- Updates the material and terrain material assets to utilize AssetRef and drop the old macros like how Image and ShapeAssets have been updated.

- Updates the various classes using materials to comply to the change.
- Also standardizes some getter names to follow the general convention image and shape used to keep things more consistent across the board to minimize usage friction.
- Shifts handling of fallback asset lookups for the thus-far converted classes to have them be loaded during core initialization rather than being loaded as part of other asset loading as that sometimes lead to nesting execution/stability errors. Explicit call now ensures the fallbacks are loaded before any other asset tries to load, so there's no room for confounding or having no fallback to work with.

Engine/source/T3D/fx/groundCover.cpp

@@ -460,7 +460,6 @@ GroundCover::GroundCover()
 
    mRandomSeed = 1;
 
-   INIT_ASSET(Material);
    mMaterialInst = NULL;
 
    mMatParams = NULL;
@@ -510,8 +509,6 @@ GroundCover::GroundCover()
       mMinElevation[i] = -99999.0f;
       mMaxElevation[i] = 99999.0f;
 
-      mLayerAsset[i] = NULL;
-      mLayerFile[i] = StringTable->EmptyString();
 
       mInvertLayer[i] = NULL;
 
@@ -545,7 +542,9 @@ void GroundCover::initPersistFields()
    docsURL;
    addGroup( "GroundCover General" );
 
-      INITPERSISTFIELD_MATERIALASSET(Material, GroundCover, "Material used by all GroundCover segments.");
+      ADD_FIELD( "materialAsset", TypeMaterialAssetRef, Offset( mMaterialAssetRef, GroundCover ) )
+         .network( InitialUpdateMask )
+         .doc( "Material asset used by all GroundCover segments." );
 
       addFieldV( "radius", TypeRangedF32,          Offset( mRadius, GroundCover ), &CommonValidators::PositiveFloat,              "Outer generation radius from the current camera position." );
       addFieldV( "dissolveRadius", TypeRangedF32,          Offset( mFadeRadius, GroundCover ), &CommonValidators::PositiveFloat,          "This is less than or equal to radius and defines when fading of cover elements begins." );
@@ -570,10 +569,10 @@ void GroundCover::initPersistFields()
             .doc("The cover shape. [Optional]")
             .network(-1);
 
-         INITPERSISTFIELD_TERRAINMATERIALASSET_ARRAY(Layer, MAX_COVERTYPES, GroundCover, "Terrain material assetId to limit coverage to, or blank to not limit.");
-
-         //Legacy field
-         addProtectedField("layer", TypeTerrainMaterialAssetPtr, Offset(mLayerAsset, GroundCover), &_setLayerData, &defaultProtectedGetFn, MAX_COVERTYPES, "Terrain material assetId to limit coverage to, or blank to not limit.", AbstractClassRep::FIELD_HideInInspectors); 
+         ADD_FIELD( "layerAsset", TypeTerrainMaterialAssetRef, Offset( mLayerAssetRef, GroundCover ) )
+            .elements( MAX_COVERTYPES )
+            .network( InitialUpdateMask )
+            .doc( "Terrain material asset to limit coverage to, or blank to not limit." );
 
          addField( "invertLayer",   TypeBool,      Offset( mInvertLayer, GroundCover ), MAX_COVERTYPES,     "Indicates that the terrain material index given in 'layer' is an exclusion mask." );
 
@@ -722,7 +721,7 @@ U32 GroundCover::packUpdate( NetConnection *connection, U32 mask, BitStream *str
       // TODO: We could probably optimize a few of these
       // based on reasonable units at some point.
 
