Starter Content

When you create a new project from a template, you will have the option to include the starter content in your project. This will copy all of that content into your project so you have your own personal copy to use and begin prototyping your game idea quickly.

To include starter content in your project, just make sure that you have With Starter Content enabled in the New Project wizard. If it is currently set to No Starter Content, click on the Starter Content box and select With Starter Content.

The Starter Content pack includes a wide range of assets to get you going. Everything from materials to particle effects to primitive shapes and even a few props you can use to make sure your project is set to the right scale. Also, a number of video tutorials and quick start guides use the starter content as assets to work with.

Once you have added Starter Content to your project, you can find it in the StarterContent folder in the Content Browser.

To see the Starter Content in use, open the Starter Map level. Here, you can see many of the Particle Systems, Materials, and Static Meshes placed throughout the level.

Advanced Lighting Map

Also included in the Starter Content is the Advanced_Lighting map, which is set up to enable artists to quickly and easily see their creations in an ideal lighting setup.

Once you have opened the Advanced_Lighting map, you can begin placing assets onto the SM_AssetPlatform stage. The bulk of the setup, however, is done by the BP_LightStage Blueprint. This Blueprint behaves like a Directional Light, skybox sphere, HDRI background, atmosphere, height fog, Sky Light, and lightshafts all together. It allows artists to have one location for most of their lighting settings. Rotating the BP_LightStage Actor in the level defines the sun direction and HDRI rotation. The atmosphere will also respond to the Actor's rotation.

There are a number of properties you can set on the BP_LightStage, either as defaults for the Blueprint or on the placed instance in the level.


Property	Effect
Global Brightness	Adjusts a global multiplier on all brightness values.
Use HDRI	If you want to use an HDRI with a directional light, you may want to paint out the sun in your HDRI before importing and then line up the sun rotation with the one in the HDRI. Shooting reference objects will help you match the direct vs. indirect light ratio.
Use Sun Light	Enables the Directional Light, which is movable by default.
Stationary Light for Sun	Makes the Directional Light stationary.
Override Sun Color	By default, the sun gets its color from the angle to match atmospheric scattering. When this option is set to true, this behavior is disabled and Tint is used instead.
Disable Sun Disk	Causes the Directional Light to not put a sun disk in the atmosphere.
Shadow Distance	Sets how far out the dynamic shadow will draw.
Use Atmosphere	Enables atmospheric scattering. Most settings on the BP_LightStage for the atmosphere correspond to the same ones on an Atmospheric Fog Actor.
Use Fog	Enables exponential height fog.
Altitude	Sets the height of the fog, so you do not have to move the Actor.
Light Shaft Bloom and Light Shaft Occlusion	Toggling these enables or disables postprocess light shafts from the sun direction.

To use the Advanced Lighting assets in an existing project, you can Migrate the Advanced_Lighting map, and all associated assets will also be migrated.