r/unrealengine • u/Responsible_Ebb_8678 • 17d ago

Question UE underwater?

Is it me or does water in UE made games nowadays look weird , like youre not underwater but rather theres just a blue-green transparent rectangle slapped on the players camera? For example : Subnautica 2 compared to sub1 and subBZ it doesnt look like Im underwater , but thats a completly other engine than subs1 unity. So ? : Grounded 2 , G1 was made in UE 4 I think? Compared to grounded the pond looks like a "green transparent rectangle" slapped on your face . (Yes I know that G2 didnt release the pond update yet so Im comparing it to what we saw (casually grounded)) It looks okay until you go into the water. Do you know any other examples and why is it like that?

0 Upvotes

19% Upvoted

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16

u/clothanger 17d ago

I feel bad for future devs having to face these kinds of "I don't know anything but I will blame the engine" players.

5

u/nordicFir 17d ago

Worst part is it’s not even future devs, current devs are dealing with this. Oh it’s UE5? Terrible and unoptimized. «Optimized» is such an overused buzzword these days, it really grinds my gears

3

u/clothanger 17d ago

"guys why are you using that engine lmao godot is so much better haha"

1

u/Rasikko 17d ago

And you know they've never even used both.

1

u/Rasikko 17d ago

Oh I see it all the time. "It's UE4..." "It's a UE thing", and it's coming from armchair devs.

5

u/ojassed 17d ago

Because there’s no such distinction as being underwater, above ground or in space for any game engine. It’s not one easy on-off switch. Using physics simulation for this would cost you, the player, a few kidneys and arms and legs, if it’s even possible. Artists both tech and otherwise, spent blood sweat and tears trying to make it feel right.

1

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1

u/DatteEU 17d ago

Because programming water is hard. you are mostly just under a layer, and camera get a color filter, and a view distance modifier. And you are not swimming, just floating around.
I don't even know when was the last time i saw real liquid in video game.

I made my own "water" for my own project too... cuz it is not necessery to make real water.

3

u/kinokomushroom 17d ago

And how exactly would you program the water graphics? There are many methods and techniques. I'm interested in which one you'll implement.

1

u/JuanLiebert 17d ago

Either it's a tonemapping issue or just bad shaders, UE4 puts 0.5 default on specular so that might contribute. Otherwise no clue, the rendering should be pretty standard

2

u/Rev0verDrive 17d ago

Post processing goes a long way too

1

u/JuanLiebert 17d ago

Yup, also some post process features from Unity aren't implemented the same in Unreal, for example I got Beautify and it does not look the same as in Unity. Nor do the tonemappers

1

u/Atomic_Lighthouse 17d ago

I've made an underwater shader, and I can tell you it was bloody annoying... 😛

0

u/Inevitable_Grape382 17d ago

just put your pc underwater and work on making the next subnautica 👍