Large city map question

[Edgey]

Basically, I want to create a very large city where my game will be played out. But I worry for performance sake that it will be too big. So is there a way that I could create the whole city and then break it down into playable areas and level streaming volumes or something?

Or even make it so that the entire city is explorable like Assassin's Creed (but bigger than those cities).

I've used UEd for 6 years, but never anything this complex, so not really sure where to start.

Thanks in advance for any help =).

[McMonkeyBoy]

I think low poly modular assets would be the best thing for it. I've always swore by using low poly static meshes then going all out with textures for large areas. I've never done anything quite on the scale you're hoping to achieve but keeping the polycount low and making modular meshes is always a must in the industry when it comes to making a level effective. Foe example model a building once and make two or three different materials for it and add little statics like ledges and windows that can be easily snapped to a building or look crumbled in a pile on the floor.

Sorry if you'd of already thought of this it's just that I've had it programmed into me that whenever I start a project after the design phase I should make alot of modular assets and vary textures for them while they're also poly efficient.

[Edgey]

Yeah, that's a good idea actually and my city will be very similar throughout so lots of reusing of meshes. It's a futuristic city and I want it to look very sleek and uniform, so low-poly with nice textures should be easy to achieve.

I may have a look at level streaming as well, but in the middle of my city is going to be a tower that you eventually get to and you need to be able to see the whole city from the tower. So I'm not sure if level streaming would really work. It would be nice if I could get it to work though because it would be nice to separate up the kismet a bit.

Thank you very much for the help, I hadn't thought of modular buildings for some bizarre reason.