So, I have asked myself some questions about how to do meshes in the way that they'll take the least computer power and storage space possible : 1. Is it better to have a simple object (less than 10 polys) repeated hundred of times in a level or to have a big master object that contains everything ? And would it be the case if instead of one simple object I have 50 of them with only a slight variation ( only a different texture in my case ) (requiring 50 different .dae) 2. If I have a really big object in size in the map (for example 5*5km), is it better to split it in multiple objects ? ( I'd love to know the answer in the case where the object is simple (10-20 polys) and in the case where the object is more complex ) 3. If the player is close enough to the object that it would be loaded but he can only see a fraction of the object, is the whole object loaded ? ( In other words, is it okay to make a big object with tons of polys if the player see only one part at a time ?) 4. To give me an idea of where I could go in complexity, how many polys can be loaded by the engine before a computer that can run Beam well would start to struggle ? 5. In a circle, any advice on the ration number of segments/ size of the circle required to make it look good ? 6. I read on the wiki that making a collision mesh is strongly recommended, but I've read elsewhere that it's not worth it if the object is simple enough. Could I have some clarifications on this ? ( after reading all these questions you might think I'm overthinking it. And yes I am totally ) Also I understand that these are hard questions, but I would be more than happy to see even only one answered ! If you have any tip that is related to this topic, please feel free to share too . I want to create objects that are as perfect as possible !
I cant asnwer all of these, but 3) entire mesh is loaded at once. 5) depends on the size of the circle.
1. Graphically wise, single objects. So that you can manage LODS properly if you have. One single object won't help with LODS. 2. Shouldn't matter. Physically, if the object has a 'even' size of tris (no 'tiny' tris along 'huge' tris), it shouldn't cause any slowdown. If it does, better to split. 6. Collision Mesh is needed if you have a complex mesh. The ColMesh would be a simplified version of the model, and it will be only used for the collision. If the model is already simple (ie. a cube), simplifying that would be quite unneeded.
Thanks for your answers ! While I'm at it, I have 3 other questions : 7. If i just export a mesh without any LOD, will it load even if it's really far and/or out of sight of the player ? 8. In this picture, what are the "a130" and "a430" referring to ? EDIT : Okay apparently I couldn't read at this moment, the function of this parameters are written just above... 9. Is there a way to force a high level of detail for a texture ? For example in my mazes mod the wall textures are really blurry in the distance
You need anisotropic filtering enabled on the material. If your diffuse is on layer 0, then put this in the material: useAnisotropic[0] = "1"; Change the 0 to the layer your diffuse is on.