Welcome to the ~~sad~~ _amazing_ adventures of Little Unreal exploring the ~~perpetually broken~~ _wonderful_ AixCAVE.
**Table of Contents**
[[_TOC_]]
## Summary and general information
This page should server as a hub for collected information about Unreal on (our) Cave.
As most of you are probably not interested in every detail, the first section depicts how to actually **run** an application on the Cave.
## [Running a project on the CAVE](Unreal/Launching Projects on CAVE)
Contains information about how to actually run your projects on the CAVE, either via a deployed pipeline or via a locally cloned and started project. The two main options are:
-[Aixcave-weblauncher:](http://127.0.0.1:14132/) You can access most launch-related functionality by using the aixcave weblauncher from a web browser [http://127.0.0.1:14132/](http://127.0.0.1:14132/). As of now, it is only accessible from ngm01.
-[Switchboard:](Unreal/Launching-Projects-on-CAVE#starting-switchboard-and-switchboard-listener) An Unreal frontend allowing you to build and start your projects and nDisplay nodes/settings.
Head over to [Running a project on the CAVE](Unreal/Launching Projects on CAVE) for more information on the various launching options.
## [Unreal on Linux](Unreal/Unreal-on-Linux)
Contains information about generating, building and starting Unreal on Linux Systems
Unfortunately, the Unreal Editor doesn't run out of the box on our cluster (yet). A few changes are required, which also need to be maintained and revisited occasionally.
More information about what is necessary to deploy Unreal natively on our Cluster and use it to start developing can be see on the respective [Unreal Cluster Setup](Unreal/Unreal Cluster Setup) page.
However, the recommended (and orders of magnitude faster) way of running Unreal Editor on the CAVE is by using [Apptainer](https://help.itc.rwth-aachen.de/en/service/rhr4fjjutttf/article/e6f146d0d9c04d35aeb98da8d261e38b/), an HPC focused containerization software that is installed on all RWTH Clusters. More info on how to use, set up and maintain Unreal for Apptainer can also be found in the [Unreal Cluster Setup](Unreal/Unreal Cluster Setup#apptainer) page.
nDisplay is the Unreal Plugin that handles the clustered rendering. It ships with the engine, and used to be hard to adjust to our setting here. However, in later versions this is not the case anymore, and no modifications are required for a rudimentary setup. However, further investigations need to be done regarding latency and syncing.
Further information can be found on the official documentation for [nDisplay](https://docs.unrealengine.com/5.1/en-US/ndisplay-overview-for-unreal-engine/) and [virtual production](https://docs.unrealengine.com/5.1/en-US/in-camera-vfx-quick-start-for-unreal-engine/).
### Developing with nDisplay
The RWTH VR Toolkit ships with a nDisplay Configuration of the AixCave which should be used to deploy applications on our Cave.
You should not have to modify the Configuration yourself, and the Toolkit includes an example map of how it can be used.
It's encapsulated in a single BP actor called AixCave which is based on the [nDisplay Root Actor](https://docs.unrealengine.com/5.1/en-US/ndisplay-root-actor-reference-for-unreal-engine/) class.
If you want to test your project without deploying to the Cave, you can use the [nDisplay Quick Launch Tool](https://docs.unrealengine.com/5.1/en-US/ndisplay-quick-launch-local-tool-in-unreal-engine/).
## [Tracking with LiveLink](Unreal/LiveLink-Tracking)
Contains information about LiveLink, how it is set up and used in our Toolkit and how it can be used to receive data from DTrack in the Cave.
