[A2597]

OK, this has been bugging me since the release of the source code...

Computers are literally hundreds of times more powerful then they were when this game was released...

so why are all the models still insanely low poly? I mean...I keep hearing this talk about poly limits in Freespace 2, and people modeling within the confinesof a couple thousand polys.

WHY?!?

If it's coded to not accept models over a certain limit, it would seem like you just raise that number and voila, you are set. (I know nothing about how FS2 was coded mind)

But...WHY can we not increase the poly limit...ohh...ten fold? The computers can handle it easily at this point. Hell, new GPUs can push sevral million polys with no problem...I just can't figure out why we can't do that with FS2...

[Ferret]

1) Have you even seen the high-poly models?
2) Anything more detailed than those woludn't be noticable in Freespace 2.
3) A lot of the users are still running pretty moderate machines.
4) Just adding more polys doesn't make something look good. It's wasteful.

[Einstine909]

and remember the engine wan't desined for crazy high poly ships either

[A2597]

the high poly models look limited to about 2000 polys, some as high as 4.

Now, I understand that simply adding polys doesn't make something good, I've been modeling for about 8 years now off and on. But when you compare even the high poly ships to games like EVE online or X3, I think you will agree that there is still a large gap between the two in terms of visual bliss.

example:


I see no reason that we can't model something of that detail in Freespace 2, but I've yet to see it done...just curious as to if there is a reason. Even if the engine isn't optimised for them, it seems that many people could just brute force their way to 80 FPS with sevral hundred thousand polys on screen...

[taylor]

I see no reason that we can't model something of that detail in Freespace 2...

Well, exactly how many polys is that particular model?
What level of detail is in that shot?
How many, and what size, textures is it mapped with?

[A2597]

I honestly don't know, but looking at it, I'm going to guess about 20,000 polys, with texture maps between 512x512 and 1024x1024.

[Shade]

The short answer to there not being any high poly models in Freespace is very simple really - Because you haven't installed them. Try this thread for starters: http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/topic,29228.0.html

The game engine can actually handle some quite insane polycounts. And if you have doubts after the above thread, just look at some of the videos by the BSG team showing Galactica in action, remembering that those are made with in-game footage running FS_open, then come back and say the engine doesn't support high-poly models 20.000 polys is no problem whatsoever for FSO.

[taylor]

I honestly don't know, but looking at it, I'm going to guess about 20,000 polys, with texture maps between 512x512 and 1024x1024.

Proper lighting and good texturing can give the appearance of far more polys than there actually are.  A low level LOD can just be a flat poly with a 2D texture rendered on it but it could look hi-poly.  That screenshot means absolutely nothing in comparison since we don't know anything about it.

FS2_Open can handle a lot of polys.  The reason why you don't see many ships with more than 4,000 polys is that you might have 200 of those ships on the screen at the time.  It's a game, so you have to make it look as good as possible, while still being playable.  You can make a 100,000 poly model and it would work perfectly fine in-game, if there was only one of them on the screen at the time, and if you didn't have to render weapon effects, missiles, fighers, large cruisers, ship debris, and explosions along with it.

[Ferret]

I honestly don't know, but looking at it, I'm going to guess about 20,000 polys, with texture maps between 512x512 and 1024x1024.

Proper lighting and good texturing can give the appearance of far more polys than there actually are.  A low level LOD can just be a flat poly with a 2D texture rendered on it but it could look hi-poly.  That screenshot means absolutely nothing in comparison since we don't know anything about it.

FS2_Open can handle a lot of polys.  The reason why you don't see many ships with more than 4,000 polys is that you might have 200 of those ships on the screen at the time.  It's a game, so you have to make it look as good as possible, while still being playable.  You can make a 100,000 poly model and it would work perfectly fine in-game, if there was only one of them on the screen at the time, and if you didn't have to render weapon effects, missiles, fighers, large cruisers, ship debris, and explosions along with it.

Plus Freespace has a lot of other layers to go on with, like event handling.

[ShivanSpS]

X3 may have some good graphics, but The explocions..... those are worse than ones in FS1 retail in software mode.

[Kazan]

not to mention X3 causes even many high end systems go slideshow

[Nuke]

if youre a modler why dont you join the fs upgrade project and crank out a few high poly models then

[WMCoolmon]

The simple answer is that most of the people who warn 'keep the polycount down' don't know what they're talking about. Efficient poly use is important, yes...but generally, it's the effects that cause the most reported slowdowns.

[A2597]

Sweet, that answers my question!

Awesome!

[Nuke]

The simple answer is that most of the people who warn 'keep the polycount down' don't know what they're talking about. Efficient poly use is important, yes...but generally, it's the effects that cause the most reported slowdowns.

its true, i dont even check the polycount till the models done. sometimes i end up with 2000 polies and sometimes i end up with 15000 polies. it really doesnt mater. as far as texture handeling and models is concerned freespace kicks ass. the effects system on the other hand, and we all know it, needs work.