Wireframe CUBE That we can drag Around And put Any contents

Each tipe of Area got a Diferent Color ...

We could put the cube in Any place in world ..

And we Could Load And unload / that is SAVE And LOAD That Cubic Area CONTENT - Anytime we want.

Also Having PROXY Contents .. That is Alternative representations of CUBIC Areas Content ... That we could load and unload FroME ditor View ...


-----------

And have no limits in mixing those ...

Not just Side by Side / BUT ALSO INSIDE EACHOTHERS !

Having for that a Cubic Area a Zone That we can Drag visualy Were Teh Area Will load The others Near ..



This way the Inside cube is the Area Eachself ...

And the external Area Limiter is were All the others surounded would be loaded ...

Should be possible in the editor to edit the Streaming Influence of That Area to all Other Areas Surounding it ...

---

ALSO For this Level Areas be trully SEAMLESS It should be having a LOD Area Sistem ...



That is When Flying into the sky - or 360 Degrees All other surounding areas will have to become visible ...
- If you fly Reaaly high you will have Large hundreds Areas Below And surounding you That you can See. In the Distance


- So Each CUBIC area Would have a up to 8 levels of LOD Representational Sistem... ~
Much Like Unity pro LOD Wich You would be able to REPLACE the AREA / With Severall LOD versions Of it ...

ACording Player/Camera Distance. It would just see a More or les sdetailed "representation" of the surounding areas That would be Sequencialy loaded into other lod stages ...

And entering the zone of the Cubic area It would load reaaly all the area Contends ...

----------

This LOD AREA Sistem Should be able to Work in 2 Ways ...

By Screen Size / And by Distance ...

SO for example we could replace a Area That is far Away and strech it To appear a LOD Version that is Bigger than the actual area itself ...

So we could have 1 or 2 Gigantic Representations of the 360 Degrees Flying world far far way ... Instead of 300 Small areas LODS ... in the distance ...

For that We could setup a Range in DIstance That the Distant Gigantic Area is Swaped

....

Well imagine a real Gigantic World ...

Were characters can Actualy FLY also have Flying Mounts and flying veicules / and they can Fly Around Unlimitedly Having this UNLIMITED 360º DEGREES Cubic Areas Sistem ...

----

We could And should also Make Save load CUBIC AREAS TEMPLATES

-------------

SO for example ...

To do a Volumetric 3D World Streaming Would be to Stack Each Area Like this .




-------------------------------------------


If ( In your Lifetime / lol ) you are Able to Make Such Complete true 360º Area Level Streaming ... With all those features.

I would even pay 4x Times More the price of the curent extension for it .


Not just me / i bet reaaly many hundreds Developers would .

-------


THANK YOU FOR YOUR INTEREST IN AVAILING TO DEVELOP FURTHER THIS AMAZING PROJECT YOURS !

I Will keep a Eye And will bookmark this project and eaguer You Are able to Achieve this .


Thanks So much For your efforts.


-------

:: PS: If you Need a BETA TESTER You can Also COunt-me In ...
- I am Currently a Active Beta tester and Contributor to the Terrain Composer also World Composer From Nathaniel Doldersum...

SO i Have some experience in beta Testing that You can Also Use it.


PS2: All this Ideas Were actualy in Development / By Nathaniel Doldersum, From terrain Composer To deliver as a Extension to its product ... but he is With load of Work Fro 1 man now .. And only in 1 Year or more will be actualy to Implement all this in its Product.

http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/15...-photorealistic-Unity-Terrain-in-just-minutes


The guy is so incredible that he even coded a Schematic Interface to CONECT AREAS ! ..



On a Real gigantic World level degree ...

And he will want also to reach the Level of Voxelfarm in World Area Managemnt ...

http://procworld.blogspot.pt/2011_07_01_archive.html



( Voxelfarm is the Amazing engine of Everquest next )
http://procworld.blogspot.pt/2013/08/everquest-next.html

WIch actualy also have ports to unity as extension



http://procworld.blogspot.pt/2013/02/unity-makes-strength.html

There have been alot of study also on the Amazing HEROENGINE Umlimited Seamless Areas Sistem ..



http://hewiki.heroengine.com/wiki/Building_Areas_Tutorial

http://hewiki.heroengine.com/wiki/Seamless_Area_Link_Tutorial



http://hewiki.heroengine.com/wiki/Seamless_World_2.0

http://hewiki.heroengine.com/wiki/Seamless_World







All this Crazy ideas on how to Deliver a Really 360º Degrees world Navigation IN UNITY Been Tackled and Going tru Heavy Experiences on the TerrainComposer WORLD Development Gardens ...

But Right now its too much work for one guy alone ...

---

As you Are already in the Same Tipe of Development .

Maibe if you Hurry Up you can get Ahead In Business ...

Or Even TEAM UP ! With him ...

He is a very nice All minded open Developer.

---

THANKS SO MUCH FOR LISTEN !

And thanks so much for keeping the PRICE LOW ! On this extension ...

You GoT Here a New Customer / no matter where This Development reaches.

The features are already greath and deserve a Immediate buy ...

