Road Architect: Roads, intersections and bridges for Unity [RELEASED]

Hi Rastar,

The different construction method is a good suggestion and will be included in the next patch. The method is already written into the system for automated road construction via script it just hasn't been enabled for the editor.

I'm a bit hesitant to enforce further mathematical restrictions in addition to the road grade enforcement because there are several scenarios, such as bridge creation, which require a lot of freedom. Maybe we could implement this and have it as an option to toggle on and off for the road or sections of road.

Here's a poorly drawn image to illustrate how to create a road which doesn't cut into a hill: http://www.microgsd.com/images/TS/TS9.png

We've had a lot of issues on MAC. Not sure why. To solve the issue, shift-click and accomplish the same thing as ctrl-click. Sorry about that issue. Bottom line is that the Unity editor does not function the same on PC as the MAC and Road Architect was developed on the PC. It's on the list to fix.

Thanks for the comments and let me know if anything else comes up!

 

Hi Djiel,

Internally we use a heavily modified Road Architect in conjunction with TerrainComposer and WorldComposer with no issues, as long as we follow the pattern "Create terrains and finalize heights" -> "Create roads".

The big update will allow you to plug n play any 3d model to act as an intersection but that one might even be too complex for that. It probably will not handle that complex of an intersection for a long time if at all.

The models will probably have to be made within a 3D model program. We use 3DSMax. We will have a significant number of options at release included just like we do now with everything else though.

The lane merging you're speaking of will be included in the big update. Technically I could modify the T intersection code to accomplish this but I want to wait until the new plug n play system is implemented to avoid wasting coding time.

Let me know if you have any more questions!

 

Hello,

this is a really amazing work. I develop an RTS game, which is based on uneven terrain. Building levels with single road component prefabs is possible, but time consuming. The addvantage is, that i can add scripts, animations and i can instantiate them in game (instantiating road components is not so important for me). However, instantiating road prefabs on an uneven terrain is (Sim-City-Like) challanging, because the terrain must be adapted under the road, and after the road is placed, the terrain changes which influence the terrain under the road must be considered too...

How can your tool help me?

1. Are all the roads one GameObject, or is it separated by the nodes. I need seperated GameObjects, because they have to interact (they must be destroyable). Can i assigne them all (for all at the same time) a layer or tag? Destroyable means for you, let me somehow get a road component in Unity, for me animate destroying/interact a road component or a bridge and removeing it in Unity.

2. Can i assigne the road components a script and animation?

3. Do you support in game road building? (not so important for me, but nice to have)

 

I am trying to model roads after real world data, and that means to get the track right (especially the serpentines on steep mountains) I have little freedom in placing the road markers. Toggle on/off would be fine by me.

 

Hello ,

I bought the package yesterday and i have to say its impressive, but i have problems with lightmaps and materials.
1.¿How can i use lightmaps in road, i changed to static and the object is not batched (maybe is the material)
2.¿how can i change material type, i want to eliminate for example the white lines or maybe change the number of materials but its imposible(to avoid drawcalls)?

Thanks so much and congratulations for the package (sorry for my english)

 

Hi mkgame,

1. Each road section has it's own game object(s). I'm not sure it would fit your purpose regarding the layers and tags because once the road is regenerated it will overwrite all of your layers and tags for the road.
2. You can add components to the road and the nodes. Some of them added to nodes may be deleted when interacting with certain features such as T intersections because special node handling takes place.
3. Road Architect does not support in game road building at this time but might in the future. It is heavily reliant on the editor's capabilities which aren't available in game. However the automated road creation process (available in GSDRoadAutomation.cs in the project) might get you started if you have scripting knowledge yourself.

Let me know if you have any other questions!

 

Hi ferlodeveloper,

To change the material type, uncheck "use default materials" in the road inspector window ( http://microgsd.com/Support/RoadArch...px#Roadoptions ). After you do that you can set your own materials in the road's inspector window ( http://microgsd.com/Support/RoadArch...#Roadmaterials ). You can also set it on a per road section basis and they will persist through road updates.

