Creating a HexGrid System in Unreal Engine (UE4/UE5)

[@thebadluckraven8217]

you should either explain which nodes and variables you are adding or zoom in enough we can read them. Rushing through steps while being zoomed out makes it extremely hard to follow

[@AMobOGobos]

At about 7:40 you talk about adding a color randomizer from a timeline. Even scrubbing through the video one frame at a time I wasn't able to see what you actually did with the timeline to make it work. I also haven't been able to find a tut on that process on YT yet.

[@ZhakyDK]

It would be more beginner friendly if you took some time to show and explain why you use the things you use. You sometimes do, and sometimes you don't - I got lost at the "instanced static mesh". Can't seem to reproduced what you do, far less why you do it, so I have little to go on when trying to find a way to make it work. Other than that I appreciate the effort and your stile of show and tell.

[@areaprogramacao]

1) Open Unreal Engine and create a new project or open an existing project where you want to add the board. 2) In the Content Browser, right-click on an empty space and select "Blueprint Class" -> "Actor". 3) Name the Blueprint "GridActor" or another relevant name. 4) With the GridActor Blueprint open, click "Add Component" in the details pane and add a "Static Mesh" component to represent each cell on the board.

[@OldDadGamer]

it is hard to find good tutorial on unreal

[@ZachTheExcitedViper]

Because a tutorial shouldnt have to account for teaching you the very basics just so you can use that tutorial? I dont need to know any of what you just suggested because Ive already learned basics - this is not a basic tutorial and therefore shouldnt have to hold your hand. Dont complain about non issues.

[@K1N3RGY]

Please can you explain what goes on from 7:46 onwards. I've set the material up, Completed the construct and event up until the point you cut the video short making the timeline. Thank you

[@PhilipPetrunak]

I'm building hexagonal grid system and I didn't really find this helpful but I did find it interesting how you took a lot of different route than I certainly would have and did. One thing I found particularly interesting it's how you use the flip flop for determining if they need to be offset. With the grid system I'm using, I simply check if the hex co-ord even or odd.

[@joeriadrianow551]

i am losing you at 2:50 could this tutorial ever get anew update and more advanced more detailed step by step what u do like how u make the actors and the meshes and how you start making the blueprints from scratch? like a more step by step kinda tutorial cause i am a beginner and would like too learn this.

[@iamMCL]

@joeriadrianow551 he's basically making two blueprints of type 'actor' (you can see this on the top right corner where it says parent class). One of those blueprints, BP_Tile is going to be spawned as a child class by BP_HexGrid. BP_Tile one has 'static mesh' as a component bc of this. The other one (BP_HexGrid) is basically where the whole tut takes place where the grid is created with an 'instanced static mesh' as a component instead. idk if i explained it well or enough lol lemme know

[@midnalefay9741]

this is literally everything I've ever wanted for my own project and finally convinced me to switch over from unity

[@bev2224]

Crazy wild to find hidden Tutorial gems that explain step by step process! Great Job!

[@waltch5711]

wdym? he didnt explain anything and its impossible to follow

[@Bizob2010]

Edit: rephrasing my question. At 3:18, you show that you have an InstancedStaticMesh within the HexGrid blueprint. I figured out how to add the InstancedStaticMesh component, but how did you connect your square tile blueprint (& it's associated Static Mesh) to that instanced object?

[@stayathomedev]

The square version used the actor version which, after doing the instanced meshes became somewhat deprecated.

[@Bizob2010]

@@stayathomedev I'm still a bit confused...Should I keep watchin, & it gets explained later in the video? 🤪

[@SamSantalaArt]

@@Bizob2010 I had the same issue. Figured it out though. On the Components don't add a 'Static Mesh', add an 'Instanced Static Mesh' instead and it should connect :)

[@BaseRealityVR]

My Issue was that I noticed things Had been added that he had not been mentioned. EG: THE SUBTRACTION of the ints on the loop Indexs, the setting of the static mesh at the start,, but its a good tutorial all the same , & I even added a yaw Offset to the tiles . Thx

[@ElAlienRosaJugon]

i watch a lot of programing tutorials in youtube you are far better than any, you are the only one who actually explains why you do everything not just coz the power of yes

[@stayathomedev]

Thanks! I really appreciate that!

[@devrow]

Well, that was a lunch break well spent :) Will do the next one tomorrow :D

[@stayathomedev]

Awesome! Thanks for watching!

[@Derogue23]

This is a wonderful tutorial for certain aspects, but it seems you do some work off camera which throws off a lot of the script. I have been able to piece it together up until the adding of the material component where I had to slow the video down to .25 and saw that some work was added to where I assume is the Child Actor Component branch "False". I saw that there are a few nodes which I cannot figure out for the life of me where the Return Value of the Add Child Actor Component goes through node target->Child Actor->Object of the Cast to BP_HexTile? (I also had to change the Radius Multiplication Constant from your number to 1.735 in order to get the tiles lined up) Thanks for this wonderful series though, I'm learning a TON

[@stayathomedev]

Sorry about that! Was my first video, must have missed some parts. There should be the source files on the github through the Discord server.

