World Building EasyRoads3D v3 - the upcoming new road system

Hi otomat,

The walls and fences are side objects using the Standard Unity shaders which should be upgradable.

https://docs.unity3d.com/Packages/c...-definition@6.7/manual/Upgrading-To-HDRP.html

See the third section: Upgrading Materials

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Hi jbaujb,

Does this happen after a version upgrade to v3.1.9.f1?

In that case, please have a look at this post

https://forum.unity.com/threads/eas...-new-road-system.229327/page-155#post-5269806

But I am not sure about the (shift + click) part. That sounds more related to adding road markers?

Regarding URP, the most recent LW RP package needs to be imported. The you will get shader errors because you use 2019.3. I sent a pckage with up to date shaders to you, https://forum.unity.com/threads/eas...-new-road-system.229327/page-155#post-5269881, did you import this shader package after importing the LW RP 6.9+ package? The HD Roads package will be updated next week. v3.1.9.f2 first...

Thanks,
Raoul

 

The new shader worked, sorry I didn't see that before. Still can't create roads in 2019.3, when you are setting down the initial road markers using shift + click it just selects / deselects the terrain object instead of placing road segments.

 

Good to hear the new shaders work well.

Do you think the Shift + Click problem is Unity 2019.3 related on your end? Did this work well in previous versions? If so, did anything else change in your project? Do you have the same problem in a new project? Do you perhaps have a custom editor layout where something possibly is interfering with Unity events? Does this only happen for new roads or also when adding markers to existing roads, like with for example the roads in the demo scene?

There are no known issues with this, neither specifically related to Unity 2019.3. The scene in the v3.2 beta on the previous page was made in Unity 2019.3. Or is this perhaps double click related? Double Click does select the terrain, although this too I belief is intercepted when the Shift key is pressed.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Creating new roads in 2019.2.14f1 without problems, 2019.3.0f3 is not working for me. I am creating a new project and only importing road asset from store. I can't add or alter roads, I am not double clicking.

 

Spend $$ on asset, open up unity, open example projects, all pink. How hard could have been to add HDRP support, which has been out since 2018, to the materials in the project ?

what is the approach to work with this asset and HDRP ? I don't see any HDRP materials.

 

Hi jbaujb,

Can you recreate this in a new 2019.3.0f3 project? In that case could you send us this project?

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Hello bcv,

EasyRoads3D is not really a material / shader specific package. It is a framework of scripts that can be used with your own assets / material. The main EasyRoads3D Pro package does include some shaders. These are more example shaders how EasyRoads3D specific features like assigning vertex colors or additional UV sets can be used.

Please check the demo package description, the intention of the demo package. That said, all side object assets in the demo project use standard unity shaders, https://forum.unity.com/threads/eas...-new-road-system.229327/page-156#post-5277039

The HD Roads package is material / shader related. This package does include HDRP support.

New features are being implemented at the moment and more complex road materials are being worked on. These materials will include HDRP and URP support.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

the file is 11mb and is too large to upload on this site, got an email address I can use?

 

Yes, that might be too large, was this in a Private Conversation?

In any case, emails can be found in both the _Readme and Release - Install Notes files in the EasyRoads3D root directory in the project tab.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

you asked me to send you the project in this thread, comment #7758. Project sent to email.

 

Thank you, it is a package and it appears only the EasyRoads3D assets are included. It imports in Unity 2019.3.0f3 and Shift + Click works well.

The reason I asked for a full project instead of a package is that it will include your setup and we can test the situation as it is on your end. So ideally being able to look at a full project would be great. Do you use a custom editor setup? Certainly because you mention that this worked well in Unity 2019.2 I don't know if this is related it is just to cancel it out and the best chance to see what you see is by looking at the same project.

If the package is to large to email, do you use something like Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive? Perhaps you can upload to there and email us a link?

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Sent whole project. I'm new to unity and don't know what you mean by custom editor setup.

 

Thank you for sending the full project! I had a look at it. When selecting the demo scene no markers are highlighted in the scene. This is already an indication that not all EasyRoads3D editor code runs.

With Custom Editor layout I meant a different layout of the Unity default editor layout. For example Inspector or hierarchy tabs moved around or new tabs added. And indeed this appears to be related to the problem.

For example the Animator tab is visible next to the Scene Tab. Removing this tab however did not solve it.

