Version differences

There are two versions of the plugin available on Fab.

UE 5.3 -> v. 1.41

UE 5.4 -> v. 1.41

UE 5.5 -> v. 1.5

UE 5.6 -> v. 1.5

Plugin version can be checked in the PlanetaryOceans.uplugin file in the root directory of the plugin.

The main difference between 1.41 and 1.5 is that 1.5 supports large oceans, up to almost any radius. For more info check this page:

Scalability and Precision

Here's a full change log of the 1.5 update:

What's new:

• DirectX 11 and Vulkan support,

• Large ocean support:

  • The mesh generator and material now support any radius — including planets over 100,000 km in size,

  • Buoyancy now supports oceans with radii up to 10,000 km (exceeding Earth’s size),

  ,

• New Example Blueprint: BP_GetWaveLocationExample. Demonstrates how to retrieve wave data on the CPU — useful for custom buoyancy, splash effects, and more,

Fixes:

• Resolved aliasing jitter by smoothly fading normals with distance,

• Restricted foam rendering on the inner surface of the water,

Misc:

• Removed outdated maps: the flat ocean map and the map using a static mesh for the ocean (instead of a quadtree-based mesh),

• Restriced ocean actor rotation (that introduces complications for mesh rebasing and other features that eliminate floating point imprecision). Translation (moving) is still supported by everything including buoyancy,

Important:

• This update is Unreal Engine 5.5+ only. It requires Periodic World Space, a feature introduced in UE 5.5 and used in the material

You can use 1.41 in UE 5.5. You will have to manually compile the plugin with this engine version.

You cannot use 1.5 in UE 5.3–5.4 as it utilizes new Periodic World Space that was added in UE 5.5.