How to get seamless level streaming when using landscapes?

Hi all!

I am working on a project where I am basically driving through different environments all connected through tunnels. because each environment will be quite complex I thought I’d use level streaming to unload the current level and load the next one once I am inside the tunnel.

Now the problem is, that once I start streaming my level which has a Landscape included, the game freezes for a moment. It is supposed to be a smooth continuos ride, though.

Is there some wa to load the levels in background, so that it does not stutter?

I’m thankful for any advice!!

Hi SplineO,

Could you post your dxdiag? It could have something to do with your hardware setup.

With that said, standard Level Streaming is generally used for smaller scale levels than what you are describing above. What you may want to look into is the World Browser (now known as World Composition). There isn’t much official documentation on it yet because it just came out of the experimental stage with 4.3, but there is quite a bit of community info.

Details how to use World Browser:

Info about World Composition in 4.3:
https://forums.unrealengine.com/archive/index.php/t-14839.html

If you are 4.2.1 or earlier it is enable through the Editor Preferences > Experimental > World Browser. If you are using 4.3 it is enable through the World Settings > Enable World Composition.

Hi TJ,

thanks for getting back to me! I’ll definitely look into the World Browser!! That said, I have also attached my DxDiag.txt file! Hope this helps!

Thank you!

Your hardware setup seems fine, its not to far off from our PC’s here. So unless you have an enormous amount of objects streaming in and out at a time I think the World Composition tool is worth looking into. If you try it and still see the issue, just post back here and we can keep troubleshooting.

Thanks for the feedback!

I’ll give it a try! :wink:

May I ask one more question? Is it possible to just hide the Landscape in the Level via Blueprint? Like leave it there and just hide it. Is it possible to use a Landscape in a Blueprint at all?

If I coud just have it in Level and not show it until I need it, maybe that would work.

Thanks!

It is possible to set the Landscape to hidden and then make it visible on overlap or a timer, you can do that in the Level Blueprint. However, many nodes will not interact with Landscapes so it is quite limited. Here is a quick example of how to set that up.

Level Streaming is much better way to approach it, not only is it easier to use but setting the landscape and actors to hidden doesn’t actually unload them from the level. They are still there and taking up memory.

That just made my day! Thanks a million!

I know that streaming or using the World Composition tool is more efficient. And I will still use them. In this particular instance I wanted to op a landscape into view without having that 1 second freeze that I was experiencing. And this way, it works!! Awesome!

Thanks again!