But the Possibilities and needs in a Cubic area sistem Are reaaly Way beyond Arent they ?

PS: This Discussion was Posted at soulsshine-unity.deviantart.com Production blog
http://soulsshine-unity.deviantart.com/blog/

After read And analize all This !
If you think Is too much of a long post here / And does not Add to your Business ... please say something and i will delete / edit this post and will leave just the link to the journal There..


THANKS SO MUCH FOR EVERYTHING !.



SILVA DINIS
SOULS SAGA Studio

 

Looks awesome, and I've been thinking about buying a system like this for an upcoming project.

BUT.

The framerate is excellent with a simple terrain like the one you have there, but how would it compare when the terrain is filled with detail meshes, grass, game objects, NPCs, etc.?

 

As a small suggestion for future versions of this amazing tool: please change the separator of regions names from "." to something else ("_" for example). Some applications interpreting the dot as file extension separator, being unable to read the type of the file. I experienced this.
Thank you.

 

A project using Dynamic Map System with real world terrains data: http://www.peopledin.com/game/h/romania-munti/Web.html
(1 scene, 25 terrains once, 370 total terrains of 2688 x 3968, map size about 100 km x 40 km)

@StewartB: I tried to reach the limits with some tests; for me, Dynamic Map System itself it's working very well with complex terrains; the problem I found on compiler side (3.5 GB memory limit).

 

Well the way the system works, is it loads the map and thats it. There is no frame by frame processing besides checking if it needs to load new regions. Adding a ton more game objects would not affect the frame rate. It might affect the load time of each chunk, but only by maybe 100 milliseconds max.

When I was building this tool i read that using the underscore character caused slowness in the unity file system. I'm not positive of it, but I simply went with a different character. The code is editable completely, and for any professional game you probably will do some modification to the system, that's what I've done in my project. You can edit the separator in the code, it's very simple.

 

Holy Cow, How did I miss this?

This will be very helpful with what Ill be working on

What was your work system for creating one big terrain and cutting it up?

 

Thanks, GambinoInd
I changed a lot. I am running now Dynamic Map System at runtime to read raw datas to tiles with different X/Z sizes tiles, integrating Stitchscape and adding almost all TerrainData and Terrain params in your Config to create large terrains on-the-fly. You did a very good tool solving float problem and tilling terrain. Do you have any idea how to escape from 32bit compilation limits?
Thanks again.

 

Hi Gambioland, can you add a feature to implement different coordinate systems, I would like to use this with Terraincomposser which save tiles in this format:

(3X3 Tileset)
Terrainname_x0_y0, Terrainname_x0_y1, Terrainname_x0_y2
Terrainname_x1_y0, Terrainname_x1_y1, Terrainname_x1_y2
Terrainname_x2_y0, Terrainname_x2_y1, Terrainname_x2_y2

Cheers.

 

This looks very good but I'm wondering if there is a solution to the temporary freeze you experience when you move from region to the next one? Is there a way to pre-cache the next region before loading it so the transition is smooth and without freeze?

 

I am also interested.

 

If you notice in the script MapRegionManager, you'll find these two functions:

Code (csharp):

1.     //Loads floor map file from resource folder
2.     TerrainData LoadFloorMap (int regionX, int regionY)
3.     {
4.         Object resource = Resources.Load (Config.FLOOR_MAP_DIRECTORY + regionX + "." + regionY);
5.         if (Config.USE_DEFAULT_FLOOR_MAP  resource == null)
6.             resource = Resources.Load (Config.FLOOR_MAP_DIRECTORY + "default");
7.         return (resource != null ? (TerrainData)resource as TerrainData : null);
8.     }
9.    
10.     //Loads object map file from resource folder
11.     GameObject LoadObjectMap (int regionX, int regionY)
12.     {
13.         Object resource = Resources.Load (Config.OBJECT_MAP_DIRECTORY + regionX + "." + regionY);
14.         if (Config.USE_DEFAULT_OBJECT_MAP  resource == null)
15.             resource = Resources.Load (Config.OBJECT_MAP_DIRECTORY + "default");
16.         return (resource != null ? (GameObject)Object.Instantiate (resource) as GameObject : null);
17.     }

Simply change this line in both of them: Config.OBJECT_MAP_DIRECTORY + regionX + "." + regionY
To the desired naming for the assets.

The temporary freeze is not avoidable, but! I did notice if you use any special terrain material (Like a terrain shader that supports normal maps) the hiccup is much longer. I reduced the hiccup in mine from 100 MS to around 9MS. Also smaller terrain tiles means a smaller hiccup as well.

 

Bump

 

Hey Gambino!

I think what might really help sales, would be a demo of infinite terrain, with a basic constructed world, showcasing models, and so on.

Loving the asset so far anyway

-TheNorthridge

 

Hallo Gambino. Im not sure that i doing right... Maby you can do a tutorial Video on Youtube where you make a example map? Becose when i see it is it better then read it. Fore person hos english ist not perfekt.

I have there some Problems. When my Player spawnt then there are no maps. Only when the Player ist on the map. But i Load fist the Login and then the Game scene where Spawn the Player. What i must do there?

