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[RELEASED] SECTR COMPLETE: Spaces, and the Connections Between Them

Discussion in 'Assets and Asset Store' started by MakeCodeNow, Feb 21, 2014.

  1. MakeCodeNow

    MakeCodeNow

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    SECTR STREAM requires Editor functions to create it's streaming chunks, which by default make it problematic for completely procedural worlds. If your game has different "tile sets" for different parts of the world (ala Diablo 2 or 3), then you could make a Sector for each tileset and use Stream to load and unload them as the player moves around the world or goes from one area to the next. That would allow you to have a really expansive world with a minimum of loading, provided you could wait to generate new dungeon sections until after the tile art for that section was streamed in.
     
  2. Murgilod

    Murgilod

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    $100 for all this? Really? That's it?
     
  3. MakeCodeNow

    MakeCodeNow

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    I think it's a pretty good deal, too! :)

    PS - Prices are per-seat (like all UAS editor extensions), so costs more for larger teams, but yeah, I think it's a very good deal!
     
    Last edited: May 24, 2014
  4. Murgilod

    Murgilod

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    I was expecting it to be $350 when I clicked on the asset store link, so yeah, little bit
     
  5. MakeCodeNow

    MakeCodeNow

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    I wanted to keep it reasonably affordable. Also, the prices of all editor extensions are per-seat, so the real cost is $100 x number of people on team. Still, very affordable.
     
  6. MakeCodeNow

    MakeCodeNow

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    SECTR 1.0.10 is out. Includes bug fixes and a preview of the new Chunk Proxy Mesh tech. For folks doing open world games, check out the new Chunk Inspector and the related docs in the Stream Manual. I look forward to hearing some early feedback!

    SECTR 1.0.10 Release Notes

    CORE
    * Added documentation about working with Terrain Window to CORE Manual.
    * Fix bug where missing null check in Member could cause crashes on some platforms (like iOS).
    * Fix bug where results from Portal’s viewport Sector selection/swap GUI would be erased in play mode when performed on a Portal in a Prefab when the user pressed Play.

    AUDIO
    * Fix bug where 2D sounds could disable reverb on 3D sounds if Audio Source pool entry was re-used.
    * Support multi-select of Audio Cue in Audio Window and Inspector.
    * Fix Cmd+Select in Audio Window on OSX.

    STREAM
    * Beta implementation of Chunk Proxy, which is a mesh that will be displayed when the Chunk is unloaded. Useful for some open world games. Includes an Inspector Tool that will create custom Proxy meshes out of a selection of Chunk members.
    * Modified Stream Window exporter to center exported chunks at origin and to adjust them on import. This makes it possible for multiple Chunks to reference the same scene file.
     
  7. MakeCodeNow

    MakeCodeNow

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    For folks interested in procedurally created dungeons and SECTR, the excellent DunGen just added support for SECTR VIS. If you have both products, simply enable a #define in DunGen and you're off to the races!
     
  8. Evil-Otaku

    Evil-Otaku

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    Very Cool! I bought DunGen when it was sale specifically to work with Sectr. now I just have to figure out how I can use DunGen with Stream.
     
  9. SuperNewbee

    SuperNewbee

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    Got this asset on sale and it is looking very promising. Has anyone been able to make this work with RTP3.1? I almost seems to work but the script that is needed on the terrain by RTP seems to get disabled once the chunks are created. Has anyone found a workaround yet? Thanks
     
  10. MakeCodeNow

    MakeCodeNow

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    I'm in the process of reworking the Terrain Window to fix this issue. In the next version, Sectors will be created as parents of the Terrain, rather than on the same node. That will fix this issue and some similar ones. Email support@makecodenow.com if you want an advance copy of that update.
     
  11. bocs

    bocs

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    Off-Topic

    I just finished a play through of Brutal Legend, lot's of fun.
    *FYI I believe nathan was a Lead Programmer for it

    On-Topic

    I got this asset when it was first released, lots of great updates.
    Support is top notch!

    Back on when the very first update was still pending asset store review, I emailed on a SUNDAY and I think within 5 mins he sent the update to test.

    lol..this was the first demo I uploaded to my Vita for testing :)
     
  12. MakeCodeNow

    MakeCodeNow

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    Woah! Very cool to see SECTR demo running on a Vita!

    Glad you liked BL, too. Many years of my life went into that game :)
     
  13. Meceka

    Meceka

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    It's been a long time since i have talked you about terrain seams problem, but it's still occuring in the latest release. Did you have any progress? If you couldn't reproduce it you should get pixel error to 200, and set build target to android, if still can't reproduce i can send you my terrain.