-      PACK_ASSET(connection, Material);
+      AssetDatabase.packDataAsset( stream, mMaterialAssetRef.getAssetId() );
 
       stream->write( mRadius );
       stream->write( mZOffset );
@@ -777,7 +776,8 @@ U32 GroundCover::packUpdate( NetConnection *connection, U32 mask, BitStream *str
          AssetDatabase.packUpdateAsset(connection, mask, stream, mShapeAssetRef[i].assetId);
       }
 
-      PACK_ASSET_ARRAY_REFACTOR(connection, Layer, MAX_COVERTYPES)
+      for ( U32 i = 0; i < MAX_COVERTYPES; i++ )
+         AssetDatabase.packUpdateAsset( connection, mask, stream, mLayerAssetRef[i].getAssetId() );
 
       stream->writeFlag( mDebugRenderCells );
       stream->writeFlag( mDebugNoBillboards );
@@ -794,7 +794,7 @@ void GroundCover::unpackUpdate( NetConnection *connection, BitStream *stream )
 
    if (stream->readFlag())
    {
-      UNPACK_ASSET(connection, Material);
+      mMaterialAssetRef = AssetDatabase.unpackDataAsset( stream );
 
       stream->read( &mRadius );
       stream->read( &mZOffset );
@@ -849,7 +849,8 @@ void GroundCover::unpackUpdate( NetConnection *connection, BitStream *stream )
          mShapeAssetRef[i] = AssetDatabase.unpackUpdateAsset(connection, stream);
       }
 
-      UNPACK_ASSET_ARRAY_REFACTOR(connection, Layer, MAX_COVERTYPES)
+      for ( U32 i = 0; i < MAX_COVERTYPES; i++ )
+         mLayerAssetRef[i] = AssetDatabase.unpackUpdateAsset( connection, stream );
 
       mDebugRenderCells    = stream->readFlag();
       mDebugNoBillboards   = stream->readFlag();
@@ -873,8 +874,8 @@ void GroundCover::_initMaterial()
 {
    SAFE_DELETE(mMaterialInst);
 
-   if (mMaterialAsset.notNull() && mMaterialAsset->getStatus() == MaterialAsset::Ok)
-      mMaterialInst = mMaterial->createMatInstance();
+   if (mMaterialAssetRef.notNull() && mMaterialAssetRef.assetPtr->getStatus() == MaterialAsset::Ok)
+      mMaterialInst = mMaterialAssetRef.assetPtr->getMaterial()->createMatInstance();
    else
       mMaterialInst = MATMGR->createMatInstance("WarningMaterial");
    
@@ -1195,9 +1196,7 @@ GroundCoverCell* GroundCover::_generateCell( const Point2I& index,
       const Box3F typeShapeBounds = typeIsShape ? mShapeInstances[ type ]->getShape()->mBounds : Box3F();
       const F32 typeWindScale = mWindScale[type];
 
-      StringTableEntry typeLayer = StringTable->EmptyString();
-      if (mLayerAsset[type].notNull())
-         typeLayer = mLayerAsset[type]->getAssetId();
+      StringTableEntry typeLayer = mLayerAssetRef[type].getAssetId();
       const bool typeInvertLayer = mInvertLayer[type];
 
       // We can set this once here... all the placements for this are the same.

Engine/source/T3D/fx/groundCover.h

@@ -273,8 +273,7 @@ protected:
 
    BaseMatInstance* mMaterialInst;
 
-   DECLARE_MATERIALASSET(GroundCover, Material);
-   DECLARE_ASSET_NET_SETGET(GroundCover, Material, InitialUpdateMask);
+   AssetRef<MaterialAsset> mMaterialAssetRef;
 
    GroundCoverShaderConstData mShaderConstData;
 
@@ -319,7 +318,8 @@ protected:
 
    /// Terrain material assetId to limit coverage to, or
    /// left empty to cover entire terrain.
-   DECLARE_TERRAINMATERIALASSET_NET_ARRAY(GroundCover, Layer, MAX_COVERTYPES, -1)
+   AssetRef<TerrainMaterialAsset> mLayerAssetRef[MAX_COVERTYPES];
+   StringTableEntry getLayerAssetId( U32 index ) const { return mLayerAssetRef[index].getAssetId(); }
    
    /// Inverts the data layer test making the 
    /// layer an exclusion mask.