But what does solve the problem is this:

Main Menu > Windows > Layouts

If, for example, "Revert Factory Settings" is selected, the editor layout will be reset. Selecting the road network afterwards does show the marker handles and Shift + Click does work now. Can you try this?

So it looks like your editor setup was causing something in Unity 2019.3 to interfere with either Unity events or OnSceneGUI() in editor scripts perhaps not being triggered at all.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

that fixed it. thanks for your help

 

I have a simple A* script that generates a path of points across terrains.

Can I somehow use this list of points and have easyroads create a road at runtime? I took a look at the API but I’m not sure what the correct way is to do this.

 

Hi protopop,

That is possible, how dense are the points?

You could try something like this:

Code (csharp):

1. // Create a new Road Network object or reference to the existing road network in the scene
2. roadNetwork = new ERRoadNetwork();
3.  
4. // If this is an existing road network, get a road type
5. ERRoadType roadType = roadNetwork.GetRoadTypeByName("Your Road Type");
6.  
7. // Create the road based on your A* points
8. ERRoad road = roadNetwork.CreateRoad("road 1", roadType, points);

This works both at runtime as in the Unity editor. It will create markers for each point so some optimization might be required if you like to be able to make road shape changes in a friendly way afterwards.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

My roads is overlapping with the terrain as follows:




When I go into terrain edit mode the road raises above the ground properly, I can edit the height using the raise road network option, however when I leave edit mode it reverts back.

I am using URP 2019.3

 

Hi jbaujb,

The "Raise" level is set in Build mode and the effect should be the other way around.

Can you check the following in both Edit and Build mode. The Y position of both "Connection Objects" and "Road Objects", child objects of the main road network object. And the same for the road object itself.

All these objects should be at (0,0,0) in Edit Mode, the individual road objects should be at (0,0,0) in Build mode as well. "Connection Objects" and "Road Objects" should be at the "Raise" level heigth.

Let's verify this first, but z-fighting can also be dealt with by applying an Offset in the shader. Which shader are you using?

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Hi, I don't see the menu options you described in Vegetation Studio Pro. Could you please upload a screen shot?

 

Sorry your are right, its when I press the "build terrain" button the road height is correct, but when I go back to edit mode it gets too close. The y value of the "road objects" object is offset in build mode, but resets to 0 in edit mode. I am using the LWRP shader provided by you.

 

Ah, are you talking about the settings in ER? What do the "permiter" values mean? I've randomly changed them and it doesn't seem to have any effect.

 

Hi donkey0t,

These options are not available in Vegetation Studio Pro. They are displayed in the EasyRoads3D toolbar. General Settings > Terrain Management



If you do not see these options then you can check the following.

This menu is visible when the VEGETATION_STUDIO or VEGETATION_STUDIO_PRO scripting define symbols exist in the project which chould be the case when one of these two packages is imported. This can be verified in: Project Settings > Player > Scripting Define Symbols

/Assets/EasyRoads3D/Scripts/ERVegetationStudio

This script looks for these define symbols and will activate VS for EasyRoads3D. Near the top you should see this is done for both Vegetation Studio (starting line 7) and Vegetation Studio Pro (starting line 15)

Thanks,
Raoul

 

You already found it

After editing these global values they will indeed not change for exisiting scene instances although "Reset all Road Types and Objects" should do that, I just tested it, the values visible on individual road types do update. These values can also be controlled per road types, "Update Scene Instances" in the road type settings should work.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Yes, then it behaves as it should, in Edit Mode the roads are at (0,0,0) on top of the terrain.

I had a look at the LW RP shaders. I see These shaders currently do not have the Offset options available in the Inspector. An update of this package will follow the comming week, I will add that. But if you open these shaders, "/Assets/NatureManufacture Assets/HD Roads/Shaders" and search for "Offset" you will see the values are 0,0. If you change that to for example -1, -1 the z-fighting will disappear. Obviously the road will still disappear below the terrain in areas where it is clearly below the terrain in Edit mode.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

That cleared things up at a distance but when I get close it comes back, but now its a streak type pattern.

 

oh I think i gets this now. i don't need to worry about the clipping in edit mode. I should finalize in build mode when i'm ready.

 

The Offset power increases when the cam is further away. This Offset option is especially useful to deal with possible issues at a distance when the terrains LOD system kicks in. That is also the reason why you still see that streak pattern when the cam is nearby. The closer the cam the less strong the Offset power.