    It looks really annoying ingame, and just because of this seams problem i can't use sectors in my game.
     
  14. MakeCodeNow

    MakeCodeNow

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    I haven't been able to repro with my data. If you can send a download link to support@makecodenow.com, that would be great.
     
  15. Rico21745

    Rico21745

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    We bought SECTR Complete a little while back but haven't gotten to using yet. One thing from the reading I've been doing that I wish we could do, is use STREAM on procedurally generated terrains/scenes at runtime. I understand it uses loadlevelasync now so it doesn't work because the scene would be empty on Edit mode.

    Is this something that could perhaps be on your roadmap?
     
  16. MakeCodeNow

    MakeCodeNow

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    To really solve this issue will be tough, because it touches on some intrinsic limitations of how Unity loads data and manages resource references. What you can do is make individual Sectors for each of your tile sets, export them, and then use the SECTR loading functions to load tilesets as the procedural generator needs them. That will get you most of the asset streaming benefits without a lot of extra work.
     
  17. VenomUnity

    VenomUnity

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    I'm playing around in Unity trying to understand how to set up portals and sectors. So I have this scene that is supposed to be a city. There are four 'levels' and each level has it's own buildings and they are connected with stairs. What do you think is the best strategy to making sectors and portals in this scene.


     
  18. MakeCodeNow

    MakeCodeNow

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    I'd start making each tier a sector. Make on big portal between each tier. That's a good starting point. You can refine from there, maybe with a grid of Sectors for each tier. Check out the Terrain Window and the way it makes Sectors and Portals for an example.
     
  19. Meceka

    Meceka

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    What i did:

    New project, create terrain, make it's pixel error 200, use sectr to split it to 4x4.

    That's it. I didn't understand how you can't recreate this, seams doesn't match.

    Here is a project where seams are broken. I've made it coloured so you can see easily. If you play it in editor it's easier to notice with pinky backround.

    edit: I am sending it with pm, also it's Standalone build, it doesn't require it to be android.
     
    Last edited: Jun 21, 2014
  20. MakeCodeNow

    MakeCodeNow

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    Thanks. I got your download and I can repro the problem. I'll post more here when I have a fix, hopefully soon!
     
  21. MakeCodeNow

    MakeCodeNow

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    FYI that I just fixed this bug. The issue turned out to be that terrain neighbors are not serialized in the scene, and need to be set in OnEnable every time. This fix and several others will be in SECTR 1.0.11 which will be out early next week.
     
  22. MakeCodeNow

    MakeCodeNow

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    SECTR 1.0.11 is now available. Includes a new LOD system and major optimizations in VIS, UI improvements to Audio and Stream window, and lots of bug fixes including seams between terrains, some audio bugs, and a couple of rare crashes.

    SECTR 1.0.11 Release Notes
    CORE
    * Sectors created by the Terrain window are now parented above the Terrain rather than being added to the same object. Fixes issues with certain 3rd party scripts expecting to be on the same object as the terrain.
    * Fixed seams appearing between terrains when using the split feature of the Terrain Window.
    * Guard against null lights in the baked only lights table.
    * Fixed PlayMaker integration compile issues in Unity 4.5.

    AUDIO
    * Fix accidental double-attenuation when playing non-HDR sounds from Propagation Source.
    * Fix looping sounds would un-pausing prematurely.
    * Optimized Audio Window asset search for Unity 4.5 and above by using new Asset Database Find API.
    * Fixed typing in Audio Window search boxes causing incremental shifting of splitters.
    * Fix drag-and-drop of Audio Clip into Hierarchy window.
    * Fixed PlayMaker integration compile issues in Unity 4.5.

    STREAM
    * Added UnloadBuffer to Region Loader so that there is some hysteresis between load and unload (i.e. less popping when moving small amounts back and forth).
    * Added Import/Export/Revert buttons to Chunk component inspector (for convenience).
    * Added Revert All button to Stream window.
    * Fixed seams when streaming terrain sectors created in Terrain Window.
    * Fixed PlayMaker integration compile issues in Unity 4.5.

    VIS
    * Band new LOD system for more efficient rendering in open world games. Just add SECTR_LOD component. See VIS manual for more details.
    * Major optimization pass on occlusion culling. Includes streamlining of core routines as well as support for multi-threaded culling. See VIS manual for more info on threaded culling.
    * Culler component is now deprecated and no longer necessary. To manually control culling behavior, simply use the new attributes on Member and Sector. Previously added Cullers will continue to behave appropriately.
    * Fixed PlayMaker integration compile issues in Unity 4.5.
     
