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DIF LOD And Performance

by Scott Doerrfeld · in Torque Game Engine · 05/21/2007 (9:38 pm) · 2 replies

I recently made 3 LODs for my DIF building to see if it would result in better performance. Sure enough, when I drop the building in a mission file all by itself, I get better framerates when I am viewing the lowest detail model. HOWEVER, when I use the same building in a scene with several other buildings, I do not see this performance improvement. In fact, the same building with no LODs runs at 20fps better than the DIF with LODs!

Why would this be?
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Torque Owner Scott Doerrfeld
#1
05/31/2007 (8:26 am)
OK, well, just to throw something out there...perhaps in the more complex scene, the DIF with LODs is taking up more memory than the DIF without LODs in an already memory-starved scene?

Torque 3D Owner Caylo Gypsyblood
#2
05/31/2007 (11:04 am)
I have run alot of LOD tests. LOD should not be used ALL the time, only on mid to high poly objects. I have noticed with LOD and lots of objects in the scene the FPS improvements from LOD are negated by the LOD constantly switching (especially in case where an object have many LOD stage).

For my project, i found that having only 2 LOD on most everything was the most efficient, a FAR away object LOD and a NEAR LOD. Some objects that are extremely high in detail have 3 LOD, with the most detail LOD only showing when the player is within 75 units(as needed). Any object with less then 2000 poly, or that is smaller then the player, do not get an LOD. If its an small object it only show up when the player is near to it.

I also have a much different LOD system, (now after my testing of the Torque LOD system proved that it was not effective for my project). I changed the LOD to work by playercam distance-not pixle hight, (the artwork still exports the same). I also added it so all my objects have a built in MAX visible distance, at what point they remove them self from the scene (less anything that is animated or AI driven, this is where LOD fits in nicely).

{edit for the typos}