Modular Kit Auditor

Modular Kit Auditor

Module: Modeling · Category: Assembly · Tool ID: ModularBuildingTool

A level-wide audit for modular kit-built environments. Catalogs every static mesh actor by type, flags placement issues (off-grid, unsnapped rotation, floating, overlapping), and estimates draw-call savings if identical meshes were converted to Instanced Static Meshes. Includes one-click batch fixes for the snap and rotation issues — all undoable.

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When to use it

• Final pass on a level built from a modular kit — catch every floating wall, unsnapped pillar, rotation that drifted to 89.9° instead of 90°
• Performance budgeting — see at a glance how many of “the same” mesh you placed and what ISM conversion would buy you
• Onboarding to an inherited level — get a manifest of every kit piece used and how often
• Pre-cook validation — placement issues that pass visually still bake into nav-mesh and lighting holes

When not to use it

• Don’t use this for non-kit levels — single hero meshes will all show as “1 placed” and clutter the report
• Don’t use this to build kits — this is the audit side; placement happens in your level editor or a kit-spawning tool

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Opening the tool

1. Open the EQLabs Hub and search for Modular Kit (or browse to Modeling → Assembly)
2. Click the tool card to open the panel
3. Make sure the level you want to audit is open

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Interface tour

A scroll panel with one configuration section, two button rows, and three result sections. Top to bottom:

1. Grid & Snap Settings

Field	What it does	Default
Grid Size (UU)	Modular grid spacing in Unreal Units. Standard kits are 100 or 200.	100
Snap Tolerance	How far an actor’s position can drift before it’s flagged as off-grid (in UU).	5
Rotation Snap (deg)	Increment used to test rotation snap. 90 for square kits, 45 for octagonal, 15 for fine.	90

2. Primary action buttons

Button	Behavior
Scan Level	Walks every static mesh actor in the level, groups by mesh, builds the Piece Library with placement counts.
Validate Placement	Runs the off-grid / unsnapped-rotation / floating / overlap checks against the current settings.
Estimate ISM	Computes draw-call reduction if every group of identical meshes were converted to Instanced Static Meshes.

3. Batch fix buttons

Button	Behavior
Fix All Off-Grid	Snaps every off-grid actor to the nearest grid point. Wrapped in a single transaction — Ctrl+Z undoes the lot.
Fix All Rotations	Snaps every actor to the nearest rotation increment. Same undoable batch.
Copy Results	Full audit (pieces + issues + ISM estimates) to clipboard as plain text.
Export Manifest	Saves the Piece Library as a JSON manifest for team docs or pipeline tooling.

4. Piece Library

A list of every unique mesh found in the level with placement counts, socket counts, and triangle count per piece.

Column	What it shows
Mesh	Asset name
Placed	How many actors of this mesh exist
Sockets	Socket count on the source asset
Triangles	Tri count of the source mesh
Actions	Per-row actions (e.g., select-all-instances)

Single-click pings the mesh in the Content Browser. Double-click opens the Static Mesh editor.

5. Placement Issues

A filterable list of every flagged actor in the level.

Column	What it shows
Type	OffGrid / BadRotation / Floating / Overlap
Actor	Actor name
Description	Specific values — e.g., “off grid by 7.3 UU”
Actions	Per-row Focus / Fix actions

Single-click selects the actor in the viewport. Double-click selects and flies the camera to it.

6. ISM Conversion Estimates

Per-mesh draw-call accounting:

Column	What it shows
Mesh	Asset name
Actors	How many separate actors exist
Current DC	Draw calls today
ISM DC	Draw calls if converted to Instanced Static Mesh
Savings	Difference (the win)

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Workflow

Step 1 — Open your level

The tool operates on the active editor world. Load the level you want to audit before scanning.

Step 2 — Configure grid & snap

Set Grid Size to match your kit. Most kits use 100 or 200. Rotation Snap at 90° is right for square kits.

Step 3 — Scan the level

Click Scan Level. The Piece Library populates with every unique static mesh actor and how many times each is placed.

Step 4 — Validate placement

Click Validate Placement. The Issues list populates. Use the search box to narrow by mesh name or issue type.

Step 5 — Fix in batch (or review one by one)

Two paths:

• Fast path: click Fix All Off-Grid and Fix All Rotations. Both are single transactions; Ctrl+Z reverses if anything looks wrong.
• Careful path: double-click an issue to fly the camera there, decide per-actor whether to fix.

Step 6 — Estimate ISM savings

Click Estimate ISM. The third list populates with current vs. ISM draw calls. A high Savings column on a frequently-placed mesh is your highest-leverage optimization target.

Step 7 — Export the manifest (optional)

Click Export Manifest to save the kit catalog as JSON — useful for team docs, asset tracking, or feeding a custom build script.

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Settings reference

Field	Range	Default
Grid Size (UU)	1 – 10000	100
Snap Tolerance (UU)	0.1 – 50	5
Rotation Snap (deg)	1 – 180	90

Settings are persisted to [Project]/Saved/EQLabs/Settings/ModularBuildingTool.json.

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Output

• In-panel results — Piece Library, Issues, ISM Estimates (all cleared on each new scan)
• Level edits — Fix All Off-Grid and Fix All Rotations mutate actor transforms in-place. Mark dirty until Save.
• Undo — every fix is wrapped in a ScopedTransaction. Ctrl+Z walks back. Batch fixes are a single undo step.
• Clipboard — Copy Results writes the full audit as plain text
• JSON file — Export Manifest writes a kit manifest to disk (location depends on the platform’s file dialog default)

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Tips & gotchas

• Run Scan before Validate — the Issues check needs the Piece Library populated first.
• Snap Tolerance is a budget, not a hard limit — 5 UU is fine for most kits; tighten to 1 UU for archviz precision, loosen to 15+ UU for organic placements.
• Floating and Overlap issues need manual fixes — auto-fix handles only off-grid translation and unsnapped rotation. Floating actors need a drop-to-surface, overlap needs human judgment.
• ISM conversion is an estimate — it tells you the opportunity, not the recommendation. A 200-actor mesh with 200 draw calls today and ~1 draw call as ISM is a real win. A 5-actor mesh barely moves the needle.
• Single-click on a Piece Library row pings the mesh asset; double-click opens the Static Mesh editor. On Issues rows, single-click selects the actor in the viewport; double-click flies the camera to it.

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Related tools

• World-Scale & Traversal Checker — gameplay-side validation: can the character actually walk this layout?
• Mesh Intelligence Dashboard — broader mesh analysis (stats, batching, pivots) outside the kit-placement context
• Level Analysis Suite (Design module) — actor inventory, map size, room metrics

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