World Building EasyRoads3D v3 - the upcoming new road system

The errors don't appear when the prefab is created outside of the parent, so I don't think that is preventing the process from completing. The errors appear later when trying to work on the road when it is outside of the Connection Objects parent.

These prefabs are crossing prefabs I created myself by duplicating the default dynamic connection prefab and changing them.

 

In the latest package I just created a new road. Then, with the last marker selected, I selected the Default T Crossing from the 3rd tab in the Inspector. The crossing is attached to the road and part of the Road Network object as a child in "Connection Objects" in the hierachy. There are no errors.

Then I selected the crossing object in the hierarchy and dragged it outside the road network hierarchy and selected the road network again. there are no errors, the crossing handles no longer appear but the road attached to the crossing does update after changes and there are still no errors. Selecting the crossing again in the hierarchy will move it back inside the road network hierarchy where it should be.

I cannot recreate the situation where the crossing ends up outside the road network hierarchy, neither errors when changing the road while the crossing object is outside the hierarchy.

How did you duplicate the prefabs?

In general, crossing prefabs cannot really be compared with Unity prefabs because they are customizable in various ways. Duplicating prefabs was always something that should be avoided because EasyRoads3D uses and internal ID system that will still link them to the prefab in the project folder. By duplicating a prefab in the project folder, different prefab types will share this same ID which could cause issues in a later stage when you want to make changes to the prefab and update matching scene instances.

Duplicating prefabs is still not recommended, but as per v3.1.9f3 the problem with these internal IDs being similar should be dealt with.

In what way are these prefabs changed?

General Settings > Road Types > Create New Connection Prefab (below the material slots)

This is the recommended way to create new connection prefabs based on a specific road type.

Do you still get errors when following this workflow?

Thanks,
Raoul

 

v3.2.0b2 is now available on our website

New in this update is submesh support for prefabs used as the source object for procedural side objects. In the first beta a single side object could already be used to auto generate side object on both the left and right side of the road. A single side object can now also be used for manually placed side objects, the workflow in the current v3.1. A new "Dual Sided" option is visible in the Side Object Manager when the side object is positioned relative to the left or right side of the road. Marker specific controls will be visible for both sides of the road when "Dual Sided" is toggled on.

Apart from that there are several improvements and fixes for auto generated side objects based on rules.

Please check the release notes on our website for full details and the beta download.

https://www.easyroads3d.com/v3beta.php

The Unity 2019.3 version is the one that supports holes for tunnels.

Feedback and bug reports are very much appreciated and as always, please backup your project first before importing updates, especially beta and alpha versions.

The next update will include new tunnel examples and new procedural side object features.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

TCrossing is a GameObject

Code (CSharp):

1. public GameObject TCrossing;

Where do you mean to pass it?
I pass it to create a connection and then use that connection to attach the roads to.

Code (CSharp):

1. newCrossing = new ERConnection(TCrossing, "Crossing"+crossCount++);
2. newConnection = road.AttachToEnd(newCrossing, 0);

Can i ask why we check the startPrefabScript when we want to AttachToEnd? I'm assuming startPrefabScript gets populated when having a connection at the start, which my road has, but that shouldn't stop it from connecting the end? or am i missing something?

 

Hi Jister,

Have you tried this?

Code (csharp):

1. // Get a reference to the source prefab in the project folder
2. ERConnection sourcePrefab = roadNetwork.GetSourceConnectionByName("Default T Crossing")
3.  
4. // Attach an instance to the road
5. newConnection = road.AttachToEnd(sourcePrefab);

Built-in road type shape have two nodes in v3.1. But in v3.3 road shapes can be flexible. Also, the Custom Prefab system allows importing your own connection meshes. These can be of any shape. There is no way to attach any road shape to any connection shape automatically, these two shapes must match.

When a road is already connected to a crossing a new crossing on the other end must have a connection that matches the shape. If thatis not the case then the road and the crossing will not connect.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

I installed ER with the HD add-on in Unity 2019.3.3f1, HDRP 7.2.1, Win10. I'm getting these a lot in the console:

Code (CSharp):

1. Could not create a custom UI for the shader 'NatureManufacture Shaders/HD SRP Road Material'. The shader has the following: 'CustomEditor = ASEMaterialInspector'. Does the custom editor specified include its namespace? And does the class either derive from ShaderGUI or MaterialEditor?
2. UnityEngine.GUIUtility:ProcessEvent(Int32, IntPtr)
3.  

