A minor request from a person with a relatively minor computer

[Aralonia]

I know that most gamers have amazing computers with good graphics cards, sufficient amounts of RAM, high-rotation hard drives, and impressively fast multi-core processors.

Not all gamers do, though. Like, uh, like me. And maybe a few other people here. I dunno.

This is a request from me and maybe a few other people:

Please create parts with lower poly counts.

I don't like it when my framerate drops to 3 per second every time I look towards Kerbin just because there are some bits floating around it in a highly elongated ballistic path (jettisoned stages).

Now, I'm not saying you should make exclusively crap blocks for me to look at - I'm saying that maybe a bit of optimisation could be done? Maybe something that would qualify as LOD1 or LOD2, maybe even LOD3 in any other game, as an optional replacement for Those With Worse Computers.

Thanks for reading.

[Darrknox]

I've actually noticed a lot of modelers have been spamming polys on their models without any thought into how game engines run. I'd say stick with the parameters of the originally vanilla poly counts until there's a better setting system for mods. I'd say no part needs to go beyond 1.5k polys, as most of the detail comes out in the textures for games like these.

[best4bond]

I recently made a model, Viewed it then sighed...

6000 polys...

Oh god, The UV map was complicated

[Aralonia]

beyond 1.5k polys

1.5k polys on parts could get really dicey, really quickly. I personally would prefer under 1k polys, if it were possible, and even then in dire circumstances.

[Sunday Punch]

The stock parts have higher poly counts than that though. The liquid engine is over 2000 polys for example.

[CaptainSlug]

And here I was limiting myself to a mere 500 polys.

I haven't made any 3D models for a game in quite some time.

For the most part this isn't a game where you're going to be looking at the parts closely enough to be able to tell what their poly-count is. You can add a great deal more depth through texturing than by simply adding more polys.

But hey, this community is very new and they'll eventually catch on to the fact that most people want to be able to attach several dozen parts together without crashing their framerate.

[Jack]

I would say the maximum any part (that will be used more then once, if it's a one-time only part it can be more.) should be is around 3500, considering that most space ship pieces are round and smooth.

[Darrknox]

I would say the maximum any part (that will be used more then once, if it's a one-time only part it can be more.) should be is around 3500, considering that most space ship pieces are round and smooth.

Considering the vanilla is around 1.3k why make it so much higher? 3500 should be the max (it really doesn't need to be higher) and people can make lower poly versions for release as well. Plus, if you want to make something round most program have a smooth feature which doesn't increase the polycount by much.

[Aralonia]

The stock parts have higher poly counts than that though. The liquid engine is over 2000 polys for example.

Wait really? o_O That's rather surprising. How many polys are on your NERVA engine? That's one of the main culprits of SCREW YOU MY GRAPHICS CARD.

[Jack]

What are your specs?

[Aralonia]

Core 2 Duo 2.13 GHz, 4GB RAM, ATI Mobility Radeon 4350 HD (good for 256MB VRAM and some shared). The stock parts run just fine, but SP's NERVA engines (in a similar configuration) cause framerate to say goodnight, Gracie.

[Sunday Punch]

Wait really? o_O That's rather surprising. How many polys are on your NERVA engine? That's one of the main culprits of SCREW YOU MY GRAPHICS CARD.

The liquid engine has 2059 polys (display mesh only), the NERVA has 2010. I've been keeping to the 2000 poly limit because I'm aware that a lot of people are having performance issues and I don't want to exacerbate them.

[heated]

I second this request. I'd like to build much larger ships and my computer can only handle about 80 parts before the lag becomes unbearable.

[esd]

My LE weighs in at 1,208polys, including the collider - surprisingly high. I think one of the biggest culprits is actually the stock settings - a standard 1m tube has 24 sides! So just to make a slightly curved (3-step) engine cone, you're already at 72 polys, and that's only one surface!

24sides for a cylinder seems a tad excessive.

