Dungeon = Dungeon?!

Welcome back! I'm super excited for this update because the HDA is finally showing visually satisfying results. Since my last post, I've made a lot of visual developments (obviously) but also some backend ones!

Python Scripting

Remember that python script I wrote about in the last update? Well yeah, that unfortunately did NOT work in Unreal. I found out that the way that Unreal cooks HDAs is entirely different from how Houdini cooks them. So I had to alter my code to force the cooking of the node I was drawing back to to automatically update the UI. I force cooked it, but then found myself STILL running into problems. After 3 hours of messing around and debugging, I found that I had made a silly mistake. I was doing my paths wrong. In the path to my node that had the data I was trying to draw from, I had put the name of the HDA node in front.

Ex. ../dungeonpipeline/Data/Third_Cleanup

That was never going to work because.. moves outside the HDA’s network, whereas just starting out with Data/ directly references the node relative to the HDA root. Which completely explains why it was working in Houdini, but not when it was imported into Unreal

Therefore, here is my new code!

def force_cook_chain(node):
    for inp in node.inputs():
        if inp is not None:
            force_cook_chain(inp)
    node.cook(force=True)

def resizeMultiparm(kwargs):
    try:
        node = kwargs['node']
        node.cook(force=True)
        check_node = node.node("Data/Third_Cleanup/CHECK_ROOM_AMT")
        if check_node is None:
            return
        force_cook_chain(check_node)
        geo = check_node.geometry()
        piece_amt = geo.attribValue("max_rooms") + 1
        node.parm("input_pieces").set(piece_amt)
    except Exception as e:
        print("oops")
   
def clearMultiparm(kwargs):
    node = kwargs['node']
    
    node.parm("input_pieces").set(0)

def force_cook_chain(node):
    for inp in node.inputs():
        if inp is not None:
            force_cook_chain(inp)
    node.cook(force=True)

def resizeMultiparm(kwargs):
    try:
        node = kwargs['node']
        node.cook(force=True)
        check_node = node.node("Data/Third_Cleanup/CHECK_ROOM_AMT")
        if check_node is None:
            return
        force_cook_chain(check_node)
        geo = check_node.geometry()
        piece_amt = geo.attribValue("max_rooms") + 1
        node.parm("input_pieces").set(piece_amt)
    except Exception as e:
        print("oops")
   
def clearMultiparm(kwargs):
    node = kwargs['node']
    
    node.parm("input_pieces").set(0)

def force_cook_chain(node):
    for inp in node.inputs():
        if inp is not None:
            force_cook_chain(inp)
    node.cook(force=True)

def resizeMultiparm(kwargs):
    try:
        node = kwargs['node']
        node.cook(force=True)
        check_node = node.node("Data/Third_Cleanup/CHECK_ROOM_AMT")
        if check_node is None:
            return
        force_cook_chain(check_node)
        geo = check_node.geometry()
        piece_amt = geo.attribValue("max_rooms") + 1
        node.parm("input_pieces").set(piece_amt)
    except Exception as e:
        print("oops")
   
def clearMultiparm(kwargs):
    node = kwargs['node']
    
    node.parm("input_pieces").set(0)

Visual Developments

The dungeon generator is actually starting to look like a dungeon! I've been working on adding new props, VFX, and new modular features. In addition, I've transferred over to a new modular kit native to Unreal since the previous update. The asset pack I am now using is the "FANTASTIC Dungeon Pack" from Tidal Flask Studios. This took a lot of HDA adjustment because everything was on a different scale.

But luckily, I essentially just had to multiply every number in my HDA by 4. And now I've began testing out the HDA in Unreal! This is honestly a pretty exciting moment, it's always great when the work you've been doing for a while is finally starting to show tangible results.

(There's now smoke coming up out of the grates!)

One thing I've found particularly useful for module placement is placing actors instead of static meshes. I've noticed that this lets me select the individual items after the HDA cooks, while I can't select static meshes. I think that this will be useful information for the editor utility widget I plan to make later on, as that will revolve entirely around being able to click things to change them out!

Here is a summary of the items I've added:

• Floor grate VFX

• Cellar chamber floor tiles

• Room corner braziers (only on top floors)

• Bookshelves along walls (4 variations with slight difference in rotation )

• Brazier lamps along walls (slight transform & rotation variation)

• Hanging lights above the centroids of top rooms (rooms with no rooms above them)

• Corner wall modules (3 variations)

  • Heavily in progress, will have to workshop them some more so that they do not collide with set dressing props, or make the architecture look weird.

Hope to have some more fun updates next week!