Geodesic globe WIP

The idea was to have a more detailed terrain but only showing a few "tiles" to spare memory. Do you think it's not worth it?

In the meantime i'm trying a different approach, creating a icosphere and breaking it up into more sections depending whether you are in that particular triangle or not. This way i can potentially render the whole icosphere in low res (say the 12 initial faces) and as i approach the planet in the direction of a certain triangle i would subdivide that one more and more as i go further closer to the surface. Then as i move around the globe, i can subdivide the triangle i am currently in, and undivide the one i just left.

Does it make sense? Or do you think most machines nowadays can handle the necessary triangles to have a small planet all in memory?

 

Just reposting this here as I saw you've active on this thread more recently. I know Unity notifications can be a bit spotty sometimes:

Hello, I have been contemplating trying to make something utilizing a hex map on a sphere and, well, your package is obviously suited for the task. I was wondering about a few things:

Firstly, what is the state of the package with regards to current functionality and Unity 5 compatibility? I saw some posts about potential additions such as tectonic and wind simulation for procedural generation; cool sounding stuff. Was any of that implemented or is it still planned? Also, I looked at HexTech, which has a lot of interesting features; any plans or possibility of integrating features from that package?

I was a bit worried when I saw that the package hadn't been updated recently, but you've been maintaining activity on the forums, and I understand that this package is largely for your own professional work, which gives me hope for its continuing viability.

It really does seem like a very well-thought-out, comprehensive, and impressive package; I am sorry it does not seem to have received the attention or accolades it deserves. Perhaps that is the fault of its highly niche and technical nature.

 

No, it's worth it. Unity has a limit on how many vertices can be in a mesh ((256 * 256) -2), so splitting it up makes you able to go denser. If you plan to have the player actually walk around on the surface, it's pretty much going to be mandatory to subdivide it even further than HexGlobe already does...

 

Thank you for your kind words.
I did know this package was going to be niche when I released it; it wasn't really done for the money (thankfully, lol!), it was more just to share the tech with people who were interested, the extra little cash it generates is just a bonus...

The state of the package is sorely neglected, I'm sad to say. It hasn't been upgraded to U5 at all yet; I've been working on a very demanding contract for the past several months.
There's nothing in yet to generate maps, and no in-engine editor.
I do have plans for the tectonic/weather system; I have the mechanics of how I am going to do it all worked out.

I've recently begun updating HexTech (my flat map package), and giving HexGlobe the love it deserves is next on the personal to-do-list...

Planned features for HexGlobe by the end of this year:

• Complete C# re-factor. I originally wrote it in Unity JS to make it more beginner-friendly, but since then, I've decided it is more beneficial to a beginner to encourage them to learn C vs UnityScript.
• Regions. Ability to specify areas of the map, draw highlights and borders on one or more separate overlay layers.
• Basic support for units and sites on the map.
• Globe Editor
• 'Terraformer' procedural generator
• Pathfinding (A*)

 

That all sounds great; I'll look forward to it.

I doubt anyone with a background in Java would have trouble with C#. I hadn't seen C# before I started using Unity, but it hasn't given me any trouble.

That 'Terraformer' sounds especially intriguing: that would place this asset in the realm of full-on planet generation! Would you be able to add custom terrains and set ranges for water level, moisture, temperature, and the like?

 

I think your project is supercool. I wanted to use the codebase as a basis for a small game I will do this winter, and wondered if it would be possible to get the latest version of the codebase - even if it is not ready prime time nor have examples that work. I can send you my AssetStore invoice no. Just so I don't have to do the C# and refactoring myself and whatever new systems that might be in. I wanted to integrate it with my own procedural 'terraformer' generator and build my own editor anyway...

 

I found your asset by doing some unrelated searching, but was curious if you knew how to generate terrains for each hex tile. For instance if I am able to convert an entire planet to a jpeg heighmap, then generate a tile per each hex, and further wrap it back into a planet.