  23. Meceka

    Meceka

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    Hello,

    I have lot's of buildings, props and roads in my scene. And I have a 2kmx2km terrain.

    I want it to load terrain when farther, but load buildings closer. In example, I want it to load terrain in a 800 meter diameter, but load buildings in 400 meter diameter. So that terrain horizon will be more visible. Is it possible?

    How many splits do you recommend for terrain? And if I do it this way. I need to make buildings child of terrain, am I correct? Is there another way to do it without making buildings child of the terrain?
     
  24. MakeCodeNow

    MakeCodeNow

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    Totally doable. You'll want to use two Region Loaders with different layers and different distances. Make Sectors for both terrain chunks and sets of buildings. Put the terrain sectors on one layer, and the building sectors on another layer(s). Don't parent the buildings to the terrain, you would only do that if you wanted them to load in sync, which you do not.

    I don't have a standard recommendation for the right number of splits. It's really based on whatever makes the most sense for your game.
     
  25. MakeCodeNow

    MakeCodeNow

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    Small bugfix update just released.

    SECTR 1.0.11a Release Notes
    STREAM
    * Fix null deref on shutdown bug in SECTR_Chunk.

    VIS
    * Always update LODs even if there are no Sectors.
    * Add LOD entry to the SECTR Create menu.
     
  26. Meceka

    Meceka

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    I don't want to use sectr for now. But I have added sectors to some objects and i don't want to delete them either. I was using regional loader and no portals in my scene. Is the only thing taking cpu (or gpu) overhead the regional loader and deleting the loader enough? Or do i need to disable (or delete) sectors too to completely stop sectr's scripts from working?
     
  27. MakeCodeNow

    MakeCodeNow

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    No problem. You'll want to disable the Loader and Sector components (and any other SECTR components you added), as they pretty much all take up at least a little bit of CPU.
     
  28. sathya

    sathya

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    Does SECTR VIS support WP8 ? doesn look like. System.Threading.ThreadPriority is not supported in WP8
     
  29. MakeCodeNow

    MakeCodeNow

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    Interesting. I didn't know WP8 didn't support that. If you need to build for WP8, just disable the THREAD_CULLING #define at the top of SECTR_CullingCamera.cs and it'll go back to the non-threaded codepath.
     
  30. MakeCodeNow

    MakeCodeNow

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    I believe this change will fix the issue for you.

    #if !WINDOWS_PHONE
    #define THREAD_CULLING
    #endif
     
  31. sathya

    sathya

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    Thanks. I will check this and get back to you.

    Ya its #if !UNITY_WP8
    Works fine. But performance while streaming is really poor. Can easily observe spikes while loading new Sectors.
     
    Last edited: Jul 4, 2014
  32. MakeCodeNow

    MakeCodeNow

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    Glad it worked for you. Spikes are caused by the following things:
    • Not having Pro.
    • Core Unity stuff (supposedly fixed in 5).
    • Running in Editor or Dev build.
    • Number of objects created per Sector.
    • Amount of code executed in Start/Awake/Enable.
    Obviously some of those things are under your control and some aren't. Are you seeing hitches in editor or on standalone? If so, tell me more about your scenario. Do you have Pro? Can you run the profiler? Can you do less in Start/Awake/Enable?
     
  33. Meceka

    Meceka

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    I've created sectors and they are set up. When I export/Import from Windows/Sectr/Stream, it works fine to export/import chunks into the scene. But if I choose the sector from hierarchy, and under sectr_chunk component, click export. After a while unity crashes. And when I re-open unity, that chunk is exported. Didn't try it yet but i believe it will work.

    the sectr_chunk component is normally disabled after importing all sectors. I tried enabling it before exporting it from sectr_chunk component, but it crashed anyway.
     
  34. MakeCodeNow

    MakeCodeNow

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    Hmmm. Not sure what's goin on there. It sounds like this is a reliable repro for you? If so, can you get it to crash, and then email the Editor.log file to support@makecodenow.com? Thanks!
     
  35. MakeCodeNow

    MakeCodeNow

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    FYI that I fixed this in 1.1.0 which came out yesterday.
     
  36. MakeCodeNow

    MakeCodeNow

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    SECTR COMPLETE is on sale now for 50% off as part of the UAS August Madness sale. Also, SECTR 1.1.0 is out, just in time for the sale.

    SECTR 1.1.0 Release Notes
    CORE
    * Added new Quick Start panel including live information on news, sales, and updates as well as quick links to useful videos, docs, and support.
    * Make sure to never double-add Sectors for Portal Determined Members.
    * Removed legacy Unity 3.5 code, added initial compatibility code for Unity 5.