[Darrknox]

My LE weighs in at 1,208polys, including the collider - surprisingly high. I think one of the biggest culprits is actually the stock settings - a standard 1m tube has 24 sides! So just to make a slightly curved (3-step) engine cone, you're already at 72 polys, and that's only one surface!

24sides for a cylinder seems a tad excessive.

Not when you're going for a round look and the engine does't support smoothing groups. Taking away too much density from an asset is just as bad as being wasteful with assets. It's all about finding the right balance. And even then, some people's computers can't handle it, but a vast majority can. It would be better to implement a rocket model LOD system that takes premade LODS, or creates them itself. The former is more likely though.

[esd]

And LOD system would be good, agreed - though I disagree that 24 edges are needed to make something look round in-game. Heck, given the amount of screen real-estate it actually uses, 12-18 is plenty, I think.

[elitewolverine]

Not when you're going for a round look and the engine does't support smoothing groups. Taking away too much density from an asset is just as bad as being wasteful with assets. It's all about finding the right balance. And even then, some people's computers can't handle it, but a vast majority can. It would be better to implement a rocket model LOD system that takes premade LODS, or creates them itself. The former is more likely though.

what do you mean smooth groups?

It supports me smoothing a paticular part of my mesh and the rest not when i model in blender and export it to dae...

example:

[Darrknox]

what do you mean smooth groups?

It supports me smoothing a paticular part of my mesh and the rest not when i model in blender and export it to dae...

example:

Yeah, that's what I meant. Glad to see it does, but as I said, you can smooth a model to oblivion.

[elitewolverine]

Yeah, that's what I meant. Glad to see it does, but as I said, you can smooth a model to oblivion.

well i dont know if it supports smooth groups from other modeling programs...

All i do in blender is select the faces i want to smooth and hit smooth...no complicated way of doing it (though there is a option to make it complicated with vertex grouping etc).

cheers,

[Dani-Sang]

well i dont know if it supports smooth groups from other modeling programs...

All i do in blender is select the faces i want to smooth and hit smooth...no complicated way of doing it (though there is a option to make it complicated with vertex grouping etc).

cheers,

But does it then create more polygons or just a simple tag so that we see its smooth? If so, please show me how to do that in blender. I have to import my models into there from C4D (my native modeling environment) and have no clue how blender works

[GeorgeTirebiter]

The liquid engine has 2059 polys (display mesh only), the NERVA has 2010. I've been keeping to the 2000 poly limit because I'm aware that a lot of people are having performance issues and I don't want to exacerbate them.

The problem isn't that the NERVA model has too many polys, but that it has too many separate meshes. The default engine has two (the engine and the collision mesh), but the NERVA model has 34! I was able to get a major performance boost without deleting any polys just by merging those meshes and re-exporting.

[CaptainSlug]

Smoothing groups in modeling programs like Milkshape allow you to specify which vertices and faces are associated with each other when being shaded. You will be a better looking shading on some parts of you separate different sides of it into other smoothing groups. Particularly if you make a hollow cylinder you would want the inside surface and outside surface on separate groups to prevent the shading from looking too severe on either surface. Obviously all your vertices will have to be welded.

Best example image I can find.

[Sunday Punch]

The problem isn't that the NERVA model has too many polys, but that it has too many separate meshes. The default engine has two (the engine and the collision mesh), but the NERVA model has 34! I was able to get a major performance boost without deleting any polys just by merging those meshes and re-exporting.

Yeah I fixed this up after I realised that's why the performance was so bad, it will be in the next version of my pack.

[Dani-Sang]

So smoothing does import into kerbal?

I always use smoothing within C4D ( I think any 3d application does ) - However I have to export it first to obj, and then to blender to make a .dae of it. I've tried to smooth within blender but with no succes

[NovaSilisko]

Yes it does import into KSP, but a lot of things don't seem to take advantage of it :-\