Questions about Sectr and other Procedural Worlds Products

[hurbivore]

Hi, I've got a few questions that I thought I'll put into one post to clarify all of it at once, I apologise if they have been asked before in the forum:

1. In terms of terrain streaming, what is the difference between Sectr's Terrain Streaming and Gaia's Pro World streaming? If I have an open world, with dungeons, is it best to use Gaia's world streaming with Sectr for the dungeons?

2. I'm noticing some pretty big stutter's when a new Sectr is loaded, does that mean there's too many gameobjects in the Sectr? Is the best way to minimise this stutter by breaking down the Sectr Chunk into smaller chunks? 

3. I noticed that with Sectr, it gives you the option to setup a proxy mesh. How does the proxy mesh tool work as it doesn't allow me to include the terrain as part of the proxy mesh.

4. Following question 3, instead of using Sectr Proxy Mesh Tool, could I use PW Scene Optimizer instead to generate the proxy mesh? Is there any performance benefit from doing so?

5. Is there a way to avoid Scene Optimizer from overwriting it's previous optimized gameobjects? It seems that everytime I ask it to optimise another set of gameobjects in the scene the previous optimized mesh disappears.

6. What function can I use to know if the chunk the player is on has finished loading preferably at the start of the game?

 

Thank you so much!

 

[Bryan]

2 hours ago, hurbivore said:

1. In terms of terrain streaming, what is the difference between Sectr's Terrain Streaming and Gaia's Pro World streaming? If I have an open world, with dungeons, is it best to use Gaia's world streaming with Sectr for the dungeons?

I typically use Gaia Pro for world streaming and Sectr for Dungeons. 
If you don't have Gaia Pro it can be useful for world streaming. 

2 hours ago, hurbivore said:

2. I'm noticing some pretty big stutter's when a new Sectr is loaded, does that mean there's too many gameobjects in the Sectr? Is the best way to minimise this stutter by breaking down the Sectr Chunk into smaller chunks? 

This can be a lot of different things its hard to say, I would recommend taking a look at the profiler. 

2 hours ago, hurbivore said:

3. I noticed that with Sectr, it gives you the option to setup a proxy mesh. How does the proxy mesh tool work as it doesn't allow me to include the terrain as part of the proxy mesh.

Chunk Proxies
By default, when a Sector is unloaded, it is simply invisible, appearing when loaded and disappearing when unloaded. However, some games need to have a visual representation of the Sector when the Sector itself is unloaded. This “proxy” representation is usually a simplified version of the Sector itself, one that appears when the Sector is unloaded and disappears when the Sector is loaded. SECTR includes tools and logic within the Chunk component to make creating Proxies simple and easy. Creating Proxy Meshes Each Chunk component can only have one Proxy Mesh, though the mesh can have multiple sub-Meshes. This mesh can be any Unity mesh resource, including meshes created by hand. As a convenience, the Chunk component also includes a tool that can create Proxy Meshes for you automatically. Simply expand the Create Proxy Mesh foldout, select the child meshes that you wish to include, and press the Make Proxy Mesh button. This will create a new mesh resource that is a combination of all selected meshes, including combining subsets with identical materials. Proxy Mesh Memory It’s important to note that while the Proxy Mesh disappears when the Sector is loaded, it is simply hidden, not unloaded. This means that the Proxy Mesh and all textures and materials referenced by it will be in memory as long as the level is loaded. In other words, Proxy Meshes improve visual fidelity but require more memory to do so.
 

2 hours ago, hurbivore said:

5. Is there a way to avoid Scene Optimizer from overwriting it's previous optimized gameobjects? It seems that everytime I ask it to optimise another set of gameobjects in the scene the previous optimized mesh disappears.

I would imagine that you would need to do it after it gets replaced, this is because everything gets replaced when your sector it by bounds and position. 

 

 

2 hours ago, hurbivore said:

6. What function can I use to know if the chunk the player is on has finished loading preferably at the start of the game?

I would take at look at this, all the functions are laid out in the API. 

  

[hurbivore]

Thanks for the response @Bryan! Sorry I just have a few follow up questions.

1. Do you mind going into more detail about why you prefer using Gaia Pro's world streaming? I do have access to both. 

2. I have several hundred rocks in the Sectr, which I think is causing the issue. What would be the best approach to reduce the stutter? Would swapping to Gaia's world streaming help resolve that?

3 & 4. I apologise that my initial question was unclear. I was wondering why the proxy mesh tool doesn't allow you to include the terrain as part of the proxy mesh. And in terms of 4, I meant, could I use Scene Optimiser to generate the proxy mesh? 

5. I don't believe it has anything to do with Sectr, I think whenever I try to optimize a new group of gameobjects in the scene with scene optimizer, the previous output mesh is removed/deleted.

[Bryan]

2 hours ago, hurbivore said:

1. Do you mind going into more detail about why you prefer using Gaia Pro's world streaming? I do have access to both. 

Honestly, it comes down to preference. 
Sectr had a great world streaming ability its just quite old. There was better ways to do it and Gaia Pro provides that. 
Sectr was always amazing for like open world dungeons etc. 

2 hours ago, hurbivore said:

2. I have several hundred rocks in the Sectr, which I think is causing the issue. What would be the best approach to reduce the stutter? Would swapping to Gaia's world streaming help resolve that?

It could yes, but I would optimize that. Utilize the culling system from Gaia. 
You would need to still do you own custom optimization as well. Depending on how you spawn them Gaia does have an ability to draw different size objects based on distance and you will need to play with that to find the right spot for you. 

2 hours ago, hurbivore said:

3 & 4. I apologise that my initial question was unclear. I was wondering why the proxy mesh tool doesn't allow you to include the terrain as part of the proxy mesh. And in terms of 4, I meant, could I use Scene Optimiser to generate the proxy mesh? 

I don't think you can due to it turning into chunks. Turning your terrain into a mesh is another complex way of handling and rendering the terrain. I wouldn't do that regardless, I would leave your walkable terrain as a terrain and not a mesh. Unless you understand optimization techniques and your terrain is finalized. 

As for your last question I am not sure you would need to debug this. 
I could see it as overwritting a combine if you are re optimizing it. Same way if you create a terrain and use the world designer again it would over write it. 
One thing you might try is create a parent if not already for the optimization objects and then disable them / turn them off. Then optimize again. 

[hurbivore]

Great, thank you! Sorry just a final question. My terrain is currently using Sectr, and I've already moved some of the terrain game objects onto their relevant sectr. How do I revert the changes to then set it up with Gaia's world streaming?

[Bryan]

I would either revert to a backup or open a new scene and play back the session.