Clarification on FH5 Event Lab Mechanics

Forza Horizon Forza Horizon 5 FH5 Discussion
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So, essentially there are a few things i would love clarification on from those who are more well-versed in the world of Event Lab building.

  1. Is there a Prop Limit Difference between the Main Map and Event Lab Island?(Is Event Lab Island Build Limit higher?

  2. Do prefabs eat up percentage faster than building the same simple things by hand?(Placing a roadway then walls then lighting vs placing personal pre fabs of a roadway will preplaced walls and lighting)

  3. What is the best way to optimize your build limit and what props should you avoid using?

  4. If Event Lab does have a higher build limit, what would be the best way of importing a project from the main map to the Event Lab?

  5. Whats the best way to place props with absolute precision for the best results?

  6. How does the prop percentage actually work? Does duplicating take more percentage than reselecting the same item from the menu every time?

  7. What are best ways to make use of walls besides concrete walls?

  8. Best way to go about using the roadway pieces to create corners that are rounded and smooth?

I’m sure I will stumble across more questions but these are the main ones that I’m interested in having answered as it will help me with current and future projects! Thank you!

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  1. Is there a Prop Limit Difference between the Main Map and Event Lab Island?(Is Event Lab Island Build Limit higher?

a) Great question, unfortunately I don’t have a solid answer but we were told Eventual island allowed you to use more props as in bigger budget vs the main island, however I cannot confirm this has been addressed.

  1. Do prefabs eat up percentage faster than building the same simple things by hand?(Placing a roadway then walls then lighting vs placing personal pre fabs of a roadway will preplaced walls and lighting)

a) Prefabs (unless they’ve fixed the issue) take up a greater percentage of your budget. When duplicating items you can use hundreds or thousands but for some reason if you save those same items as a prefab Eventlab treats the as entirely new items which use your budget faster.

  1. What is the best way to optimize your build limit and what props should you avoid using?

a) As someone who specializes in immersive environments and using a ton of items I can confidently say the best way to optimize your budget and event is to use no more than 10-18 different props (preferably simple objects that don’t use a lot of budget percentage i.e. crowd stand vs concrete column)

  • Find the most useful props and place them in your blueprint somewhere, then you know which props you’ve placed and can duplicate them over and over (using less budget than if you were to spawn a brand new object).

  • When creating your more complex buildings/structures you should duplicate them but do not save them as a prefab otherwise when you spawn them into your build the game will think they’re brand new props and not reused.

  1. If Event Lab does have a higher build limit, what would be the best way of importing a project from the main map to the Event Lab?

a) Unfortunately importing prefabs at this time uses q considerable amount of your budget so my advice would be to build them again in EventLab Island and avoid importing them via prefabs option.

  1. Whats the best way to place props with absolute precision for the best results?

a) Use the step amount (degree) option for placing your props consistently throughout your build. (I typically use the 15 degree setting most.

b) Utilize the camera speed option (slow, medium, fast) and rely on slow to place items perfectly.

  1. How does the prop percentage actually work? Does duplicating take more percentage than reselecting the same item from the menu every time?

a) Prop percentage (budget) can be confusing a first but once you understand how it works its easy to manipulate.

  • Duplicating items is the same as grabbing the item in the menu (think of it as a shortcut for saving time).
  • Reusing the same item over and over will have less of an impact to your budget than placing a new prop (that hasn’t been placed in your event before). For this reason I suggest you limit yourself to no more than 10-20 different props. (preferably low cost props if going for a higher varying amount).
  1. What are best ways to make use of walls besides concrete walls?

a) Your imagination and creativity can make anything into a wall. You could use ramps, platforms, shapes, or even props that have invisible barriers to keep players within limits of your build.

  1. Best way to go about using the roadway pieces to create corners that are rounded and smooth?

a) Unfortunately this is still not an easy thing to do as it requires time and patience. If you’re looking to build a raceway you will spend a great deal of time aligning turns, roadway pieces, and inclines. You’ll have to switch back and forth between building and creating your route so that you can drive your car across the newly formed pieces and test for bumps/smoothness.