Any hint how to fix this? ie is it sufficient to simply delete this:

Code (CSharp):

1. CustomEditor "ASEMaterialInspector"

Or will it break things? Asking just to be on the safe side

Thank you!

 

Hi Rowlan,

I do not get any errors, can you try deleting it?

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Raoul,

I am currently using v3.3.0a1 Do i recall correctly that at the moment, sidewalks are not working? (before I post a long winded issue, I thought I'd check if they are even working yet.)

 

Hi James,

The v3.1 sidewalk system on X and T Crossings should work fine. But I assume this is related to v3.3 Flex Connectors, that indeed is not yet supported.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

It's just warnings. Lots of though, all the time. And yeah, deleting works. I guess you have Amplify Shader Editor installed? I had these warnings on an empty new project with only your assets in it.

 

I tested earlier in an empty project, that is how the shaders are always tested. Perhaps it is HDRP 7.2.1, I will check that too. But good to hear these shaders work well in 7.2.1 too.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Yes I was, thanks for the quick response.

 

It is being worked on, the tricky part is the crossing corner angles with Flex Connectors which can be sharp and very wide. It requires different triangulation routines which were on the list to add anyway to improve paved / tiles sidewalks on crossings.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

I have the same warning error but it looks like deleting

Code (CSharp):

1. CustomEditor "ASEMaterialInspector"

in the shader code (HD_SRP_Road_Shader.shader) solved the warning message.

 

Hi ahumanbeing,

Thank you, we will check these shaders in 7.2.1 and update the package.

Raoul

 

Using connector.GetConnectionCount() on an I Connector is giving me a result of 4, even though there are only 2 roads connected. Is that correct? I'd like to verify that before I go and write code to work around the issue.

I am using 3.3.0a1.

 

Hi Colin,

I will double check. In any case, for I Connectors which are used between two roads, only connection index 0 and 1 will be used. Or is this causing other issues, for example with traffic AI in 3.3.0a1? In that case I can send a patch so you don't have to write code to workaround this.

3.3.0a1 was updated yesterday. There are no new v3.3 features but it includes new v3.2 beta recent code updates.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Thanks. The workaround was pretty simple. I just used the same technique used to determine if it's an I Connector in the first place, i.e. if LaneData is empty. It's not the most efficient, but since I'm building a one-time extractor to convert all the lanes to entities, I'll take clear code over efficiency -- to a point.

I'll check out the new updates. Only needing one side object for both sides of the road will really clean up some stuff for me.

 

In next updates lane info will be available for I Connectors, especially when it includes a road transition mesh. Otherwise it will return the matching lane data of the road object connected to to the other end.

One side object that can be used for both sides of the road in v3.2.0b2 should indeed simplify things. Please let me know if you run into issues with this with the wide range of different side object types in your scene.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Awesome news! Does that mean if the I Connector is zero-length, it will return the last lane point of the entering lane and the first lane point of the exiting lane, or will it return the lane points of the exiting lane? The second option could be a bit confusing, especially if the case where the I Connector has length and returns a vector3[] of lane points. I want to eventually type up a bunch of ideas I've had around lanes, but I think an obvious one would be an interface that would allow you to simply get the "next lane" without needing to worry about lane direction, whether or not you are on a connector, etc.

The dual-side objects are fantastic! So much cleaner and so much easier to make updates not having to copy all the settings into another definition. One thing that would help would be the ability to select which side to use the side objects on by each marker for all types. It appears that option is available for procedural mesh objects, but not for mesh objects. I'm guessing that's coming and just hasn't been implemented yet.

One other idea: a visualizer for side-objects, like the road shape visualizer. A lot of my roads are so close to the terrain that most of the time they are under the terrain when editing. It would be nice to have a clean and uncluttered view of just the road and the side objects. A completely separate window that allowed you to switch between road types and which side objects are enabled to let you see how they interact would be ideal.