Regarding the lightmap,

1. Email us at support@microgsd.com for a link to this update which will fix the lightmap issues.
2. New option, in the road inspector window a new option "Static" is there to mark the generated objects as static. Check this option to mark all generated roads as static.
3. New option, In the road inspector window a new option "Lightmapped" is there to add a second UV set for lightmapping. Check this option to use lightmaps.
4. You will probably need to adjust the "Scale in lightmap" value lower to use lightmaps on the road.

Let me know if anything else comes up, thanks!

 

Is it possible to have a road that transitions from 2 lanes to 4?

 

Hi there, great package! I have noticed something odd happening to the textures on my roads though in my project. When the camera gets a certain distance away from the road the texture starts to "go away" if you know what i mean. the detail goes down, and eventually the road just turns grey as if there were no texture on it at all. but at close distances from the camera you can see the road texture fine. I have attached a screenshot (dx9 mode) i noticed in dx11 mode it's even worse, you can only see the texture on the road about a foot away from the cam. Know why this might be happening?



edit : won't show the image for some reason.. but that's how i can describe it.

 

Hi Leito,

This feature will be fully available in the next big update. Currently road connections are supported but only if they are of the same lane count.

 

This issue is caused by the project settings: Go to Edit -> Project Settings -> Quality ( http://www.microgsd.com/images/TS/TS4.jpg )

Then change this setting http://www.microgsd.com/images/TS/TS5.jpg to higher quality. Alternatively you can set the per aniso texture setting on a texture by texture basis.

To use RA with DX11 please use the included DX11 shaders. (GSD->DX11->)

Let me know if you have any more issues!

 

Hi,

I keep running into an issue with intersections where roads aren't connecting properly. Is there a way to fix this aside from completely rebuilding the road or killing the intersection in the hierarchy, reconnecting the intersecting nodes, and hoping for a better calculation?

Here's an image of the issue that I'm having.


The textures for the intersection sometimes don't match the road they're attached to as seen in the bottom image (textures are darker).

 

Hi Leito,

Is there any height added to your terrain? The terrain cannot be deformed if it has 0 height, because unity terrains can't be deformed below height value 0.

If that is not the case, email us at support@microgsd.com and we'll work on a fix for you.

Thanks.

 

Hi,

The terrain in the image has the default height of 600 meters and it doesn't have any surface deformations. The roads don't have any vertical translations either.

 

When you say default height of 600 meters do you mean this setting, http://www.microgsd.com/images/TS/TS30.png ? If so that setting pertains to the maximum allowed height of the Y value of the terrain in world units. Select the "paint height" and then shift click on a spot on the terrain to see the actual height of the terrain for that area.

 

Hello again, while I still can't justify buying this just yet, the whole thing with traffic systems has become pertinent via mysterious powers, so given your plans on a traffic system would you be able to tell me a little bit about it? Unfortunately it'll probably be way out of my price range but I may as well ask, i'm assuming it will be very tuned to Road Architect which is no problem at all so long as some more European style features get added but I was wondering about things like scale, ability to handle load (city traffic), customability towards accident behaviour (or 'accident') and so on. If you would rather not go into it until a more official announcement that's fine, but worth an ask

 

Yes, I was referring to the Max Height with the 600 meters.

It turns out my terrain is at a height of 0. I'll bump it up and see if that fixes the issue. Thanks.

EDIT: Increase the height of the Terrain didn't solve the issue. I created a new scene to do the test and there are still occasions where the intersections will not connect properly.

 

I usually am also having the problem Leito have shown. In intersections, i need to play with intersection a lot (whith play i mean, change height and move intersection, move nodes that are closest to intersection, change height of nodes closest to intersection)

It most probably doesn't work right in first tryings. I thought you will fix it soon and didn't mention about it.

