Open cybernaut4 opened 1 year ago
SeriousBuggie
commented
1 year ago
What about this feature? It what you want? It already implemented in v469c and contain only changed props.
It even easier, since you see all in once. Not need expand each category for search what changed here.
Also it able show info for few actors:
SeriousBuggie
commented
1 year ago About reset value back to default/parent value - it must be separate issue,
cybernaut4
commented
1 year ago What about this feature? It what you want? It already implemented in v469c and contain only changed props.
It even easier, since you see all in once. Not need expand each category for search what changed here. Also it able show info for few actors:
While the separate window summarizes the amount of changes, not only occupies space on screen, but they don't show where they are, let alone the list it displays isn't arranged the same way as categories are sorted from top-bottom. Sure, in some scenarios it's obvious where each property should be, but others become a collapsing/expanding guesswork unless you already know where each is. To prove the point, I'm presenting a series of cases:
Suppose you want to study CityIntro.unr for cinematic-related stuff. Starting to check InterpolationPoint actor first. One would think OldLocation (Nº8) should be in Movement category along with the Location property, but turns out it's inside \<HiddenProperties>. That's doesn't take much time fortunately, and you can find Position and RateModifier there as well. Tag, Location, Rotation and Name are in common places. Little guesswork here.
AmbientSound actor is easier, you get accostumed knowing Sound* properties are in Sound. Other familiar properties. No issues here.
ZoneInfo, here it becomes a little strange. When you read "Delay" and "Gain" from a ZoneInfo with "bFogZone=true" some may think it could be related to a Sound or ZoneInfo, but neither Delay nor Gain are there, so one would search like crazy within \<Hidden Properties> only to find out there's a sneaky Reverb category (parallel to Sound, for some reason, which is a word that belongs within Sound subject). Of course later on it may make sense, but took me like 8 minutes with little to no tolerance of constant expand/collapse everything for it.
SpecialEvent, where InitialState may mean there's probably a StateMachine situation happening here. It can be related to SpecialEvent category, Events, or Object. Not very long to find out. But then ColLocation isn't in Collision, Movement, Filter, Networking and SpecialEvent, it's rather in the big list within \<Hidden Properties>. It starts to get tiresome, feels like I can forget or have to start taking notes again: something I recall not ever happening with Godot or any other editor but Blender.
Starting to learn what I believe is a "mesh actor": Mover. Here it dumps a list of detailed coordinates that overflows to a scrolling point. I'd scroll down to the bottom each time I select it, only to check what other property I touched here.
Here, instead of finding PrePivot and PostPivot in the same place, it turns into a manual search again, eventually becoming nerve-breaking, only to find PrePivot within Actor subcategory even after searching within twice, just because I got impatient after going through the previous cases.
The way I see it, I don't think it's the most optimal way to look for changes, unless you've been in the scene for a long time (so you'd already know where to look, but until then it's time consuming). It can also be discouraging to keep learning. I still think it's better to mark how many changes are in each subcategory as you descend, if possible.
Situation
Consider you're learning how a map is made, be it an arena, mod-altered, cinematic, etc.
You have to know what values changed per every single actor placed on the map.
Problem
Unless you have used UnrealEd long enough to memorize what value is usually there in every actor/surface/level, you may have to open a second instance of UnrealEd and compare side to side their values: blank map level properties vs opened map, doesn't seem much if just with level properties, because there's always one per map.
You may learn how to change the music, add fog etc. from Level properties, but imagine doing this with every Actor to understand how to make a cinematic entrance, or any other kind of trigger/event/sequence you can imagine.
03 June Update:
Actor Text View doesn't show where the properties are, and not all of them are in the most obvious categories. It also takes space on-screen for what I believe could be minimized into one window. My extended opinion is below.
Solution
Part 1/2: Adding a change counter per category
Showing where things have changed at first glance might help know where to really pay attention to.
Here's an usage example from Godot 4
Here's where would it could potentially be in UnrealEd:
Part 2/2: Highlighting changed values
Godot has one way of handling it: displaying a restore button near it.
On changed value:
On default value:
Although I believe this is (for the most part at least) an ideal solution, I'm not sure how much is possible in UnrealEd, so I prepared some alternatives.
Alternatives
Currently, UnrealEd shows the Clear button only if the property is selected (and is an asset selector) I believe it would be better to show the button at all times to see, at first glance, where the changed values are.
The changing color alternative isn't ideal for colorblind people but as a last resort if it can't be helped. I have thought of bold text instead, but it generates a problem stretching the field and making it harder to read soon enough.