Hard Light Productions Forums

Modding, Mission Design, and Coding => FS2 Open Coding - The Source Code Project (SCP) => Topic started by: aldo_14 on April 05, 2004, 08:32:39 am

Title: Auto-Lod scaling?
Post by: aldo_14 on April 05, 2004, 08:32:39 am
Just wondering..... would it be possible to set the engine to auto-drop the ship LODs (assuming this is possible) when the frame rate drops below a certain level?  Or would it just be either a) a pain in the arse to implement or b) a pain in the arse to play with?

This is specifically Re high poly asteroids (or just dense fields).
Title: Auto-Lod scaling?
Post by: Fineus on April 05, 2004, 08:35:23 am
If you could have it drop the LOD on everything over a certain distance (where it dosent become a real eyesore) then that might be worth it, but otherwise I can see it being a real hassle/ugly to use if people get frame rates that fluctuate back and forth around the 20FPS mark (or whatever mark you set it to change the LOD at). This kind of thing should be discrete as possible (if possible). But it is a nice idea.
Title: Auto-Lod scaling?
Post by: aldo_14 on April 05, 2004, 08:54:56 am
Maybe something more subtle, like decreasing the LOd distances (and only when average fps over a period drops into single figures)... or even limited to specific types of objects (like the asteroids, where it's more likely the difference of detail will be hidden by the other asteroids in a dense field, or fighters - because they move faster and are harded to make details out on than capships).

I dunno.... I'm pretty sure this sort of thing is done  in a few other games, but not certain.
Title: Auto-Lod scaling?
Post by: StratComm on April 05, 2004, 09:34:00 am
I think of the only game that I've seen this sort of thing implamented in, Homeworld 2, and I then think about how bad it looks.  It would HAVE to be limited to asteroids; anything else will just look plain bad.
Title: Auto-Lod scaling?
Post by: Lightspeed on April 05, 2004, 10:08:24 am
FS2 will already choose the LOD based on distance, table entries and detail settings.
Title: Auto-Lod scaling?
Post by: aldo_14 on April 05, 2004, 10:16:07 am
Quote
Originally posted by Lightspeed
FS2 will already choose the LOD based on distance, table entries and detail settings.


Well, yes... I'm talking about modifying that 'choice' dynamically, to reflect framerate changes.  I.e. lowering the LOD distances if there is a low FPS or more intelligently, with regards to the occlusion / object density,  etc) - akin to setting the detail level up and down constanly to keep the game running smoothly.
Title: Auto-Lod scaling?
Post by: Lightspeed on April 05, 2004, 10:18:31 am
that looks crappy. Have a look at X² if you want to see it.
Title: Auto-Lod scaling?
Post by: aldo_14 on April 05, 2004, 10:24:08 am
Quote
Originally posted by Lightspeed
that looks crappy. Have a look at X² if you want to see it.


Well obviously there's going to be a drop in visual quality - that's the whole point.  what i'm wondering is how bad it'd be, and whether it's even worth the bother of implementing (cost vs benefit).  The plus side it, it'd make people put some effort into LODing stuff.
Title: Auto-Lod scaling?
Post by: KARMA on April 05, 2004, 10:50:43 am
maybe just automatically decrease/increase lod distances before any mission using as parameters the system's performance and the amount of objects/polys present at the same time in the incoming mission?
You could have two options:
autoscale will use this dynamic system
user defined will use the defined detail level and the default distances in the tables
Title: Auto-Lod scaling?
Post by: RandomTiger on April 05, 2004, 12:23:44 pm
I think our time is better spent solving the performance problems