A question;

How should I undo edits on road architect? I usually hit ctrl+z and everything gets messed up worse. Sometimes very huge glitches happen with intersections and bridges, and sometimes I build intersections accidentally, and i don't know how to remove them.

Also, one major thing; sometimes after building road, i want to delete a node at the end, (or sometimes in between somewhere). It deletes node, but i guess road architect doesn't realise the node have been deleted, and i can see the base spline going around the node. Then whatever I do, that part of the road becomes messed up badly. I've struggled and played around a lot but couldn't find a solution for this, the only solution is loading an older scene save.

As i know, ctrl+z should mostly undo's something else than road architect, or it undo's road architect and terrain deformation remains. If there isn't a workaround for this, is it possible that you can make an "undo feature" that works directly with road architect?

 

I've added this issue to the issue tracker and it will be fixed in the next update for Road Architect.

Thanks for letting me know about this issue! Are you using a Mac or a PC?

One thing to try for now: Use left turn lane only intersections instead of no turn lane and that should avoid any connection issues.

 

Ctrl+Z works with most operations in Road Architect including road building and intersection building, in addition most changes to both should work well with the undo system. Additionally all option changes work with the undo system. I just verified this on 3 different machines.

To undo an intersection creation, hit ctrl+z after you've created the intersection. To delete intersections, select the intersection's gizmo or select the intersection from the hierarchy and hit the delete key.

The undo system will work on most parts of Road Architect except combined complex operations like bridge building. With bridges, to remove them simply click delete on all the extrusion objects attached to the node and unclick "bridge start" on the bridge start node.

One more quirk is when deleting a node and then triggering an undo will not update the road, you will have to manually update the road. In the next update this will happen automatically.

Deleting nodes around the undocumented and (at this time) unsupported road connections will cause some of the issues you are describing. I recommend avoid using this feature until it is implemented.

If any of the above doesn't work as described then it is a bug and it will be fixed. I've added it to the issue tracker to take a look at and re-test the undo system.

One thing to try for now regarding the intersection issues: Use left turn lane only intersections instead of no turn lane intersections and that should avoid any connection issues.

Thanks for letting me know about these issues!

 

The traffic system does the following currently, with many more features to be added:

• Multi-lane intelligent traffic.
• Complex path finding based on A*. Considers a wide variety of factors when calculating paths.
• Smart obstacle avoidance. e.g. Cars will try to avoid objects but will not go in opposite traffic if oncoming traffic.
• Cars will pull over for emergency vehicles.
• Tail gating avoidance
• Operations such as three point turns and more.
• Full stop and wait at intersections
• Collision handling- cars will either wait or they will try and pull over to side of road after a collision.
• Intersections use sensors just like real life to trigger the lights.
• Intersections will go all red on emergency vehicle transport.
• Plug n play with car systems (Edy, ucar, custom).
• Level of detail system to facilitate 1000's of active cars.

I estimate it will be at least 4 months before release and there will be many more features added.

 

For any of you experiencing the issue, until it gets patched, you can adjust the lane widths from 5m to 5.1m or 5.2m and it should fix this issue.

 

Hi MicroGSD, Road Architect is great. Is there option to snap markers to terrain surface?

 

PC

 

Great news ! How Road architect will work nicely with this traffic system ? Does Rdarchitect is supposed to generate automatically a traffic information by default when the user create a road network like Cityscape was able to do some years ago ?
Another question. Did you already plan to manipulate the road curvature thank to handles (see Cityscape again or Cityengine) ?

Regards,


Hlx

 

Hi,

The nodes should automatically be placed directly on top of the terrain when you ctrl or shift click. Is this not happening for you?

Thanks

 

Hi hlx,

The traffic system will support a variety of inputs including default options- similar to how Road Architect provides dozens of default and pre-built options to start with.

The road curvature, or camber, is in the issue tracker for the next update but I can't give an estimate on this specific feature.

Thanks

 

Thank you microGSD.