[@Derogue23]

@@stayathomedev Please don't apologize, you are absolutely amazing and have been the biggest help!! I was just pointing out where I got lost and how!

[@TheAxebeard]

My first row is slightly offset, I tried your 1.735 and that just smooshed them all together. Where exactly are you talking about changing that constant?

[@stayathomedev]

It might depend on the mesh being used. The offset occurs every other row and will be different depending on the hexagon orientation. If you send a pic on the Discord, I can help!

[@Zurlak]

Imagine that you know nothing about this program. It is IMPOSSIBLE to do what you are doing. I can’t find what you click and create!

[@danielgalvez7953]

I'm kind of brand new to Unreal Engine. I was able to follow the steps until 3:46 Idk why your cubes spawned and mine didn't. I thought If i just kept following the instructions it'll work out, but I also got lost around 4:14, now all of a sudden there are two nodes between the construction script and the for loops, which was fine until I tried getting the static mesh variable that connects to "new static mesh" in the "set static mesh" node. I dunno how you got that variable, playing around and trying to get it myself crashed the engine. I aslo couldn't find the "set" node that is betwen the "set static mesh" node and the for loops.

[@tylerbrown7803]

When you tried to compile did you get a "This blueprint (self) is not a Child Actor Component" error message. If so I found the solution to this.

[@Blackholebirb]

@@tylerbrown7803Hi, I am having that exact issue, if you're around could you provide the solution? That would be greatly appreciated!

[@fizzplosion8772]

@@tylerbrown7803 do you have a solution???

[@iamMCL]

@@fizzplosion8772 u have to connect the 'add child actor component' return node to the target node for the 'set child actor class' function

[@nayfepacewell8923]

When you added the flip flop code, you didn't explain how or why. I've got everything up to now in place but the part about the offset you just kinda skim over without covering the construction. What is the flip flop code? How many more float variables do I need? How do I apply the Radius data?

[@Matt-iy3si]

A heads up for folks doing the model in Blender, you'll probably want to rotate the Hex 90 degrees prior to export. (great tutorial, appreciate it)

[@stayathomedev]

Yes! Sorry, if I glossed over that.

[@Matt-iy3si]

Oh you did great, on blender I think you either rotate, or another vid worthy how you need to set up the export. If I recall correctly it's X and then Z in the 2 drop downs. So up to the dev discretion lol.

[@stayathomedev]

Yeah going from Z to Y axis up can sneak up on you.

[@turameykusham]

How do you get the variable input pins for position and scaling on the Add Instance and Add Child Actor Nodes?

[@StevenDiLeo]

Love it! Thanks for making this 😊❤

[@DJ2punto0]

Is worth to point out our teacher is using what's called a 'Pointy Top Orientation Hexagon' for his example. If you're struggling with holes in your hex grid and overlapping tiles after your logic is complete, it could be because you're using a 'Flat Top Orientation Hexagon'. You can google both terms to see the differences, but basically the height of his tiles are higher than the width, and yours are the other way around, that's why yours look like gruyere cheese. If this is the case for you there are 2 things to fix the issue: 1. You have to send the SQRT radius calculator result to your 'Transform X' node instead, the other one will be your 'Transform Y'. 2. When you're getting the Radius at the very beginning of the script, use the 'Value Max Y' of your bounding box instead. Alternatively you could just jump in blender and rotate the damn thing 90 degrees on the Z angle... But in my case I'm using Synty meshes that are all Flat top oriented, so the logic change saves me quite some time!

[@dziku2222]

How do you add Set Child Actor Class in 3:45 ?

[@iamMCL]

@dziku2222 drag from the 'add child actor component' white triangle or the 'return value' and type "Set Child Actor Class" it should pop up

[@EthynLee]

Subscribed man, you’re amazing for this.

[@colinkrane4098]

can this be adopted to maked a hex grid that is in the x y and z planes ?

[@elturkocharro]

Hi folks, I have this gap between tiles even though my offset is 0. I've checked the formulas, and all of them are the same as the video shows. To be clear, when I have the offset set up as 0, there is a gap between the tiles, but when the offset value is greater than 0, they move away as expected. Any idea?

[@elturkocharro]

Like someone said before, the trick is in Blender. Rotating the Hexagonon 90° over the Z axis, will fix this. I didn't notice this before, due to I've rotated the Instance object in the Instance action box. But the non desired result is the extra gap over the object.

[@loiccaval7150]

Great video ! thanks for it :)

[@stayathomedev]

Thanks for watching!

[@CinematographyDatabase]

Nice this was a fun watch. Does world portion work with a grid style like this or is it only for landscape sectioning?

[@stayathomedev]

Hey! I haven't jumped too deeply into the new World Partition system in UE5 but I think it's very possible to be able to section a large grid into smaller chunks that could load within that system. I'll have to do some testing!

