[FreeBass]

Hi. I'm new in town, & just a little bit lost.

Been lookin' fer a coupla hours & can't find a few simple answers regarding modelling for use in FS.

Specifically, "optimal" poly count for in-game models/ variants (i.e; LOD models), and preferred/ unwanted poly types (tris, quads, n-gons).

I would currently consider meself a novice(?) modeller, but to date all I've done has been on the hi-poly/ overly detailed end of the spectrum as opposed to optimized for game engines, so any facts, advice, or pointers y'all could offer would be greatly appreciated.

I'd love to become a contributing member to this community (new as I am), but unless yr in need of bad/ off colour humour &/or sargasm, is my modellin' skills yr gonna get.

TYVM & stuff 

[The E]

A good guide for polycount would be to look at the models in the mediavps, or some of the other released mods; In general though, fighter LOD0 should come in at under 6k polygons, Bigger ships can go up to 30 to 50k.

All models should be triangulated when importing them into the engine; if you don't do it yourself, the converter will do it automatically.

Regarding texture use, this guide is still very valid (even though using 2048^2 maps isn't the heinous crime it once was).

[headdie]

there is this but if memory serves its a few years old now

[Getter Robo G]

Can you link to any of your works?

I've always felt that lower is better and that game modeling is just as much as an art as high-poly "art" modeling.

(Less can be more), use what you need to get the form down and then use a high texture to add in details.

Keep in mind I am not a modeler myself, but I was always amazed on occasion when someone would make a model with 300k polys and then someone else do close to the same thing with 3k and a really good texture job.

Coxxon's BSG models is a good example of what I mean.

[MatthTheGeek]

(even though using 2048^2 maps isn't the heinous crime it once was).

Using a 4096² map is however still a crime punishable by heavy stabbing.

[FreeBass]

Sure, here's a couple.

(The car is gonna be a WIP fer a LONG time....is my own car & I wanna get it perfect-ish)

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs199.snc4/38279_413863961506_671696506_5153968_4624358_n.jpg

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs772.snc4/67280_441293111506_671696506_5800579_5036841_n.jpg

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs797.snc4/67713_441293046506_671696506_5800577_777096_n.jpg

[headdie]

**** that dropship is gorgeous

[Rodo]

wow, that's a heavy polycount dropship.

EDIT:

about the subject, there are some entries in the FS wiki about this and some threads on the MVP's board, but those are old and do not reflect the capabilities of modern equipment.
I made a ship with a maximum of 30K polies in mind just because of reading one of those threads and two months later WiH was released featuring the solaris destroyer with over 50K IIRC.
I would recommend having this in mind though since it seems to be the standard:

6k max for fighters/bombers
20k max for cruisers/corvette classes
50k max? for destroyers.
maybe a little more for superdestroyers and juggs... or anything bigger.

[starlord]

would be perfect for G police!

[FreeBass]

**** that dropship is gorgeous

I thought so too...thas why I tried my hand @ makin' one 

wow, that's a heavy polycount dropship.

EDIT:

about the subject, there are some entries in the FS wiki about this and some threads on the MVP's board, but those are old and do not reflect the capabilities of modern equipment.
I made a ship with a maximum of 30K polies in mind just because of reading one of those threads and two months later WiH was released featuring the solaris destroyer with over 50K IIRC.
I would recommend having this in mind though since it seems to be the standard:

6k max for fighters/bombers
20k max for cruisers/corvette classes
50k max? for destroyers.
maybe a little more for superdestroyers and juggs... or anything bigger.

Is only 'bout 172K....fairly low fer me    The body on the car alone is pushin' 148K

Thanks fer the ship guidelines....gives me a target to blow the hell outta 

[Nuke]

also note you could bake some of that detail in with normal maps, so being able to do hi-poly work is not necessarily a bad thing.

(even though using 2048^2 maps isn't the heinous crime it once was).

Using a 4096² map is however still a crime punishable by heavy stabbing.

suck on those ragnarok textures!
besides my video card supports up to 8192^2 textures, so its not so bad for me
dont worry, next version will have lameified textures.

[Vengence]

I don't think I can really vouch my Blizzard model on anyone else's computers. I made the fighter specifically to cater to high end performance, which results in it having an insane 13,000 polygon count... for a fighter. However I gave it a very aggressive LOD system and efficient textures with minimal impact on performance on my end. I deployed six squadrons of these fighters in a test mission and I got 0 lag. However I DO have a Geforce 250GTS and a 3.0ghz dual core with 3gb of RAM...

In any case, I think as long as you keep it 'efficient', polycounts shouldn't impact that much.

[Kobrar44]

Does dual core make any difference? I may be wrong again, but the last I checked FS was using only one core. Has it changed?

[Dragon]

would be perfect for G police!

Isn't that a Valkyrie from Warhammer 40K?

[Nuke]

Does dual core make any difference? I may be wrong again, but the last I checked FS was using only one core. Has it changed?

not in this engine.

[Dragon]

It may be possible to speed it up a bit on a dual-core processor by using an external application which would assign it to a different core than the system operates on.
I don't have dual core so I don't really know, but I've heard about this solution somewhere.

[Vengence]

If anything it'd hopefully allow misc background ops to run smoothly even with the game playing. Least I hope that is true.

[Nuke]

you must consider that with 30 (the number is somewhat arbitrary, depending on your system) some processes running simultaneously in the background are being spread amongst multiple cores. now on a single core, all those processes are being time sliced in. the os gives more time to a program that has focus, and gives the stuff in the background a small fraction of the time. on multiple cores the os spreads out these processes amongst all cores. if the process in focus is using up lots of cpu time, the os will shift processes to other cores. so if you have your control profiler your trackir drivers and media player all going, the os should run these on other cores.

[FreeBass]

Isn't that a Valkyrie from Warhammer 40K?

'Tis so