Current Limitations/Known Issues

As developers, we have an obligation to make our addon run as smoothly as possible. That isn't always doable though.

We've compiled a list of things, we currently know of, that are "issues" or "limitations" of this current version. We will address these if we can, if not then we will provide a workaround for them here.

If you cannot resolve any of the issues below using the resolution (❔) section, then please contact us via Discord to raise a ticket.

Conflicting Addons

Simple tabs:

We are aware that currently, some UI panels in True-Terrain will not show correctly, if you have Simple Tabs enabled. We are looking into this and will update the docs when we have more information.

UI

Subdivision panel sometimes does not show; located under the materials and above the help section.

The current cause is not known. We believe it to be a bug inside Blender. Restarting the program resolves this usually. If restarting and opening a saved file, this may not be fixed. You will need to start in a fresh file.

Simple tabs can also cause this!

Storage

In version 4.0x of True-Terrain, we do not have a method of designating a separate location to store all the additional content. For now, this will automatically install in the location that Blender has default chosen for your script files.

If you wish to manually relocate True-Terrain, and it's associated files, then you will need to manually allocate a location via Blenders user preferences for Addon installations:

See RELOCATION OF CONTENT for more info

Language/locale-based errors

There is an issue that has been identified within the automated language translation method, inside of Blender, and our new scatter system. When adding new assets via the scatter system, an error will throw up on-screen, advising that the operation has failed, and certain operations cannot be found in the script file.

Currently, this seems to be a bug with Blender and Geo-nodes (which we use for scattering) and the fix for this is simple. Head to user preferences, head over to Interface, and then down to 'Translation'. From here you will see the language, and then 3 check boxes underneath. Please disable, New Data This will now work.

E-cycles

Unfortunately, we do not, and simply cannot, support terrain creation with True-Terrain, while inside of an E-cycles build of Blender. E-cycles changes too many functions inside of Blender, for us to create a compatible addon for this and have we have been plagued with consistent issues from not being able to add materials, not being able to append assets and not being able to update scatter systems for the users.

This inevitably leads to an increase in customer support requests, that we simply cannot answer or resolve, leading you guys, the users, annoyed and upset that True-Terrain isn't working.

This is why, from version 4.1 and onward, we have locked the material tab from being used when you are inside an E-cycles build of blender, and you will be greeted with this message:

We still allow the use of terrain mesh adding; Asset placing, and scattering, however, you will not be able to add materials to your terrains or add in any of the water shaders.

We appreciate that this may be disheartening to see, and may come across as though we simply do not want to support E-cycles, however, we have attempted for the last 6 months, to ensure compatibility with E-cycles, but have been met with issue after issue. The only two options were to allow users to get error messages, or simply lock these sections off.

You can, however, build your scenes inside vanilla blender, and then open them up in E-cycles to render them out. But, please be aware that E-cycles is not optimized for the 'Experimental' Feature set inside Blender, and adaptive subdivision can, in most cases, lead to similar or longer render times.

Materials not changing when selecting them in the shader section

There is a known issue of materials not changing when selecting a new one in the shader tab. This happens when you save the file, and have "auto-pack" enabled.

Packing files will not allow True-Terrain to work correctly, as we use a dynamic system to pull textures in and move them out, when not in use. This allows us to swap materials faster, and keep the blend file light.

Please DO NOT pack files using True-Terrain for now, as this stop it from working correctly.

IF YOU NEED TO SEND BLEND FILES MADE WITH TRUE-TERRAIN TO A RENDER FARM. SAVE THE FILE, PACK THE FILE, THEN SAVE THE FILE IN A NEW FOLDER. THEN UNPACK THE FILE, AND WRITE TO THE CURRENT DIRECTORY. THEN MAKE SURE ALL FILE PATHS ARE RELATIVE.