GraphSimulation
This is a graph-based entity-component-system for Unreal Engine 4. Nodes are like entities, GraphObjects are like components. Simulations enumerate GraphObjects. Nodes can maintain links to other nodes with the framework correctly updating links when nodes are removed.
Features
- simple
GraphObjectsare structs stored in packed arrays, they are efficient and cache-friendly to tick in bulk- uses
UInstancedStaticMeshComponentsto render vast groups of entities at 90 fps - integrates with Unreal's serialization system
- transactions for creating and deleting
NodesandGraphObjects(this makes managing the node-graph easy to use and efficient forSimulationsto deal with)
I developed this framework for a ship-building game in VR in 2016 that I never released. I subsequently used it in my PhD research for an article title "LifeBrush: Painting interactive agent-based simulations". In that article, it achieves 90 fps in VR with 20,000 entities. It can be integrated with Flex for GPU accelerated collision detection.
This code compiles and works correctly, however I have not converted this repository into a plugin yet. This will come in a later update.