Edit mode is Edit mode, it does not give an exact vizualization of the final road and the terrain. That is also why additional options like the highlight features in General Settings > Scene Settings are available. This gives an impression of the road shape in Edit Mode and how the terrain will be adjusted regardless whether the road is below or above the terrain.

"Finalize" removes script components. It is recommended to use "Finalize" in Build mode only just before doing the final builds and when the scripting API (to edit roads or for AI purposes) is not required at runtime. And even then it is recommended to backup the scene / road network so changes can still be made in a later stage if necessary. "Finalize" does not affect the road meshes or the position relative to the terrain.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Thank you Raoul this looks really straightforward. I can vary the density of my points and I appreciate you including the commented code - it helps.

 

I’m using mapmagic which generates multiple terrains. We can call a function after each single terrain generates. I create the astar path after each terrain is created. Can I pass a reference to a specific terrain to easy roads before I generate the road? The idea is that easy roads will affect a specific terrain. And since they are runtime generates terrains I don’t have to worry about restoring each terrain after.

 

There are no references between roads and terrains. It is not that the terrains(s) auto update after creating a road. In the Unity Editor the middle mountain tab is used to switch to Build mode and update the terrain. At runtime updating the terrain is done through:

ERRoadNetwork.BuildRoadNetwork()
ERRoadNetwork.BuildRoadNetwork(bool splatmaps, bool trees, bool detail)

Or

BuildRoadNetwork(bool splatmaps, bool trees, bool detail, ERRoad[] roads)

Targeting a specific terrain can be added if that would be useful.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Hello.

ER3D has began failing to update the terrain height map recently. Not sure what has happened. Has been working fine.

Code (CSharp):

1. EasyRoads3Dv3: Updating the heightmap of terrain Terrain_0_0-20191210-181720 failed, please report with details!
2. UnityEngine.Debug:LogError(Object)
3. EasyRoads3Dv3.QDQDOOQQOOQDD:OCDOQQDDOD(ERModularBase, ERTerrain, Terrain, Single, Single, Single, Single)
4. EasyRoads3Dv3Editor.OOCQCCOQDD:OOCQDOQOQO(ERModularBase, OOQCDODQDD)
5. EasyRoads3Dv3Editor.OOQCDODQDD:OnInspectorGUI()
6. UnityEngine.GUIUtility:ProcessEvent(Int32, IntPtr) (at C:/buildslave/unity/build/Modules/IMGUI/GUIUtility.cs:179)
7.  
8.  
9. Additional info: 580 726 445 491 6716
10. UnityEngine.Debug:LogError(Object)
11. EasyRoads3Dv3.QDQDOOQQOOQDD:OCDOQQDDOD(ERModularBase, ERTerrain, Terrain, Single, Single, Single, Single)
12. EasyRoads3Dv3Editor.OOCQCCOQDD:OOCQDOQOQO(ERModularBase, OOQCDODQDD)
13. EasyRoads3Dv3Editor.OOQCDODQDD:OnInspectorGUI()
14. UnityEngine.GUIUtility:ProcessEvent(Int32, IntPtr) (at C:/buildslave/unity/build/Modules/IMGUI/GUIUtility.cs:179)
15.  
16. Additional info: 580 726 445 491 6716
17. UnityEngine.Debug:LogError(Object)
18. EasyRoads3Dv3.QDQDOOQQOOQDD:OCDOQQDDOD(ERModularBase, ERTerrain, Terrain, Single, Single, Single, Single)
19. EasyRoads3Dv3Editor.OOCQCCOQDD:OOCQDOQOQO(ERModularBase, OOQCDODQDD)
20. EasyRoads3Dv3Editor.OOQCDODQDD:OnInspectorGUI()
21. UnityEngine.GUIUtility:ProcessEvent(Int32, IntPtr) (at C:/buildslave/unity/build/Modules/IMGUI/GUIUtility.cs:179)
22.  
23.  

I'm using Microsplat for shader and VSPro for trees. But ER3D was working fine with them so I don't think they could be the culprit. Not sure what's going on.


Edit: I completely recreated the terrain like you said above in a reply, that didn't work. I completely recreated the road also, that didn't work. I removed the custom terrain shader, VSPro, and just made it barebones Standard Terrain and that also didn't work. I'm bummed, don't know what's going on? Kind of scared to touch my other road networks now because they are very long and large road networks that I can't ruin.