What I would like to know in fact is how road architect behaves in conjunction with the trafic system you develop ? If the user creates a road with RA, does he get in the same time a trafic information from your traffic tool and test the result in the editor with the play button ?

Regards

Hlx

 

Hi MicroGSD,
Wondering if you had an ETA on the update which will provide sidewalk creation for intersections. Loving the plugin but would like to avoid having to manually create sidewalks...

thanks,
d

 

I am also very interested in sidewalks. It should also be extended with some variables, such as sidewalk width (Meaning width of sidewalk, not meaning distance from the road)

 

The current internal implementation of the traffic system is tested in game play mode. The parameters and options of the traffic system can be modified while the game is in progress to test different options.

 

I estimate that the next big update will happen in May. This is the update which will allow any object to be imported into Road Architect and connected to roads. e.g. cloverleafs, onramps, roundabouts and etc.

 

Hi MicroGSD

Good work.
I will work on a French City, and i want to know if road architect do it build French street ?

Sorry for my english :s

Ilxs

 

So I have been looking at this asset for the past few days I have been thinking about buying it opposed to EasyRoads3d

Is the traffic system included with Road Architect?

Also will the AI try to avoid the player or "drive defensively" if the player gets near them? Just curious...

- HeadClot

 

The traffic system will be sold separately but will be usable with Road Architect and any other spline based assets. How the AI handles interactions near the player car is up to the developer because it will be able to be used for many different purposes, e.g. a simulator.

 

I don't think it would work "well" with french streets but it might work good enough. It depends on how detailed you want. It won't do very skinny roads with intersections or roundabouts yet. In the next big update roundabouts will be supported.

 

Hi

Sipon mentioned about camber property over mont ago and answer was:

Since I have not seen anything about camber after that I want just ask is this feature really coming? I am starting new racing project and cambers would be great. If cabembers + intersections are problematic combination I would say that intersections don't need to support that.

 

Hi Sord,

Camber is estimated to be included in the big May patch.

Thanks!

 

Hi MicroGSD.

So the incoming traffic system (what is his name ?) works with Road architect together. Any road section that the user create or modify with road architect will generate a traffic information and visible in play mode. Cool.
Will the user be able to manipulate the orientation of the road with handles like in Cityscape or Cityengine (see screenshot) ?
More : is the traffic system will propose some trafficlights animations based on some typical countries rules (US, South Korea, Spain, France, UK,...) ?

Regards,

Hlx

 

Hey, this look like an awesome tool and it might be just what I need.
But I have two things I'm worried about.
1. Do you support creating a road on multiple terrains? (I'm talking about 100+ terrains)
2. Can I easily turn parts of the road on and off during runtime? (like SetActive())

Also, a question about integration with map-ity.
I noticed on the map-ity video, it's creating all roads with default values.
After the roads are created, can I change them around with all the normal Road Architect options?

 

Awesome - Just a few more questions.

Regarding Road Architect -

Can we create roads across multiple terrain segments?
Can we cull parts of the road network for performance reasons?

Regarding the Traffic System -
How much will this cost?
Can we cull parts of the simulation via Unity's Built in Occlusion culling while having it run in the background?

Does the Traffic or Road System require Unity Pro?

Thank you for your time,

Ben

 

Hi dorpeleg,

Road Architect is supported on multi-terrains. Internally we are using 128km and larger multi terrain systems (via Terrain Composer and World Composer) with Road Architect. We run a unit test on every build which constructs a > 500 node system.

There are minor issues that might pop up under very specific conditions when building directly on the border of a terrain for a large distance but typically this can be resolved by moving the road a few meters to the side.

All unity methods should be supported as they are just mesh renderers, colliders and etc during run-time. The generation code should never run during run-time. Internally we use an lod system that we might include in the next big patch.

The integration with map-ity is in an early but functional stage right now. We are specifically implementing full integration with map-ity in the big patch for May which should make it fully compatible. Changing options for the roads should be available after being created with map-ity in its current state however.

