#1.5 DevLog ~ Crosshair + Moving to UE5 ?

2 years ago by simpetr

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Small update

I implemented a crosshair system using UMG I think that works pretty fine as the first version of it. Here is a gif that shows the crosshair in action for two players:

Crosshair

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For my project, I'm using a useful plugin called "Blockout Tools Plugin" that allows quick level prototyping. It was available as free monthly content on Epic Marketplace, but I think it's worth buying even at full price (~20).

However, Unreal Engine 5 supports an advanced level design tool (still in beta) called "Modeling Tools Editor Mode". It fully supports Nanite, is flexible and even creates precise colliders to the mesh we model. It's like having a little Blender inside UE5.

Moreover, I was curious to try the new Chaos Destruction Physx in comparison to the Apex Destruction that I'm using

So, I deactivated two plugins in my 4.26 version (Blockout and Niagaras Extras) and opened the project in UE5 as a copy. After a long shader compiling time the project opened without any big problems. Live coding was enabled so I could not build directly from Rider, but the projects compiled in a reasonable amount of time.

Everything seems working properly. I activated a couple of plugins and I was ready to test some stuff.

I drew a simple model with the designing tools:

I applied the fractures (don't forget to set the damage threshold):

As far as I understand the damage mechanism of Apex doesn't apply anymore with Chaos. Instead, we need to use one or more field systems. I won't go into details here, but I'll put some tutorials and documentation at the end of the post. In a few words, fields apply a certain force or constraint to our destroyable mesh.

I created a FieldSystemActor blueprint:

Blueprint Pastebin

I then dragged the blueprint in the scene, here are some results:

Some final words

The fracture system and chaos look promising. The various fields and constraints add a lot of variety, and it's quick to create and set up a complex scene. However, I had many performance issues (50% frames drop) when the element is destructed. Moreover, I could not find any option regarding the destruction of fragments. Moving from a damage trigger to the field system requires some thinking (i.e., chaos does not seem to support any "cumulative damage") and it's important to explore the C++ support.

I think that I will continue with the 4.26 version as the current state of the modelling tool and Chaos, in my opinion, do not justify the time effort required to adjust the new tools to what I need to do. At least, for the prototyping phase.

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