 

Hello Freznosis,

The additional data shows that a 513+ heightmap resolution is used for the terrain, but the data is correct, it does not point to an error.

Do you have multiple terrain tiles in your scene? Can the problem be isolated to that specific terrain tile, Terrain_0_0-20191210-181720? This can be tested for example by selecting a specific terrain instead of all terrains in the Build settings.

I don't think VSPro or Microsplat are involved here. Since you mention this was working well before, what has changed recently? Unity upgrades, ER3D upgrades, newly imported packages or do you have other tools that work with the Unity terrain object possibly locking the heightmap?

The only known issue that can result in this warning being thrown was related to terrain upgrades from Unity 2018.2 to Unity 2013+ projects. A known fix for that is removing the terrain and dropping the specific terrain asset back in the scene. But you mention you already tried that.

To debug this we would always duplicate the sene in the project folder and use the backup scene, as you say remove roads, check the terrains, replace the specific terrain for a new unity terrain object (or did you already tried that? barebones Standard Terrain...).

Would it be possible to send the scene with the specific terrain tile and the road network so we can look at it?

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Hello,

Yes I have tried everything mentioned above. It's very weird because I haven't changed anything from the point of it last working, to now.

I am not using it with tiles just yet, but I tested it quickly with a couple of pinned tiles and it fails for all tiles.

I tried a completely new terrain in a completely new scene and it's doing the same thing. Completely fails. I'm on Unity 2019.2.15f1 and I haven't updated since then. The only thing I can think of different is using Gaia. But I deleted it and tried again on the scene I mentioned above and it still didn't work. So I think I can rule that out.

And as for tools "locking the heightmap" I don't know what you mean by that. How does it work? AFAIK none of the tools I use can lock the terrain. If GAIA does that, it's removed and it still failed after deleting and reloading the project. So I'm not sure about that part.

 

Some terrain tools do have an option to lock the terrain heightmap. In that state ER3D cannot update the terrain heightmap. I belief Terrain Composer had that option. But I don't know if Gaia has, this would be the first time it is reported.

Have you tried this in the main Demo scene in /Assets/EasyRoads3D scenes/. Does this terrain update?

We haven't tested Unity 2019.2.15.f1 but have tested this on previous 2019.2 versions and also on a large number of Unity 2019.3 beta releases. There are no known issues with this so I would think it is related to Unity 2019.2.15.f1 certainly if this worked well before in this version.

If you can actually recreate this in a very simple project, with just a terrain, no additional terrain tools used, perhaps you can send it to us so we can look at it. Otherwise it looks like this is project specific in which case it is hard to provide more feedback. Also in that case, it would be very much appreciated if we could have a look at it.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Just tested the demo scene, it works fine. I added VSPro and Microsplat to the demo scene and it's all working fine. So I'm not sure what the problem is in my own scenes. The only difference is road types and 2 or 3 side objects. I will try adding my side objects and see if that changes anything. I will also try some other stuff and get back to you to see if I can provide a demo scene.


Edit: Yeah I'm completely confused now man. Works flawlessly in the demo scene but not mine. How would I go about sending this to you?



Edit 2: So here's something weird. When I use Reapply Critical Road Heights, the terrain gets successfully deformed for some parts of the road. Meaning the heightmap can indeed get edited and it's not being locked. But you can see it only works for some parts of the road (top part of the road) and not others (bottom part of the road). It continues to get weird.



Edit 3: The saga continues! It seems new scenes work fine for some reason. I will continue to investigate this. Perhaps something is happening after a scene is saved that causes this problem?



Edit 4: I have found out what is causing this problem. Kinda. So after seeing it definitely works in a new scene, I decided to move a non-functioning scene to a new scene. Literally just CTRL+A everything and moved it to a new scene. And it worked! This definitely means this has something to do with pre-existing scenes, but within the scene files themselves I suppose. Everything is working again it seems.

 

Hello again Raoul,
i wonder if it is possible to use default roads after importing HD addon ?
(basically i want to use default package roads with HD addon shaders)

 

I tested all other scenes and confirmed the problem lies within the scene file that's causing this problem. (For this exact case at least.) I don't know what causes the scene files to do this, but knowing this now. I will look through my project completely and see what change are being made to scenes that could potentially cause this. For the meantime, everything else works like it should.

