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Loading Blueprints - Choosing A Blueprint Type

Hopefully you understand a bit more about each of the Blueprint Types at this point. Even if you do, however, it may not be obvious which Blueprint Type you should choose! We offer the following advice to help you make a final decision (though do note, the type can be changed at any time and the tool will attempt to preserve as much information from the existing Loading Patterns as it can).

Ring vs Custom Shape

Ring Blueprints are great general purpose blueprints and matchup well with normal player centric camera systems.

Custom Shape Blueprints are useful for Worlds with restrictive elements (such as walls or mountain ranges), where you know the character can only travel in certain directions. It can also be used to create interesting effects and game systems.

Uniform vs Non Uniform Ring and Custom Shape Blueprints

Generally speaking, the only advantage to using a Uniform Ring or Uniform Custom Shape Blueprint over their Non Unfirom counterparts is the ability to use more than 1 Cell for the Inner Area.

We always recommend starting with Uniform Patterns for this reason, however you can always upgrade a Uniform Ring or Custom Shape Blueprint to a Non Uniform Ring or Custom Shape Blueprint with minimal data loss. The only thing you will need to look out for is the change from multiple Inner Area Cells to a single Inner Area Cell.

You should switch to one of the Non Uniform Patterns if you find an advantage in creating custom, unique Loading Patterns on a per Streamable Grid Cell basis.

One situation that may lend itself to creating a Non Uniform Blueprint is if you have substantial differences in the amount of content that can be seen from different Cells. For example, a Cell that contains a mountain top will need to load more of the World than a Cell that is within a cave.

Sectioned Blueprints

Sectioned Blueprints are extremely useful when using very large Streamable Grid Cells, as they allow you change the loading behaviour while the player moves within those large Cells.