Oceanology Next-Gen — Infinite

Last updated: 2025-12-13

Prerequisites

• Unreal Engine 5.5 or newer.
• Oceanology installed and configured (see the Setup page).
• At least one OceanologyInfiniteOcean actor placed in your level.
• Basic familiarity with Blueprints and viewport navigation in Unreal Engine.

Notes

• The Infinite system in Oceanology allows the ocean surface to follow the camera seamlessly, creating the illusion of an endless ocean that extends to the horizon.
• Without Infinite enabled, the ocean would be a fixed-size mesh that players could eventually reach the edge of. The Infinite system solves this by dynamically repositioning the ocean mesh to always surround the camera.
• This feature is essential for open-world games, flight simulators, and any scenario where the player can travel vast distances over water.

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Step-by-step

1. Configure the Infinite system settings

Select the OceanologyInfiniteOcean actor in your level. In the Details panel, locate the Infinite category. Here you will find the following options:

• Enable Infinity — ✅ Master toggle for the infinite ocean system. When enabled, the ocean mesh will follow the camera position.
• Enable Infinity in Editor — ✅ When checked, the ocean follows your viewport camera while editing in the Unreal Editor. Useful for previewing how the ocean looks from different positions.
• Enable Infinity in Game — ✅ When checked, the ocean follows the player camera during gameplay. This should almost always be enabled for shipped games.
• Follow Update Interval — 0.0 means the ocean updates its position every frame. Higher values reduce update frequency (useful for performance optimization on lower-end hardware).
• Time Jump — 20000.0. The distance threshold for repositioning. When the camera moves beyond this distance, the ocean "jumps" to catch up rather than smoothly following.
• ForceFollow — Button to manually force the ocean to update its position immediately. Useful for testing or when the ocean gets out of sync.

Debug Options:

• Enable Debug — When enabled, displays visual wireframe bounds showing the ocean mesh extents and follow behavior.

2. Observe the Infinite system extending to the horizon

With Enable Infinity active, the ocean seamlessly extends to the horizon. Enable Enable Debug to visualize the system behavior with wireframe bounds.

From a distant perspective, you can see how the Infinite system works:

• Orange wireframe lines — Represent the ocean mesh bounds extending toward the horizon. These lines show the actual rendered water surface area.
• Green vertical line — Indicates the world origin axis, showing how far the camera has traveled from the starting point.

Key observations:

• The ocean mesh tiles extend far enough to cover the entire visible horizon.
• No visible seams or edges appear at the horizon — the ocean appears truly infinite.
• The bounds remain centered around the camera position, demonstrating the "follow" behavior in action.

This view demonstrates why the Infinite system is essential: without it, players in vehicles, aircraft, or simply walking would quickly reach the ocean's edge, breaking immersion.

3. Compare with disabled Infinite settings

When Enable Infinity is disabled (all checkboxes unchecked), the ocean becomes a static mesh at a fixed world position. The ocean will no longer follow the camera, and players traveling far enough will eventually see the edge of the water surface.

Disabled state settings:

• Enable Infinity — ❌ Disabled
• Enable Infinity in Editor — ❌ Disabled
• Enable Infinity in Game — ❌ Disabled
• Follow Update Interval — 0.0 (has no effect when disabled)
• Time Jump — 20000.0 (has no effect when disabled)

Use this configuration only for bounded water bodies like lakes or pools where you intentionally want visible edges, or for debugging purposes.

4. Visualize the Infinite bounds with Debug enabled

Enable Enable Debug in the Debug category to visualize how the Infinite system works in detail. The viewport will display wireframe boxes representing the ocean mesh bounds:

• Orange wireframes — Represent the current ocean mesh extents. These boxes show the actual rendered water surface area surrounding the camera.
• Green wireframes — Represent the outer bounds or secondary volume zones. The larger green box indicates the extended follow region.

In this close-up view, you can see multiple layered bounds. The ocean uses a multi-tile system where several mesh sections work together to cover the visible area. As the camera moves, these tiles reposition to maintain seamless coverage.

This debug visualization is invaluable for understanding how the system behaves and for diagnosing any visual artifacts or seams.

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Configuration Guidelines

Setting	Recommended Value	Use Case
Enable Infinity	✅ Enabled	Open-world games, flight simulators
Enable Infinity	❌ Disabled	Bounded lakes, pools, indoor water
Enable Infinity in Editor	✅ Enabled	Always, for accurate previews
Enable Infinity in Game	✅ Enabled	Almost always for shipped games
Follow Update Interval	0.0	High-end hardware, smooth movement
Follow Update Interval	0.1 - 0.5	Performance optimization
Time Jump	20000.0	Default, works for most scenarios
Time Jump	Lower values	Very fast-moving cameras

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Troubleshooting Common Issues

Problem	Likely Cause	Solution
Ocean has visible edges	Infinite disabled	Enable Enable Infinity and Enable Infinity in Game
Ocean doesn't follow in editor	Editor follow disabled	Enable Enable Infinity in Editor
Ocean "pops" or jumps visibly	Time Jump too low	Increase Time Jump value
Ocean lags behind fast camera	Update interval too high	Reduce Follow Update Interval to 0.0
Performance issues	Update frequency too high	Increase Follow Update Interval slightly
Ocean stuck at wrong position	System desynchronized	Click ForceFollow button or restart PIE

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Summary

In this guide, you learned how to:

1. Configure the Infinite system — Enable the follow behavior for seamless endless ocean.
2. Visualize the horizon behavior — See how the ocean extends infinitely using debug bounds.
3. Compare enabled vs disabled states — Understand when to use each configuration.
4. Use debug visualization — Inspect the multi-tile ocean system and bounds in detail.

With the Infinite system properly configured, your ocean will seamlessly extend to the horizon regardless of how far players travel, creating a convincing and immersive water environment.