 

It is not implemented yet, feedback is always very welcome. I will look into this the coming week.

This should also already work for the other side object types as long as "Dual Sided" in the Side Object manager is checked. For the Mesh Type of side object you can chose between Mirror or Rotate 180 Degrees and on selected roads controls should be visible for both sides of the road. Is that not the case for you?

Yes, that is on the list to add, something similar as the road shape vizualizer in the v3.3 alpha also including auto generating side objects that are active by default for road types.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

That's correct. For my side objects that are defined as "mesh" I do not see the right side and left side checkboxes when I select a marker on the road. For "procedural mesh" I do see those options. If you happen to still have the last scene file I sent the Curb - HD under barriers works after converting, and the Parking - Left does not. I don't have my project available on this computer, but I used whatever the default was, I believe "mirror."

 

I looked at the scene I have here in Unity 2019.3.0f3 with the current alpha version of EasyRoads3D Pro v3.3 imported.

There are various Curb side objects under "Barriers" but no Curb - HD.

Parking - Left , in the "Misc" tab is a Shape Type of side object with the alignment set to "Relative to the center of the road". When changing this to relative to the right and left side of the road, the "Dual Sided" option becomes visible. After toggling this on controls for both sides are visible on the selected road after activating this side object.

"Angled Parked Cars - Left" in the same tab is a mesh type of side object. Switching on "Dual Sided" after changing the alignment to "Relative to the left side of the road" also does show controls for both sides of the road. This was tested on a road with this side object already active. Switching on "Dual Sided" results in errors when selecting the road. This will be fixed, the errors will disappear after decativating > reactivating this side object on the road. But in any case, also for this side object controls for both sides are visible.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Apologies, I forgot I had renamed those curbs. I started from HD Curb - Right (or something like that), switched to relative to right side and then ticked Dual Sided. Same procedure for Parking - Left. I am seeing a number of errors in my console, and with your comment about the issues from Angled Parked Cars - Left, I'll see if deactivating some of my side objects and reactivating them solves that. Perhaps that's what is blocking me from seeing the controls. I'll update when I have a chance to try it out later tonight.

 

In the Barriers tab there is a "HD Standard Curb - Right", a Procedural side object type.

The error I mentioned results in the "Active" checkbox being the only and last control of the second set of controls that is visible in the Inspector. Deactivate > Reactivate this side object fixes that.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Yeah, so there is definitely some oddity in the behavior of the activation checkboxes. I had 2 dual sided objects on the road and I was unable to uncheck "right" but could uncheck "left" which unchecked both, and when I tried the same on the other object it deactivated and reactivated the first object also. Eventually I got them both set up. I deactivated, reactivated several times. I also regenerated the road network a few times.

The "missing" left/right seems to have been user error. I found them below the controls for the overall road in the selected marker section. I think the different was the ones I could find before didn't have the overall road setting section expanded by default.

 

Hi Colin,

So far all side objects in your project I tested behave as expected apart from the error I mentioned.

And we have never seen this behaviour. How can this be recreated in your project so I can test that? How did you eventually got them set up? Were there errors?

The side object marker controls are displayed below the main marker section in the Inspector. That is also the case in v3.1. The difference is that now two sets of controls are visible for both sides of the road. Both the overall road settings and the main side object settings where side objects are activated do not affect the functionality or visibility of marker specific side object controls for both sides of the road.

But, just in case, visibility of the second set of controls depends on the selected side object in the dropdown at the top in the Marker Side Object Settings section. If the selected side object does not have a "Dual Sided" setup, then no second set of controls will be visible.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

The left/right thing was purely me not looking in the correct place. I saw some controls on the screen and just assumed they were the ones I was looking for, never considering that the ones I really wanted were farther down.

