Does removing units after death improve performance?

[winged iron]

I've been told that removing units after they die with UTIL_Remove would free them up from the memory and thus improve performance. I'm not sure how true this is, so I would appreciate if anyone could shed some light on the topic.

[solar monolith]

They are removed automatically.

You don't need to be removing them manually unless you gave them weird modifiers or something

[winged iron]

Thanks, that's what I suspected. Made little sense to remove them because they're already dead anyway

[solar monolith]

I mean, they die, play their death animation, then go below the ground, where they are removed completely

[winged iron]

Yeah. I'd assume it would only be an issue if a modifier the unit has isn't removed on death, but alas

[solar monolith]

They might not be removed if you give them SetUnitCanRespawn

as they're waiting to be resurrected essentially

[winged iron]

That's a good point, makes sense, will keep it in mind

[minor gorge]

npc_dota_thinker units a.k.a. thinkers are sometimes not removed automatically. That's why you can see Valve examples (siltbreaker, aghs lab etc.) use UTIL_Remove very often for thinkers. I use ForceKill for thinkers because it's safer. So the person that told you 'that removing units after they die with UTIL_Remove would free them ' probably thought of thinkers instead of normal units.

[autumn mantle]

Valve guides say that thinkers MUST be removed manually.

[craggy jay]

They not removed if have permanent modifiers for example

[winged iron]

I'm not sure I understand the concept of npc_dota_thinker? Do you have an example of where you use ForceKill on these thinkers that I can take a look at?

[solar monolith]

An easy example is using CreateModifierThinker. What it does is create a unit of type npc_dota_thinker and then assign it the chosen modifier.

If that modifier is permanent (e.g has no duration) then it will never be removed, along with the thinker it is assigned to.

[fickle wren]

Found 1 function for createmodifierthinker

🇸 CreateModifierThinker(caster: CDOTA_BaseNPC|nil, ability: CDOTABaseAbility|nil, modifierName: string, paramTable: table|nil, origin: Vector, teamNumber: DOTATeam_t, phantomBlocker: bool): CDOTA_BaseNPC
Create a modifier not associated with an NPC.

[solar monolith]

Seems like the description is a lie lol.

[winged iron]

Oh right, I've seen it before but I never use it, so I guess it's not something I have to worry about then?

I only use StartIntervalThink

[solar monolith]

It's useful for things that are placed on a location, e.g. Disruptor's Static Storm - you make a modifier that ticks and does the damage and has an aura that silences/mutes enemies inside, yada yada yada

The StartIntervalThink is not relevant to this discussion

[winged iron]

I just create units manually and kill them afterwards

I suppose that's inefficient but oh well

[solar monolith]

It's the same as doing this, really

The best thing to do is actually to find a solution that has nothing to do with a modifier

For instance you could just have a timer/context thinker deal damage in that area while the particle and sound are playing

This way you're not spawning units at all which is what Dota's engine is so terrible with

[winged iron]

Right, that makes sense

[solar monolith]

I remember Dota IMBA implemented Batrider's Firefly thing and that always caused immense lags whenever people used it in a game

It created a modifier thinker every 0.5 seconds IIRC which made up the trail of fire

And each of those were auras for debuffing units to take damage periodically

And of course there was a talent to extend the duration even more