Before we begin, just a short note, the Splatmap Generator feature requires that “Runtime Virtual Texturing”(RVT for short) be enabled within your project in order to work, as it utilizes part of this tech in order to bake the splat map. If the terrain looks a little strange (with solid black/purple terrain or a repeating texture) or if you need more help in getting RVT working with your project fully, please see the guides here.

So, let’s get started. To bake splat maps and use the baked forms of the material on one of the terrains that come with M⁴ or after setting up your own map to use M⁴, simply click on the “MagicMapMaterialBP” after placing it or finding it within your game world. Scroll to the section called “Splat / Heat Map Baker” within the details panel and click on the button labeled “1) Prepare Splat Map Baker”. Wait for the shader setup to load before proceeding to Step 2. The landscape should look similar to the image to the right in shading, with slopes and foothills shading in a green/blue coloring.

After the splat map rainbow-ish coloring loads, go ahead and click the “2) Bake Splat Map” button, which will do just as it suggests, utilizing Runtime Virtual Texturing to then bake down a full landscape splat map into a 4K texture. This process will take a few seconds, as the process first needs to warm up.

Once step two is complete click on “3) Apply Baked Slope Material” which will, as you guessed it, apply the baked Splat Map texture. If all things went correctly, you should now see the landscape textured similar to as if you used an auto-material. If things didn’t turn out as planned, or the landscape is textured very strangely, then please see the troubleshooting area for splat map baking.