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Plan and Build

Plan and Build

The Plan & Build tab shows the estimated optimization impact and controls how scan groups become generated instance components.

Review this page before clicking Build Instances.

Recommended Auto Mode settings

Recommended first pass:

Target: Auto
Auto Strategy: Smart Prefer ISM
Smart Auto Preset: Balanced
Original Handling: Hide originals after build

This lets InstanceForge choose the layout per group instead of forcing one layout everywhere.

Review Build Plan groups

Build Plan group review

Check the Build Plan before building.

Review:

  • enabled group rows;
  • instance counts;
  • resolved target/layout;
  • expected draw-call impact;
  • groups that should be disabled before build.

The Build Plan action buttons only change checkboxes in the current plan. They do not rescan the level and they do not build instances.

Estimated draw calls

The Build Plan estimates draw-call impact per group.

A simplified estimate is:

Before: source count x material slot count
After: generated component material slot count

Example:

500 -> 5 draw calls (-99%)

Note: This is an estimate. Actual renderer draw calls can depend on view, occlusion, LODs, Nanite, materials, editor state, and runtime conditions.

Build Instances

Build Instances button and summary

Before clicking Build Instances, check:

  • Ready to Build summary;
  • enabled group count;
  • instance count;
  • selected Original Handling mode;
  • preflight warnings or hard blockers.

Build Instances performs integrated preflight checks before the confirmation prompt.

Hard blockers stop the build. Warnings remain confirmable and are logged.

Generated output

For each enabled ready group, InstanceForge creates generated components on a generated cluster actor:

TargetGenerated component
ISMUInstancedStaticMeshComponent
Split ISMMultiple UInstancedStaticMeshComponent components split by spatial clusters
HISMUHierarchicalInstancedStaticMeshComponent

Generated actors/components receive tracking tags:

IF_Generated
IF_BuildId_<BuildId>

Cluster actors are placed in the World Outliner folder:

InstanceForge/Clusters

Original Handling

Keep originals visible after build

Sources remain visible after the generated instance content is created.

Use this for comparison only. It can leave original geometry and generated instances visible at the same time.

Hide originals after build

Hide originals after build

This is the recommended first pass.

Source actors/components are hidden and tagged, but kept recoverable through build history.

Delete safe originals after backup

Delete originals after backup

This mode is for cleanup after validation.

InstanceForge writes backup/source records first, then deletes only eligible simple source actors after generated content exists.

Unsupported or non-simple cases are handled conservatively.

Warning: Use deletion only after you have verified build history and tested restore.

Safe cleanup path

  1. Build with Hide originals after build.
  2. Verify generated instances visually.
  3. Open Build History and Restore.
  4. Test restore on a safe sample.
  5. Rebuild with Delete safe originals after backup only after restore is validated.
  6. Save the level after final verification.

Next steps