I'm still open to sending the scene files over that don't work so you can take a look at what causes this error. In the meantime I will go back to making lovely mountain roads.

 

Glad to hear you figured out what the problem is. So if you would open the problematic scene, load an additional new empty scene in the hierarchy and simply drag all assets from one scene to the other, that would fix the problem?

I understand if that would take too much time, but I wonder what will happen if you would remove all assets from that scene (in a backup) then move all EasyRoads3D Main demo scene assets to that scene like described above. If that would still cause issues updating the heightmap, perhaps you could strip the project to the EasyRoads3D assets only and send it to us.

Nice screen shots

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Hi otomat,

That is possible. It is a matter of updating the materials / shaders. After changing the shader to one of the HD Roads shaders the textures are probably missing. So perhaps it will help if you have a second project open with the original material, to see to which textures the original material is pointing. That way you can quickly see which texture to assign whithout potentially having to reselect materials. This could also be done in the same project, but it will require duplicating the material.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

V3.1.9f2 is now available

This version includes an important update related to changes that were made in v3.1.9f1 to deal with a crucial previous Unity 2019.3 bug resulting in Unity crashing after specific actions. This has been fixed in Unity 2019.3.0f2+

If you are using v3.1.9.f1 and one of the current official Unity releases or Unity 2019.3.0f2+, then it is recommended to update to the new V3.1.9.f2

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Thanks a lot Raoul, my main issue was loosing default roads and side objects library after importing HD ADDON,
but i think i solved it by exporting prefabs from another project and importing back.
is there an other way to activate default road and etc prefabs after importing HD ADDON?

 

Road types and side object presets will never be overwritten by newly imported road types or side objects unless they share the same id which should not be the case with the HD Roads package. I will double check that. But in that case importing these presets back in from another project the way you described would overwrite the HD Roads presets in a similar way.

So to answer your question I first need to know what the situation exactly is in your project after importing HD Roads assets. In what way did you lose default roads and side objects?

Both road types and side objects are both stored in the project as in the scene file. The list of presets you see in General Settings > Road Types and in the Side Object manager are the presets available in the scene. The presets available in the project can be seen by pressing eiher the "Add Project Road Types" or "Manage Project Road Types", the same for side objects. Do you mean all road and side object presets completely disappear from the project after importing HD Roads package? There is no known history of that happening so further details would be appreciated very much.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

i loose default side objects and roads after i import HD ADDON i guess,
only roads i see r like in the image,



and only props section have some HD assets

 

Could you please give the exact steps you take, which packages you import, and can you show screenshots of the road types and side objects before and after importing HD Roads package?

Thanks,
Raoul

 

01 _creating new hdrp project

02_importing easy roads

03_only default road

04_importing demo project

05_

 

06_every road asset is present now


07_importing hd addon

08_only hd assets avaible with hd demo scene

09_and default assets with default demo scene

10_loading hdrp support

 

11_

12_hd addon scene after hdrp support import

13_unity default hdrp scene, somwhow can not create new network,(i was able to do it ,may it me related to recen easyroad update?)

and these are my steps, i was able to make it work in my project, but i failed now.
and as i understand i can load road types to diffrent scenes my clicking manage project road types.

 

Thank you for the screens, it is clear now which packages you have imported. But the requested screens are not included. A final overview of:

1. General Settings > Road Types > the road type dropdown
2. General Settings > Road Types > "Manage Project Road Types" or "Add Project Road Types"
3. Side Object Manager > "Manage Project Side Objects" or "Add Project Road Types"

For side objects, the scene side objects are in side object specific tabs so this cannot be shown in a single screenshot, but the project side object status wilkl aready show if all demo package side objects are astill in the project.

In what way can you not create a new road network? And which version of EasyRoads3D are you using? The latest version 3.1.9.f2 does actually include a fix for a problem in v3.1.9.f1 for projects that were created in an older version. This does not seem to be related in your case.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Hi again,


01_02_as you can see after importing easyroads v3.1.9.f2 there is only default road and no side object and i think this is the default contains of the package.


03_when i try to create the road network from the menu it does not create it and gives an error which you can read in the console.


04_ i drag and drop ERRoadNetwork prefab to hierarchy window to make it work.