 

Hi Hlx,

The upcoming traffic system is currently named GSD Traffic but it will be renamed near release. At this point it's undetermined how we're going to create the lane direction UI. Right now we're just using an array of lanes with the left / right identifiers. I really like how Cityscape did it in that screenshot so something like that might be good to do.

Personally I enjoy learning about the different traffic light systems and will probably implement at least a few different variations. For example, I think Germany shows a yellow light a few seconds before it turns green and I will implement that. Additionally I will implement at least 2 more styles for traffic lights.

 

Hi HeadClot88,

Multi-terrain construction is supported, as I just posted previously we use 128km and larger multi terrains internally and use a 500+ node unit test on every build.

Right now Road Architect does not ship with a level of detail system but you could write your own if you wanted. If you use the road cut options all physics operations should be fast enough due to bounding box collisions without custom lod. We may include our internal lod system in the next patch released in May. It just depends on how universal we can make it which might be difficult given all of the different type of controllers and setups each customer uses.

The traffic system will include a level of detail system which will automatically cull unseen traffic and it will still simulate the culled traffic. The traffic lod system is very optimized in its current state and I am happy with it.

I do not think the traffic system will require Unity Pro. Road Architect does not require Pro. Unity 5's release might be in the mix too.

I'm not sure how much the traffic system will cost. We would like to provide cheap options for developers to make great games.

 

Hi GSDmicro team,

Woa, impressive surface you are able to handle ! Do you get some float precision issues (in editor and during runtime) when you are far from the origin (jittering positions, bad object rendering and so on) ?

Regards,

Hlx

 

Hi MicroGSD,
Road Architect looks really great and I’m planning to buy it! I’ve almost read all your answers but I still have few questions:

1. I’m working on mobile. Is it possible to reduce the resolution of the road? And is it easy to add its own low-poly models to the library? (like KRails or streetlights)

2. Is it possible to build a city road network with this tool? (like a grid) I read that it was first built for countryside.

3. Is there still issues on Mac?

Thank you for your time,
Maroun.

 

Hi Hlx,

Currently we move the entire system and combine the LOD system to avoid float precision issues. We will probably use a different method for the release of the traffic system to make it more universal though.

 

Hi Maroun,

1. It is easy to reduce the resolution of the road. Change the "Road Definition" value higher, as this value is in meters, and you will get a lower resolution road. http://microgsd.com/Support/RoadArch...px#Roadoptions . There are also other options such as using straight line bridges and using lower quality built-in Unity shaders.

Additionally in the next patch you will be able to mark a section of road as "straight" and it will only use one set of triangles between the nodes.

2. It is possible to build a city road network but it probably won't look the most realistic. In the next patch it will be a lot more reliable and you will have a lot more options at hand to make it look realistic. However if you are developing a very basic mobile game, in its current state it will probably be good enough.

3. All the issues we've had revolve around Unity Editor and how it handles clicks and not with the actual core Road Architect. So far we've fixed a couple but there may be some outstanding issues that haven't been reported to us yet. We do not use any Mac computers at the office so we have to rely on reports from others. An example of one issue was ctrl-clicking to add nodes wasn't working properly and it would add the node but select the terrain after adding, to get around this shift-clicking worked as intended.

Let me know if you have any other questions!

Thanks

 

Thank you for this quick answer the service is perfect !

Perfect for the first point it's exactly what I needed.

For the second point it isn't really a basic game but more kind of a Standalone game but if it will be possible in the next update it would be great! Do you have any idea of a potential release date?

Ok I'll buy it and tell you if there's still some issues.

Thank you very much for your help!

Maroun.

 

Hello MicroGSD and thanks for great asset.

I have some major problems with the intersections of the Road Architect. No matter what I try, there will always be some geometry generated below the terrain, as you can see from the picture. Is this a known issue and is there any workaround for this?