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Realism Or Colorful Stars, Which way should i go?

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by FirstTimeCreator, Sep 4, 2018.

  1. FirstTimeCreator

    FirstTimeCreator

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    oh nice i want to get a look at the new memory profiler, that will be very helpful.
    Also what I'm doing will be perfect to test the physics engine update. I'm curious to see if i see a performance boost running 500 ships and i wonder if there are any raycast benchmarks.

    They say they increased raycast performance, wonder if that includes linecast as well.
     
  2. FirstTimeCreator

    FirstTimeCreator

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    Man shadows are a pain in the but.

    I can get it to work with very minimal artifacts in the shadow map at long distances but the close up shadows on the ship won't be perfect. If I try to make the close range shadows look good I have to adjust the clipping range on the camera and i can't render as far out which i need to do.

    It's a very delicate balance, and I'm affraid it won't ever be perfect. The farthest range I can seem to get is about 50,000 meters with shadow distance and still maintain good quality maps on the ships interior as well as exterior objects in space.

    I noticed in star citizen they have this issue. If you look closely at the shadow maps in star citizen in the ships they also have a shadow map issue because they are rendering maps out in a pretty extreme distance as well.

    What i would like to see is more control over the shadow map system, perhaps different maps entirely for different light sources and cameras.

    Or the ability to assign a light source to a camera and layer, basically shadow map occlusion.

    Or what i mean is the global shadow settings are too global lol, I need to control it by different light sources and cameras instead of a global one size fits all settings with shadow distance and cascades.
     
  3. Antypodish

    Antypodish

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  4. FirstTimeCreator

    FirstTimeCreator

    Joined:
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    Hey im going to have another update pretty soon. I spent a little bit too much time messing with a shader for the GUI and finally asked for some help on the forum but yet to get a response, so I'm asking you.

    The problem is transparent surface shaders on screenspace overlay. I am unable to get my surface shaders to work, I have got them to work in build/player in editor but not in build. I have tried all of the lighting combinations it seems, opacity mask works but opacity with transparent/geometry does not work, in build the image is solid with no transparency.

    Any ideas why this is? I can't seem to find anything on google to point to what im doing wrong other than some info that there is no lighting on overlay, shouldnt transparency work without lighting though? I mean it works with just a straight image with an alpha layer. I just want to be able to control the opacity of the transparency.

    If i can see a shader that is working with transparency on overlay that would be nice.
    I'm no expert but i can read shaders now thanks to the node editor i learned with. It was really helpful to be able visualize the various functions while learning.

    I still think amplify is better than Unity's new shader graph, just my opinion but hey like i said im not expert, yet.

    P.S.

    My next update will have mechanics. Ship Resource systems (Hull,Shields,Energy,Fuel,Heat & EMF) + (G Forces)

    EMF is electromagnetic field. all systems on the ship will contribute to the EMF, which i will use for visibility to the AI for targeting which will allow the player to be "stealthy" and pick ships off one at a time ambush style or to go in guns blazing and draw a "swarm" down upon you.

    G-forces aren't a ship resource but will effect the flight controller and player visual effects similiar to what star citizen does in hard turns.

    Also many other things such as afterburner which is connected to the resource systems, camera shake FX and more.

    I went with an expandable design based on a modifier injection system which will allow me to expand it anyway i wish, whether that be a "leveling" system or even outside environments/ objects that can effect ship systems, even "weapons" that could effect your ship's resource systems for example.

    I'm going to be doing an "item" pickup system for fuel after this next update, with fuel cans laying around and a test run collecting them.

    The pickup system will cover all future object types of course such as ammo, missiles and whatever else there will be.
     
    Last edited: Sep 16, 2018
  5. Antypodish

    Antypodish

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    Thing is, I don't work with Unity GUI system.
    I use Embedded browser and HTML5 instead.
    This resolves for me many issues.

    So I won't be able to assist on Unity GUI.
     
  6. FirstTimeCreator

    FirstTimeCreator

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    Yah I've seen a system like that in the Enterprise tech demo "project" that is done in unreal. They use it to play video and animations for the lcars and i believe for the GUI panels.

    It does have overhead though and isn't as fast as the native gui system. I'm going to be using shaders and visual effects heavily so that isn't an option for me.

    I wan't my game to look as good as it is fun to play and that means immersive visual effects that correlate with the players behavior so that they feel as if they are "in" the game.

    An example of this is the G-force system i am doing. Not only g-forces have visual effect on the camera with shaders and post effect modification under high G's but ill also be adding camera "leans", and the player will lean into the direction of the G's which the lean will be dependent upon the force.

    Should be quite interesting, not even star citizen has the lean, they do have the visual effect for gforces however and im going to be doing something similiar with my own little twist.

    Galactic Armada will be a simulation of sorts, part simulation, part arcade shooter, a blend of both worlds.

    I have decided that in my "opinion" that is what will provide the greatest "fun", not to take yourself too seriously in one direction or the other, but a blend of "fantasy arcade" and simulation / realism regarding the flight simulator.

    Just like the stategy/conquest aspect to the game will be a blend of traditional 4x realtime strategy (board game) and 3d space combat simulation.

    Oh I'm doing alot "blending" with this game but that is what the beauty of it will be in that no one has blended anything quite like what I am building.

    X3, Stellaris, Sins of a Solar Empire & Freelancer have a baby = Galactic Armada. (sort of).
     
    Last edited: Sep 16, 2018
  7. Antypodish

    Antypodish

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    Depends on the system can have overhead. But system I am using, has close to 0, in terms of CPU and it has fast response. It is however more memory hug, so may not be suitable for mobiles. But I can do whatever I need with embedded UI using HTML5. In the end, games are also made in HTML5. Easy to mod also, as no need recompile the code. And with HTML5 is less code for much better visual appearance. There is lot of frameworks to use as well, if required.
     
  8. FirstTimeCreator

    FirstTimeCreator

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    Yah i get it, but im sure you do sacrifice the ability to use shaders on elements correct?
     
  9. Antypodish

    Antypodish

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    In general probably is not suitable for it. But haven't tried being honest.

    However, I personally keep elements and whole GUI layout in HTML5 as one canvas. GUI is rendered into texture, when changing. Which can be post processed, if needed. And then even applied instead on canvas, into a mesh. (i.e. making interactive Laptop screen). My game knows nothing about layout itself, other than providing hooks, which can be accessed by HTML5 via embedded browser.

    So, if I would need to do anything with individual elements on shader side,
    • I could either split GUI HTML5 layout to multiple canvas for individual post processing. Which is easily achievable. But then I loose lot of HTML5 benefits.
    • Or, I can process whole graphics effects via HTML5.
    Depending on a shader/effect requirement, perhaps, if you would want to have shader light affecting, let say only corner of GUI lit specifically, this is likely require some extra work. I know is using basics shader, but not via Shader Graph. Optionally, as it can be a texture on a mesh, fog for example can make GUI obstructed without issue.

    If that makes sense?
     
  10. CDF

    CDF

    Joined:
    Sep 14, 2013
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    1,306
    Maybe post your shader code and some images of the problem. Hard to know what the issue is without a better explanation. If it's working in the editor but not in build, then maybe something is being stripped out.