Choosing what game objects should be assigned to each LOD Group on each Zone Grouping is very important, and special care must be taken when your scene contains a mix of game objects that need to be assigned to different LOD Groups and/or Zone Groupings (although, don't worry too much if you misassign something. You can always re-assign it to the correct Zone Grouping/LOD Group later)!
There are multiple options available to you that change how the objects are selected. Please take a look at the Assignment Operations Section for detailed information on each option.
Within the World Designer Tool, these options can be found within the Assignment tab of the Operation Settings Control Window.
Whatever objects are chosen for the assignment, please keep the following in mind:
1) The Assignment Operation cannot be used on Game Objects that are the root Asset Chunks belonging to Cells. If you try to assign these objects, and error message is shown in the Console Log.
2) When assigning an object that belongs to a prefab instance hierarchy, the outermost root is unpacked (unless the prefab instance is an Asset Chunk) using PrefabUtility.UnpackPrefabInstance (and PrefabUnpackMode set to OutermostRoot), meaning that prefab will no longer be a prefab. With that said, if the object you assign is itself a prefab instance, it will remain a prefab instance under the new Asset Chunk.
3) Assigning works just like dragging an object onto a new parent game object in that all of the objects descendants are carried along for the ride.
We recommend starting your Assignments with a single object (by using the Selected Objects option and selecting a single object). Make note of which Cell you believe the object will be assigned to, and after the Assignment Operation is completed, verify that the correct Cell has been enabled and Asset Chunk created.
Next move on to a larger but still small subset of objects, perhaps this time choosing ones that fall in multiple different Streamable Cells. Again, pre-determine which Cells should be enabled and which Asset Chunks should be enabled, then after the Assignment Operation completes, verify.
If the objects are not being assigned to what you believe to be the correct Streamable Cells, please check out the Assignment Issues Section of the FAQ to diagnose why.
Once you have done this a few times with larger and larger groups of objects and verified that everything is working correctly, you can run a final Assignment Operation that assigns the remaining objects for the given LOD Group, World Grouping, and Zone (assuming that is possible given the hierarchy of your scene).
Now, please take a look at the Final Words Section for some final advice and things to look out for.
--Sample Scene Directions--
When assigning the Terrain game objects, start by using the Selected Objects option and selecting Terrain1. After you run the Assignment Operation (by pressing the A* button), you should see Cell R1 | C1 turn blue (in the World Designer Tool) and the Terrain1 object disappear from the scene.
Click on this Cell in the Cell Viewer area and left click the L* button. The terrain should be loaded into the scene, either as a prefab or as an additional scene (depending on how your Asset Creator is configured), but note how Terrain1 is now a child of an empty game object. This empty game object is the actual root Asset Chunk, and as you can see its name follows a predictable naming convention which means it is part of an Asset Chunk Group.
If the terrain was successfully loaded, we have success! You can proceed by selecting the remaining Terrains (Terrain2, Terrain3, and Terrain4), and running another Assignment Operation. All four terrains can now be loaded and unloaded from the scene very easily using the World Designer Tool, using the L* and U* buttons.
For the other Groupings, you can play around with the other What To Assign options in order to get familiar with them. For example, with Grouping 2 and 3 you can try out the Children Of Parent option, being sure to drag the Large Structures and Plants game object into the Assignment Parent field before running the Assignment Operations.
For Grouping 4, try the Regular Expression Matches option, with the Regex Pattern field set to ^Capsule (make sure to clear the Assignment Parent field before running the operation). After running this Assignment Operation, load Cell R14 | C2. Take note of how the Capsule (11) child hierarchy was kept in-tact, despite the children also having names starting with Capsule. This is because the search method works top down, and once a game object is matched (in this case, Capsule (11)), none of that game object's children will match (but will be dragged along with the parent when it is assigned).
After successfully assigning the assets for all four Groupings, you can delete the World Assets game objects from the scene, as it is no longer needed. You should now be able to enter Play mode and see your World come to life!