A other Question. I have more Scenes where i want to youce that. But when i do the same in a second scene, he load all terreins. What i must do there??

I hope you can make a short Tutorial. I have not anderstand how i can load Objekt and Building and some more. And im not Sure that what i done is right. It works on the Free Version? At your Example Scene when i go on Play and then on Pause then i see all the Terrains not only 1. ore the first 3 ore 4, i see all the terreins.

 

A big confusion is the adjust to origin system.
Go to the config.cs file included in the asset, and find the variable "READJUST_TO_ORIGIN" and change it to false. That might help!

 

Hi I recently purchased this and while it's perfect for my needs I've noticed that I cannot generate objects only the floor will show despite having both options ticked. Do you know how I can go about fixing that?

Also when generating I'm getting doubles of every region.


and finally an error with line 81 'int[] mapRegion = '

Code (csharp):

1. FormatException: Input string was not in the correct format
2. System.Int32.Parse (System.String s) (at /Users/builduser/buildslave/monoAndRuntimeClassLibs/build/mcs/class/corlib/System/Int32.cs:629)
3. GenerateMaps.BuildFloorMap (System.String fileName, UnityEngine.GameObject parentObject) (at Assets/Dynamic Map System/Editor/GenerateMaps.cs:81)
4. GenerateMaps.DoGenerateScenes (Boolean GenerateFloorMaps, Boolean GenerateObjectMaps) (at Assets/Dynamic Map System/Editor/GenerateMaps.cs:55)
5. GenerateMaps.OnWizardCreate () (at Assets/Dynamic Map System/Editor/GenerateMaps.cs:32)
6. System.Reflection.MonoMethod.Invoke (System.Object obj, BindingFlags invokeAttr, System.Reflection.Binder binder, System.Object[] parameters, System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture) (at /Users/builduser/buildslave/monoAndRuntimeClassLibs/build/mcs/class/corlib/System.Reflection/MonoMethod.cs:222)
7. Rethrow as TargetInvocationException: Exception has been thrown by the target of an invocation.
8. System.Reflection.MonoMethod.Invoke (System.Object obj, BindingFlags invokeAttr, System.Reflection.Binder binder, System.Object[] parameters, System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture) (at /Users/builduser/buildslave/monoAndRuntimeClassLibs/build/mcs/class/corlib/System.Reflection/MonoMethod.cs:232)
9. System.Reflection.MethodBase.Invoke (System.Object obj, System.Object[] parameters) (at /Users/builduser/buildslave/monoAndRuntimeClassLibs/build/mcs/class/corlib/System.Reflection/MethodBase.cs:115)
10. UnityEditor.ScriptableWizard.OnGUI () (at C:/BuildAgent/work/d3d49558e4d408f4/artifacts/EditorGenerated/ScriptableWizard.cs:89)
11. System.Reflection.MonoMethod.Invoke (System.Object obj, BindingFlags invokeAttr, System.Reflection.Binder binder, System.Object[] parameters, System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture) (at /Users/builduser/buildslave/monoAndRuntimeClassLibs/build/mcs/class/corlib/System.Reflection/MonoMethod.cs:222)
12. Rethrow as TargetInvocationException: Exception has been thrown by the target of an invocation.
13. System.Reflection.MonoMethod.Invoke (System.Object obj, BindingFlags invokeAttr, System.Reflection.Binder binder, System.Object[] parameters, System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture) (at /Users/builduser/buildslave/monoAndRuntimeClassLibs/build/mcs/class/corlib/System.Reflection/MonoMethod.cs:232)
14. System.Reflection.MethodBase.Invoke (System.Object obj, System.Object[] parameters) (at /Users/builduser/buildslave/monoAndRuntimeClassLibs/build/mcs/class/corlib/System.Reflection/MethodBase.cs:115)
15. UnityEditor.HostView.Invoke (System.String methodName, System.Object obj) (at C:/BuildAgent/work/d3d49558e4d408f4/Editor/Mono/GUI/DockArea.cs:231)
16. UnityEditor.HostView.Invoke (System.String methodName) (at C:/BuildAgent/work/d3d49558e4d408f4/Editor/Mono/GUI/DockArea.cs:224)
17. UnityEditor.HostView.OnGUI () (at C:/BuildAgent/work/d3d49558e4d408f4/Editor/Mono/GUI/DockArea.cs:120)
18.  

All I've done so far is follow the Readme.txt so I don't think I've caused any of these errors myself.

 

I'm seeing the same issue. Just purchased from asset store and it is doing this using the default config..

 

Hello,

I bought your tool and i hope you still developing this tool.

Cheers,

Xander

 

You got this already fixed?? Please dont tell me i bought a tool where the developer is gone

Thank you,

Xander

 

Two new features if possible:
1) Load tiles using Asset Bundle as alternative for Resources.Load()
2) Load tiles in a separated system thread, if this may fix the freeze problem when change the regions.
Thanks.

 

Good luck.. From the lack of response and no updates since early 2014, I'd guess this asset is pretty much dead..