Repeating terrain question

#1 Just like repeating textures I'm sure there is only one instance of it in memory. However, when rendering there seems to be a buffer(similar to a video card's framebuffer) where it builds up all the data and then sends it off when it is complete to the video card rather than piece by piece as it generates each piece(similar to a video card's framebuffer being sent off to the monitor.)

I remember with Tribes1 you could not view all 9 repeating tiles simultaneously with 64mb or ram, although you could with 128mb. With Tribes2(which seems to infinitely repeat) it crashes(I'm assuming because of lack of ram) when the visible range is something like 2-3 kilometers with 256mb when viewing many tiles from the air.

#2 Okay If i understood that right then thats good with my theory! Then it won't take any more memory to do what i'm trying to do with my game, which is a BIG PLUS! thank you.

#3 Matthew,

A good terrain engine should use up memory in proportion to the viewed detail. Thus if you set the detail low, the overall memory requirements should be lower than if you have high detail.

My guess is that V12 only stores each height map once, but builds the terrain mesh in-memory for the visible area, thus consuming memory proportional to the visible detail.

Not sure if this helps in refining your understanding, basically you don't gain memory back by using many small height maps v.s. one big height map - but you're not using up more memory either.

--Bryan

#4 well the reason it will have more memory free is because it will kill the "tiles" that aren't adjacent to the one your in now.