    AUDIO
    * Support Infinite 3D Cues in the Audio Environment Background Loop.
    * Support Infinite 3D Cues played from Audio Sources.

    STREAM
    * Add safety checks in Chunk to prevent shutdown/exit errors in Proxy.
    * Rework Import/Export/Revert inspector button logic to avoid modifying the scene during Inspector Update, which apparently Unity dislikes.

    VIS
    * Disable culling threads at compile time on Win Phone 8 where the threading API is not supported.
     
  37. MakeCodeNow

    MakeCodeNow

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    Exciting news! SECTR is a technical achievement finalist in the 2014 Unity Awards! If you like SECTR, please take a moment to vote for it!
     
    Last edited: Aug 7, 2014
  38. EmeralLotus

    EmeralLotus

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    Wow this asset has been improving quite a bit since I last looked at it.

    Kudos to MakeCodeNow team.

    Question: Does the package support AssetBundles? Instead of streaming from the resource folder, can these prefabs be packaged up into an asset bundle and loaded into the player?

    Cheers.
     
  39. MakeCodeNow

    MakeCodeNow

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    Thanks!

    SECTR doesn't stream from the Resources folder, it streams scene files affitively. It doesn't directly support asset bundles but if you made asset bundles for each chunk scene and downloaded them, that should "just work"
     
  40. EmeralLotus

    EmeralLotus

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    Did you get a chance to test this functionality. Kinda want to be sure that it works.
     
  41. MakeCodeNow

    MakeCodeNow

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    No, not yet. Have been focused on other elements.
     
  42. EmeralLotus

    EmeralLotus

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    I'm a potential customer so I don't yet have a copy.
    It should be quite an easy thing to test from the sound of it.
    If you get a chance to test this, please inform because this would be a great fit with using asset bundles.
    I can only speak for myself but others who have Unity Pro will probably also be interested to know if this is possible.

    Cheers.
     
  43. MakeCodeNow

    MakeCodeNow

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    Point taken. Thanks!
     
  44. aegget_

    aegget_

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    Hello! First of all I really love Sectr core and vis its awesome and really easy to use so thanks for creating it.
    Though I'm having some problems with assigning back and front sectors on portal during runtime. It says it has been assigned in the debug log but when I check it in the editor its empty. I guess I'm assigning it to the wrong variable but I cant find any other with that name.

    Code (CSharp):
    1. SECTR_Sector _sector = room[0].transform.FindChild("SECTR Sector End").GetComponent<SECTR_Sector>() as SECTR_Sector;
    2. room[1].transform.FindChild("SECTR Portal Start").GetComponent<SECTR_Portal>().BackSector = _sector;
     
  45. MakeCodeNow

    MakeCodeNow

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    Glad you're enjoying SECTR! I'm not sure why you're having that Inspector issue. If you Debug.Log() the value of BackSector and it gives the right Sector, then I think it's ok. It may be that the Inspector is not getting refreshed or something. FrontSector and BackSector are Properties with some custom Editor code to make them look like Fields. It may be that when in Play Mode Unity doesn't realize the values have changed. You may need to "jiggle the handle" by clicking elsewhere in the Inspector or calling Editor.SetDirty() on the Portal form your code (#if UNITY_EDITOR only of course).
     
  46. aegget_

    aegget_

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    Thanks for replying! Well the portal doesnt update either hehe It only shows void until I pass through it. Sorry if I wasnt clear about that :oops:. I have a procedurally generated level so I need to assign back sectors during runtime as the next room doesnt know what the previous one is :)
     
    Last edited: Aug 11, 2014
  47. MakeCodeNow

    MakeCodeNow

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    What do you mean the portal shows void? Do you mean the portal geo is missing or that VIS culls out the Sector on the opposite side until you are in it even though you should be able to see it? In either case, what happens if you log the BackSector value? Lastly, you nerd to assign both front and back sector for VIS culling to work.
     
  48. aegget_

    aegget_

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    After much digging I manage to find out what caused the problem and I have now fixed it. I had a sneaky bug in my code that caused the backsector to only get assigned on the server and not on the clients so that's why it didn't work. All fine now! Sorry about that. Also thanks for adding a LOD system to VIS. Its going to be really usefull soon!
     
  49. MakeCodeNow

    MakeCodeNow

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    Great!
     
  50. _met44

    _met44

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    Hi, first thank you for this great plugin, have only tried streaming so far and it has magic powers :D

    Anyways, I was wondering if you're planning on adding some sort of threading support for the baking process ? I'm writting this message because I've spent the last couple hours mostly looking at a progress bar completely locked out of unity...