How many static meshes is too much?

[Bill_Brooks]

Been working on a War map and it has been growing in number of meshes right now with the terrain and most of the rock meshes done and just the start of one of the bases for the power core. Well the number of meshes is getting maybe too high. So what is too many and how do you know? Is there anyway to block engine visibility to help speed up the frame rates while playing? Here are a couple pics to help show what I mean.

[shot]http://www.wemakemaps.com/images/unreal3/yingyang_wire1.jpg[/shot]

[shot]http://www.wemakemaps.com/images/unreal3/yingyang_light1.jpg[/shot]

Just in case you noticed the terrain texture is just to help with placement it will get deleted.

[Dakatsu]

If I remember, assuming they are static meshes, and not KActors or anything, as long as it is the same object you could pretty well place it 1,000,000 times and not get any more lag.

However, I know it is different if they are different models.

[Oblivionbringa]

Its the number of objects which are in-view at any one time that matters, it is best to try to keep it below 1,000 draw calls. That doesnt even mean 1k static mesh objects cause submaterials count for extra draw calls, plus you got characters, weapons vehicles, etc

So basically I suggest to try and keep it around or below 800 static mesh actors in view at any time.

[ffejnosliw]

If I remember, assuming they are static meshes, and not KActors or anything, as long as it is the same object you could pretty well place it 1,000,000 times and not get any more lag.

However, I know it is different if they are different models.

The benefit of static meshes is that you can place many instances of the same mesh and the mesh only gets loaded into memory one time. Each instance of the mesh still has to be drawn by the graphics card. 1,000,000 meshes being drawn will certainly cause a serious performance hit.

[Denny]

But then most of the meshes are occluded/culled so they don't really render that much at the same time.

[Setheran]

It's best to use the stat fps command each time you test and then compare the FPS you get with Epic's maps. And keep occlusion in mind as Denny said - you can get away with a lot of meshes on indoor maps where most will be hidden round corners at any one time, but in open areas you have to be more careful.

[CaptainSnarf]

The map floodgate is almost entirely static meshes (3648 of them).

[DGUnreal]

See the Stock Map Stats on this thread for a comparison to what your map is doing versus the Epic maps.
Note that the engine can push probably between 1.5x to 2.0x what the top stock maps are doing on current top hardware. However, I would tend to stay within the area of the top three map stat values.

[haslo]

Another important thing to keep in mind is that with culling volumes (overlapping culling volumes apply the most restrictive setting), individual mesh culling, and terrain LOD settings, you can tweak visible static meshes and polys while maintaining a high poly count overall in your map.

[Doublezer0]

the UDN advises no more than 800 static meshes in a map.

It didnt say if this was in view or instances or much else.

[Bill_Brooks]

Thanks for info, very handy knowing what the Epic maps are.
I will have over 800 meshes in this map if I ever finish it.

What is a culling volumes and how do you use one?

Is there a command that I could enter into the console other than stat fps to give me more info?

[Zoo]

stat scenerendering
stat streaming
stat threading
stat particles
stat memory
Stat FPS
Stat Net
Stat Audio
Stat Engine
Stat Game
Stat none - removes stats from screen

The main one to use is stat engine which tells you the amount of static mesh triangles in view. You want to keep it under 800,000. WAR-Serenity tops out at about 900,000 and that map can be laggy.

[ambershee]

The only way to really know is to try it out. A single, 2 million poly mesh with a complex shader is obviously going to perform more adversely than 300 different 20 poly meshes with flat diffuse materials - there's no real 'set number limit'. It's all down to what meshes you use, how often you re-use then, how many polygons they have and how complex the materials they have applied are.

I have a map I'm working on which is bordering the 2000 mesh mark. It still performs very well - this is down to having used around 50 different meshes and avoiding needlessly complex materials.

[Vectorspace]

See the Stock Map Stats on this thread for a comparison to what your map is doing versus the Epic maps.
Note that the engine can push probably between 1.5x to 2.0x what the top stock maps are doing on current top hardware. However, I would tend to stay within the area of the top three map stat values.

The only official map with more objects than my first map is VCTF-Containment, and mine's not even finished yet!

Fortunately the rooms heavy on static meshes just have a large number of instances of the same mesh, so that should reduce the overhead a bit.

[CaptainSnarf]

Well, I think I might have found one reason why my map won't load on PS3 - Lightmaps = 37MB

How do I reduce the light map size without removing lights?