I hope this helps in some way.

  • VuKKuu
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I don’t understand why I use like 12 props and it says I’m at 89% of my limit, when it looks like a lot of eventlabs have thousands of objects

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Often wondered the same thing. There are also some ELs with spectators; how does that work??

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I’ve seen EL’s with traffic, again, no idea how

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Thank you. Everything you’ve said I quite literally confirmed on my own just a few mere hours after posting this but this is reassuring. It is unfortunate that i wasted a good 2.5 days of work on those pesky prefabs and placing them but all will be okay as I go back in and work on it through the rest of this week. A few notes regarding some of your answers.

In relation to the prop placement, unfortunately there is still a bug in the game that certain props will not place correctly after being put down vs when being held and aligned correctly. I’ve already made a forum post and it was acknowledged by a T10 member i believe. Props I can give examples of are concrete walls/barriers, parking garage concrete beams and some other items of similar nature. Using the snap tool does not remedy this solution but can get you 90% of the way there after you initially place the first item aligned the way you wanted. From there, after using the snap tool, youll just need to make small adjustments to the snapped pieces to account for those misalignments.

Now, moving on to the best wall options for roadway pieces. To piggyback off what you had said about choosing the best option that fits your desired look while also not eating up your percentage for your build budget, i quickly realized that while concrete walls do give that desired effect and look of realism for highway concrete barriers, they are costly and somewhat difficult to work with. Now with that being said, another option that could be used is the concrete garage beam from the parking garage tab in the menu. You can place upwards of nearly 100 of those items for a cost of 1% including initial cost. Concrete walls have an initial cost of 2%. They are similar in size and look and dont give that bulky appears of having props sticking down far below the roadway pieces.

For the camera/prop placement, I’ve found that even at the most precise movements, the event lab will never allow you true control. What i mean is i prefer to operate without the degree angle turned on because it allows for better fine tuning when using the slower camera speed however, forza has its limitations. For instance, say you have 2 track pieces or props that are 0.5 inches off from each other, forza may only be limited to 1 inch movements at its absolute smallest movement inputs possible which will always leave you with an uneven surface. I dont think it was designed for this much precision which is fine and there are work arounds for it but i just wanted to note that here for others to know.

For the Build Budget difference, i have not tested it myself but i will at a later time to 100% confirm for us that whether or not event lab island does or doesnt have a bigger build budget and post my findings here. In the meantime, you are correct that importing stuff from main map to event lab via prefabs would be wildly ineffective and essentially youll just need to start from scratch.

Your advise of limiting yourself to only a few number of props is great. 10-20 is a solid choice to stick by and thats exactly what ive done when i when back to the drawing board for finishings my map by deleting all other props on the map and focusing on only whats important at the time and then going from there. I think after i finish this map, i will create a youtube tutorial for Event Lab that explains everything on a variation of what initial prop costs look like, the number of props able to be placed of said items before percentage increases, expected total prop usage and costs for maps and so on. I know there isnt many builders out there that publicize this information on a broad scale nor many in depth videos so Id be happy to be the one to share with others. I hate when i am searching for information and sadly there isnt anything available vs when you find an in depth how to guide of exactly what youre looking for.

Thanks again for your help and Ill happily keep replying to this thread with more questions, answers to others questions and more information as I come across it.

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You are more than happy to check out the first map Ive ever built in Event Lab by searching my Username “Redemption RX2” or by map name “No Hesi Highway Night”. You’ll find i used a large selection of different props in that map and Id be happy to explain anything youre looking for.

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I’m not entirely sure what you mean by spectators?

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Live crowds of people in the grandstands & sidelines.

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Now that is something I have not seen yet. Maybe because it was a modified version of the normal FH races so they just reused those “props” that are specific to that race?

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I’ve wondered that myself, but curious how that effects the overall prop count/limit as it obviously would use a lot of space I would think.

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One would think that but also, what if those props don’t account for any percentage since we cannot actually modify or move them as they are not standard props we have access to?