World Editor: Terrain Preparation Tutorial – Arma Reforger
Setup
World
In World Editor, click on Create new World to open the Create world interface.
In there, set world type to Base scene (the new world is to start 100% from scratch, Sub-scene would make an "additional layer" on an existing terrain).
Terrain
In the Create tab, search "terrain" to drag and drop a GenericTerrainEntity in the world.
Set its position to [0,0,0] (terrain collision/contact and Terrain Tools may encounter issues otherwise).
Save the terrain (Ctrl + S or File > Save World).
Right-click on the created GenericTerrainEntity and choose Create new terrain… ; this will open the New Terrain interface, allowing to set terrain grid resolution values. When done, click Create.
et voilà ! The newly created terrain is now ready to be sculpted.
Additional Setup
Camera
In the Create tab, search for "camera" to drag and drop a CameraManager in the world. This makes the camera attach to the played character as the in-game behaviour, making the preview easier. Be sure to tick Play from camera position to spawn a unit when pressing Play.
Sun
In the Create tab, search for "light" to drag and drop a GenericWorldLightEntity in the world.
Transformation
- Angle X - Set light source's pitch angle (e.g -20° to have a low-on-horizon sun)
- Angle Y - Set light source's yaw angle: 0 = from the South, 180 = from the North, 90 = from the West, 270 = from the East
- Angle Z - Set light source's roll angle (does nothing)
Light color properties
- Specular Mul - Its a mutiplier of the Sun hotspot's specular intensity
- Sun Angular Size - the size of the Sun in a hotspot
Global Light color properties
- Direct Light LV - Intensity of the Sun
- Direct Light Color - Color of the Sun light
- Indirect Light LV - Intensity of "ambient" light
- Indirect Light Color - Color of the "ambient" light
Global Indirect light modificators
- Probe Reflection EV - Intensity of reflection at "LOW" roughness materials (chrom, glass etc.)
- Probe Reflection Color - Color modificator for Reflection
- Probe Diffuse EV - Intensity of diffuse light at "HI" roughness materials (wall, plastic cloth etc.)
- Probe Diffuse Color - Color modificator for Diffuse
Skybox
Sky Preset
In world entity properties, set Sky Preset to Atmosphere.emat using the search bar to find it - this setups a "real world" atmosphere for the world.
Planet Preset
In world entity properties, add Celestial Bodies by adding items to the Planet Preset list (by clicking "+") and add the following:
- Sun_01.emat - set a material to the skybox's light source
- Moon_01.emat
- Stars_01.emat
Clouds
In world entity properties, set Clouds Renderer to SkyVolCloudsRenderer.
Set Clouds Preset to Clouds_Volumetric.emat - this setups the volumetric clouds.
Ocean
In world entity properties,
Set the Ocean Material field to ocean.emat - this setups the ocean's surface.
Set the Ocean Simulation field to e.g oceanSimIsland.emat - this setups the ocean's simulation.
Post-Process Effects
In the Prefab Library, search for "WorldP" to drag and drop GenericWorldPP_Default.et in the world.
Post-process Entities are used for many effects:
Typical PP effects:
- SSR - Screen space reflection
- SSDO - Screen space diffuse occlusion
- GodRays - Fog effect (screen space)
- UnderWater - Effect for underwater scenes
- HBAO - Screen space Ambient Occlusion
- Rain Effect - Rain effects in the scene.
- PPAA - Antialiasing postprocess
- HeightmapAO - Voxel ambient occlusion used for trees and rocks
- HDR - Camera setting
Sorting order for basic PP:
- 0 = SSR
- 1 = Godrays
- 2 = UnderWater
- 3..13 = free for game usage
- 14 = SSDO
- 15 = HBAO
- 16 = HDR
- 17 = PPAA
Weather
In the Resource Browser, search "WeatherM" to drag and drop a TimeAndWeatherManager.et entity in the world.
Set the weather by opening the Weather Editor by its icon in the main toolbar. Load the weather state machine config (WeatherStates.conf) and confirm by clicking OK.
Local Environment Probe
In the Create tab, search for "env" to drag and drop an EnvironmentProbeEntity in the world.
This is used to capture local reflection / diffuse.
Sculpting
Pick the Terrain Tool (mountains icon) in the toolbar.
Make sure to select the Terrain Tool tab.
Heightmap Import
In the Manage tab, click Import height map… to import a png heightmap.
First Editing
On heightmap's first editing, the Set normal map options and generate normal map appears; click on "OK" to apply its default settings, then confirm the following popup.
Terrain Tool
On the top of the tab are four tabs:
- Manage
- Sculpt
- Paint
- Info & Diags
Use the Sculpt tools to extrude, dig, sculpt the ground. See its documentation to know the usage of each section.
Use the Paint tools to set surfaces.