--MicroVerse Directions--
When assigning the Terrain game objects, start by using the Selected Objects option and selecting Terrain_(-2000.00, 0.00, -2000.00). After you run the Assignment Operation (by pressing the A* button), you should see Cell R1 | C1 turn blue (in the World Designer Tool) and the Terrain1 object disappear from the scene.
Click on this Cell in the Cell Viewer area and left click the L* button. The terrain should be loaded into the scene, either as a prefab or as an additional scene (depending on how your Asset Creator is configured), but note how Terrain_(-2000.00, 0.00, -2000.00) is now a child of an empty game object. This empty game object is the actual root Asset Chunk, and as you can see its name follows a predictable naming convention which means it is part of an Asset Chunk Group.
If the terrain was successfully loaded in the correct location, we have success! For the remaining terrains, change the What To Assign setting to Children Of Parent, then drag the Terrains game object into the Assignment Parent field. Run another Assignment Operation using the A* button, and you should see all the rest of the terrains disappear, and the remaining Cells in the Tool turn blue (showing they are now Enabled). After correctly assigning the terrain, you can delete the empty Terrains game object in the MicroVerse hierarchy.
Now that the terrains have been converted to Asset Chunks, we can proceed with converting the MicroVerse hierarchy. Change the Grouping To Edit to Grouping 2, then change What To Assign back to Selected Objects. Make sure you have assigned your Default Asset Creator to the LOD Group 1's Asset Creator field, select the MicroVerse game object in the scene, and run another Assignment Operation.
The single Cell in the Tool center viewing area should turn blue and the MicroVerse hierarchy should disappear.
While you can load the Terrain and Hierarchy cells separately, we would recommend using the Chaining feature of the tool instead. Navigate to the Chaining tab (center Operation Settings area) and press the Enable All button. Now set the Grouping To Edit to Grouping 1 (the terrains), and when you want to load a terrain cell, select it and right click the L* button. This will load the terrain as well as the MicroVerse hierarchy. Just be careful about using Chained Unloading to unload terrain, as this will unload the MicroVerse Hierarchy, which you may not want if you are still editing other terrain.
If you are sure that you are going to be used a Fixed World, you can skip this step. If you are using a Floating Origin based World and you followed our earlier instructions to modify the Origin Position, at this time we would recommend editing the Origin Position so it is equal to 0,0,0, or equal to x = -1/2 world grid column width, y = 0 or -1/2 world grid layer height, and z = -1/2 world grid row length.
After doing this, your content will be shifted from where it was originally. To rectify this, calculate a new Zone Position for the Zone so it is placed where it previously was. To do this use the formula Zone Position = Previous Origin Position - Current Origin Position. Once you calculate this position, you can set it via the Zones tab on the World component (Zone Row will usually be the z position, Zone Column the x position, while Zone Layer will usually be the y position).
Note that the position of this Zone is up to you. While setting it to the value above will restore it to its original position, now that you've converted the assets to Streamable Asset Chunks, you have flexibility in where it's located in relation to your world at large!
If you want to change where you player starts, you can do that too. For Fixed Worlds, just load your Asset Chunks and position the player as needed. For Floating Origin based Worlds, the easiest way is to use the Game Start Configurations system.
1) Load the Streamable Cells/Asset Chunks around the area where you want the player to start using the World Designer Tool.
2) Modify the Origin Cell used by the World Designer Tool (making sure to use the Update Origin Cell/Position button) until the location where you want the player to start is at 0,0,0 (or as close as possible). Remember that increasing the Origin Row will shift your game content down on the negative z/y axis, while decreasing it will shift your content up the + z/y axis. The same goes for the Origin Column (on the x axis) and the Origin Layer (on the y axis).
3) Position your player exactly as you want. If you are using a procedural player, use a proxy game object to position the player.
4) In the World Designer Tool, navigate to Main Controls/Global Settings tab and find the Config Player field. Assign your player or proxy player to this field.
5) Change the Config Name to something that will help you identify this starting location, then press the Add/Update Configuration button.
6) Close the World Designer Tool and enter Play Mode. The Game Start Configuration will activate and override the Origin Cell used by the World as well as the location to use for the Player assigned to the Active Grid.