From memory, I set up both the "Parking Curb - Left" and "Parked Vehicles - Left" (names are as best as I can remember -- won't be at the computer with the project for another 10 hours) as dual-sided, offset from right. Then I went to the road they were attached to and attempted to disable the right side for the vehicles. I was unable to uncheck the box, but, IIRC, both sides had the side objects removed (the checkbox remained checked). I then unchecked the left side and was able to clear the checkbox on the right. Then I enabled the left side. Then, I went to the parking curb side object and attempted to do the same. I found the vehicle side object was being disabled along with the curb side object. During all of this there were errors appearing in the console, all out of range exceptions I think. After everything settled down I did not see any new errors generated when selecting or toggling the enabled status and they appear to be acting independently now.

 

If there are errors then that does make the behaviour unreliable potentially resulting in checkboxes remaining checked.

The question is how to reproduce this if this is indeed not related to the same error I mentioned here. I cannot recreate this behaviour for the "Parking Curb - Left" and "Parking Curb - Right" side objects.

Or if you want I can prepare a build with a fix for that error so you can test this on your end.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Why first or the last marker can't be rotated?

 

Hello studentvz,

Do you mean the tilting option does not work for the first or last marker?

Is the road connected to a crossing at both ends? That is the only situation where tilting will not work on these markers because the road will snap to the crossing and will be aligned according the rotation of the crossing.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

I was using Rotate Tool, it works for all markers except the first and last one.

Titling in road settings in inspector works. Thank you.

 

As long as the road is not connected to a crossing, using the rotate tool for tilting in Scene View should also work for the first and last marker



Thanks,
Raoul

 

Issue with roads, after pressing "Build Terrain" are slightly below the terrain. Before I go an press "Back to Edit Mode", adjust the point, back to "Build Terrain" and then repeat until all points are above ground... I thought I should ask.

Thing is; If I create another scene in the same game, make some variances on the terrain, then add one of the same roads across this terrain. When I press "Build Terrain" in this scene everything is fine. In both cases the values in the ER Modular Base; Build Settings" are the same. With "Raise Road Network" set at 0.02, I also try 0.05, but even then some of the roads are a little below the terrain.

Thanks.

 

Hello James,

I don't entirely understand what you mean with adjust the point. Where does this happen on the roads, on crossings, at connections? And when repeating that the roads are no longer below the terrain?

The "Raise" option is road network game object related after the terrain has been adjusted to the road network. I think it is irrelevant here because you write that there are differences between scenes so it seems this is scene specific which also makes it hard to provide feedback. Is there any chance to see this scene?

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Sorry, I should have SHOWN you: https://imgur.com/a/A9DtU1m This is what I am taking about, in this scene some sections of the roads are below the terrain level. I checked the entire game and none of the Connections are below the terrain.

The "point" I am taking about is this: https://imgur.com/a/vpcaWjq While in Edit Mode I can go through the game and move each affected point up, transform.y, but manually doing that seems wrong, since in my other Test Scene the terrain is deformed around the Road, when I press "Build Terrain(s)"

 

Ok with "point", you mean move the road marker control points upwards.

The surfaces representing how the terrain will be adjusted in the second image seem to cover quite a distance sideways. What are the terrain specifications? Does this terrain indeed require higher indent values or did you set that manually. The higher the minimum required indent values the more likely that the terrain will break through the roads if they are not flat. There are not enough terrain points available to adjust the terrain exactly according the road shape.

Does the terrain have different specs then the terrains in other scenes where this works well. Have you ever seen this before in general? Did this work well before in this scene with the same terrain setup?

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Here are the terrains specs: https://imgur.com/a/et5wetX These were set manually by me.

 

The terrain size is 8888x8888, the heightmap resolution is 513x513. That means that the distance between terrain points is about 17 or 18 units. It will be hard to match the terrain exactly with the roads unless the roads are flat.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

I've got to go look into this, thank you very much.

 

As the side object manager has categories, how do i assign objects to them? I can't find a dropdown to do so. They seem to be getting assigned to Barriers automatically.

 

You have to select the category you want the side object to be in before creating it. I haven't found a way to move a side object yet though, so hopefully we can get that in a future update if there isn't already a way to do that.


On another note.

Has anyone been getting problems with Vegetation Studio integration?

I setup a Road Type with specific vegetation mask settings and the created roads always use the default settings, but not the ones specified on the Road Network. You can see my road type VS settings and my Terrain Management VS settings are changed, but the roads are still created with different settings.

