#Map performance optimization

33 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

digital igloo
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Im new, and need some help clarifying stuff.
How to best optimize map and scenery, and how important is it?
My main questions:

  1. is item number or variety more heavy on performance
  2. i've read to fill in the spaces bellow free-blocked scenery with the 13-2-1 blocks, to improve shadow and light calculation and remove bottom walls. Is this true, and does the increased item count from all those blocks not a factor?
  3. Lightmap priority. I've read that setting items away from route to -3 and close to route to +3 is supposed to do something. What is it, and is the effort worth it?
  4. Custom items. I need a big finish ring. When creating a custom block, should i delete most stuff apart from the trigger area and front face of the ring, to reduce size? Should custom blocks generally be avoided as much as possible?
  5. Any other basic things to keep in mind when building, to make sure your maps has as little unnecessary performance drag as possible?

I'm finishing up scenery, and the map complexity/weight rating jumps up super fast, from 3000 to 20000. Which don't make no sense to me.

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just replacing the grass terace block with the version with bottom included, seems to reduce the item weight. So maybe the unnecessary bottom detail really is my main problem

flint estuary
# digital igloo Im new, and need some help clarifying stuff. How to best optimize map and scener...

object count as a whole, that includes both blocks and items will cost performance gradually bit by bit, just like empty map vs full map.
object variety will increase load times for most part but it's nothing to worry really in your case.

lightmap optimisation is the act of getting rid of surfaces that the player wouldn't see anyways, which means if you get rid of unnecessary walls that are left behind inside a structure, it will give more space for everything else on the lightmap where it matters.

lightmap priority is changing the scale each object will get its space on the lightmap allocated to, that means you won't necessarily fix issues with it, but you are able to put more lightmap resolution towards objects that are more visible, and at the same time take lightmap resolution from objects which are not visible close up.
It does indeed help the general visual quality of the lighting within the intended areas.

imo, use as many custom items as you want (of course within a limit, don't use hundreds of them) and have them as detailed as you need them, for most part you will be limited by the custom object embed size and not by performance.

5/ending.
Don't worry too much about the displaycost/copper count number, it's just a very rough approximation of some factors and it's inaccurate and not representative of the map's performance. A map with 50000coppers can have a better performance than a map with 10000coppers.

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All of those things are pretty advanced mapping topics to go about and the best advice to start out with would probably to stick to more basic techniques for starters and concern yourself more with route making

digital igloo
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kk, thanks for the info

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need to retro-fit bottom blocks on so m

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much stuff now

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but is fine

flint estuary
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yeah wait give me a second

digital igloo
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should probably do the lightmap priority thing. Is it easy to change after map is done, or is it something to do while building the route?

flint estuary
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Did you mean this with your second question?

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Because that's something that's, sure doable at a basic level if you forgot some pillars in some places... But for most part something basically nobody actively looks for

digital igloo
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yeah, basically. So i just need the outside walls? Should still leave the bottom block on grass hills and so on, to make the bottome flat, rather than detailed, i guess

flint estuary
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it depends what your goals visually are

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if you want floating platforms, with a nice bottom side, go for it

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Here we are talking about surfaces that you wouldn't see anyways

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I would never actively change a design for this purpose, only ever to improve on an existing/already decided design

digital igloo
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pressing ctrl+ z or y sometimes causes the editor to freeze for a bit, and then that item score jumps up by like 2000.

flint estuary
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and undo/redo everything manually by X-click deleting / placing things again

digital igloo
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are they known to cause issues?

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just found an item that has been multiplied thousands of times in the same space, cant select and delete them all, have to do it one by one

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come on, why is the editor so bugged, things were going so smoothly before this

flint estuary
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i can't confirm for TM2020 how bad it is, but from my years of experience in maniaplanet, it's a nightmare to even touch it, in MP can even expect a full game crash

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i wouldn't be surprised if TM2020 wasn't also having quite some trouble with it still

flint estuary
digital igloo
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maybe, no idea. Its possible a redo action was repeated thousands of times, since i doubt the game has some option to place thousands of items in one place

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so maybe the undo-redo option got bugged

flint estuary
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yeah

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what is super important is to do things deliberately

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when you press Ctrl-Z while it is still processing the last action for example