[@faboFromNomads]

Hey, I haven't found your discord anymore to download the files you were working on here. I wanted to study them in order to learn better. Any chance they are still available?

[@EinMeister]

The tutorial is very hard to follow as a beginner. I would personally appreciate it more if it was step by step and it showed everything. It got too confusing and lots of things went wrong, in the end I wasn't able to finish it. If this is not for beginners then who is it for? An experienced user would know those things probably.

[@t1sk1jukka]

You do know there can be tutorials for non beginners too, right?

[@witosnaw]

@@t1sk1jukka Look how this tutorial is so advanced that you don't even know what it's about! I don't know where to get Tile Mesh at 4:10 minutes?

[@iamMCL]

@@witosnaw u can just promote the "New Mesh" in the "set static Mesh" function. Or alternatively create a new variable and have the type be Static Mesh Object Reference

[@ChRoNiC-_Destroy]

How can I do the random color? I can't download the project because I don't know the UE version

[@КонстантинЦатурьян]

Didn`t work for me. In UE 5.0.3 Grid BP failes with Child Actor block error and even without it does not spawn a grid :(

[@HexiCore]

Changed the instanced bool while in editor

[@stayathomedev]

I somewhat abandoned the child actor version once the instanced worked. Is instanced checked?

[@janut2121]

Where to i set the variable instanced?

[@iamMCL]

in the components tab u can hit 'add' and add an instanced static mesh. then u can j drag the component itself onto the construction graph

[@heroesstrategy]

Good day. what version of unreal is used for asset in github?

[@stayathomedev]

Hey! It should be ue5

[@rretsabala]

Can't find Set Child Actor Class node in ue5.0.3

[@tonylanglet]

I'm really new with UE but I think when picking components you'll have to un-check the Context Sensitive for it to appear.

[@iamMCL]

​ @rretsabala like what @tonylanglet said u have to drag from either 'add child actor component' or the return value and if u type "set child actor class", it should show up

[@spikid1]

3:45 love how he doesnt Compile as he knows that it fires an error :D :D

[@gaborbalasi2766]

Sure it’s not an ABSOLUTE beginner level guide but it’s also not meant to be one. Speaking from personal experience, I have a gross total of 10 hours spend in UE and with effort I could figure everything out. Sure it requires extra effort and some level of problem solving/troubleshooting but if you’re truly want to become a developer, escape the tutorial hell ASAP. Watch videos, get insights, try it out yourself, put the pieces together and you’ll discover your true potential. Your ideas later will have problems or architecture which does not exist yet. Who’ll be holding your hand then? Take control of your journey not the other way around. If I can do it, you can too 😉 Cheers 🎉

[@exuld8338]

thank you !

[@Hasan-gh9gv]

my hex models are overlapping :(

[@mrBadimus]

Good tutorial for using two loops. But this is not hex-grid, it is a fake-hex-grid system that can't support a proper pathfinding.

[@Elitedreamteam]

could anyone put link to the assets for this project as me and my son are currently going through this tutorial

[@Elitedreamteam]

dont worry found them

[@Elitedreamteam]

Hi just checked for files cant find them would aprreciate someone linking them

[@ZaynNaz]

Great tutorial! You know it’s crazy just the other day I was thinking I wish I could understand grid systems more - and I found this. Is the project going to be like a civ/humankind type of project?

[@stayathomedev]

Rock on! Glad you found it helpful! Yeah, it's got elements of the management side of Civ but it will let players manage planetary systems through the hexgrid, customize/build the landscape but also let them explore what they build from a 1st person perspective to collect more resouces and complete quests. It's somewhat inspired from the old Dark Cloud game on PS2.

[@ZaynNaz]

@@stayathomedev ah! Sounds great! I’ll be following along and looking forward to more

[@OhMeGaGS]

It's great that you have done this and I appreciate it, however it would be nice if you went 50% slower and explained a few more things for kids at the back of the class such as myself

[@OldDadGamer]

terrible guide as skip how to get anything done just say do abc, when people looking for guides dont know how to make a b or c. So much view of his face so little view on how to actually do any of it.

[@witosnaw]

I don't know what this is about? Where can I get a particular element that I don't know where to find it? I'm just getting to know this engine and I'm already encountering a tutorial that doesn't explain how to do it!

[@iamMCL]

@witosnaw which part r u confused ab?

[@DanteAngeli-d6u]

If I you're able to follow everything in this video, you probably don't even need a tuto to start with. Why do they always make it so hard to follow? Can't read the nod's names, 1 second to see it before jumping at showing his face.... Man it's pointless. Just feels like a dude flexing on pretending how "simple" it is while knowing perfectly 90% of viewers won't be able to get anything from. if youre point is just bragging, don't call it a tuto.

[@coyote208]

And just like that I’ve decided I DON’T want to learn UE5. Can’t believe it’s that complicated to make hexagon tiles…

[@harry6270]

There are less complicated ways but yeah I’m learning Unreal as well and sometimes just reading documentation is better than tutorials lol

[@waltch5711]

this is just a shit tutorial