Terrain Management settings


Road Type settings


Actual road mask


Any settings I put is defaulting back to some unreachable settings of 2,2,4,4,8.

Do both of these settings get added up and the total is outputted? I don't really understand what is going on here.

 

If a road type is created as side object (procedural walls), similar to how it's described in the documentation this will fail, as the side object entry seems to be indirectly created. But good to know that it's atleast initially possible for direct side object creation. I guess my workaround is creating the SO entry first, then assigning it as a road type afterwards. thanks.
Hopefully this workflow get's improved in the future.

 

Hi Flavelius,

Like Freznosis mentioned, new side objects will be created in the currently selected category.

It is possible to change this, up to v.3.1.9f2 a category dropdown was displayed below the side object name control. In v3.2 this dropdown is located a little bit further below because v3.2 has category specific controls for rule based auto created side objects. This control is currently only displayed for beta builds, this is wrong. The next v3.1.9x update will have this category dropdown displayed again.

So a new "road type" is created, but it will be used as a side object, no road will be build. Instead a wall side object is activated for this "road type" and only this wall will be created. How does this fail and how is this related to the category selection?

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Hi Freznosis,

I would have to double check this, but the values on the actual VS component are probably the final values relative to the center of the road. The perimeter values in the screenshots are relative to the left and right side of the road.

Do you mean regardless what values you enter, the values on the VS component remain the same?

The screenshots show the default settings and road type specific settings. How do the road type settings compare to the settings for the actual road? Does this happen for both existing and new roads or only existing roads? Is "Update Scene Instances" near the bottom in the road type settings used?

Thanks,
Raoul

 

@raoul
Thanks for the fast answer; in this case i didn't mean that the system fails, i meant the workflow that the user above posted (as the side object is automatically created i can't create it in the correct category myself).

But i want to use this opportunity to report a little bug: i couldn't remember how to delete markers (it's a bit obscure, i'd expect something like ctrl-shift-click or similar) so i pressed the delete key and that removed the whole road object. After doing an undo (ctr-z) i got a few null-reference exceptions from inside the ER system and couldn't create new markers on the restored road object without triggerning these exceptions. Unfortunately i haven't copied the stacktrace, but maybe this description helps reproducing it. If not i can try to do that later today.

 

Hi Flavelius,

Ok, glad to hear that. From your post it appeared to me that something was failing when activating side objects on road types.

Regarding the "bug" with deleting markers, when working on the road network, the road network object is selected. So pressing the delete key will target the road network object, that is the default Unity behaviour.

However, this action should be intercepted and a dialog box should appear asking for confirmation if you you want to delete the entire road network object. That is why deleting road network objects like markers works differently. I will make a note though as the dialog box options can be expanded with an option to delete the actualy selected object (markers, crossing objects, etc.). I still think there should be a more direct way to do this without this without having to confirm the action.

In the current build Shift + R will instantly remove the selected marker(s).

https://www.easyroads3d.com/v3/html/shortcuts.html

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Hey, i was trying to reproduce it and now it actually popped up the confirmation message, not sure why it didn't before. Just letting you know. Thanks for the good support.

 

Hi Flavelius,

Although this usually is the case when deleting markers, perhaps the scene view window did not have focus? I made a note this morning to see if this keyboard event can also be intercepted when for example the hierarchy or Inspector has focus.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Hi Raoul,

Yeah sorry I don't think I was explaining it correctly. No matter what I set the perimeters for grass, plants, trees, etc, in the road type or the terrain management window. The actual mask components attached to the roads will always use the default perimeters. So if I set grass perimeter to 9, it will still say 2 on the actual mask component. If I refresh the road or deactivate then reactivate the vegetation masking, it still uses default values. The only way I got it to change the perimeter on the mask component was by setting everything to 0, but then of course the mask doesn't do anything.

On the mask component I see you're setting a custom width in addition to the vegetation perimeter settings. I think that adds up, so in total it uses width + perimeter and I think that's where the confusion may be. But regardless, the perimeters should be updating even though you're setting a custom width right?

That's why I'm confused. I'll see if I can post a video so you can better see what I'm talking about.