Hello guys, here's a question I want to consult: If I replace the leader's dynamic lead head with a static image, will it reduce memory usage and time to pass turns? Thanks a lot !
Reduction of (GPU) Memory Usage: Yes, but that is only an issue for mods that are extremely overloaded with graphics.
Improvement of (CPU) Performance: No, the graphics have almost no impact on the performance related to turn times.
In other words:
Your mod may
load a bit faster when you start the game. And if your mod is heavily overloaded with graphics, it
may also crash less often if you remove some - especially
if you accidently have
bugged animations.
But considering the
turn times which is mostly related to CPU performance it should have
no impact as that time results about 95%+ from AI related logic. (The rest is some "doTurn" checks and calculations).
Personal opinion:
Do what you find most aesthetically pleasing and what is the least effort. If you have already have good 3D quality leaderheads I would keep them.
If you plan on implementing 300+ leaders, maybe it is worth going for 2D though, as it will be much less effort and probably also less risk to run into bugged animations.
Edit:
If you really want to optimize
ingame performance, you need to primarily
optimize the DLL logic.
Also having
too much logic in Python (which is much less performant than DLL) may also be an issue.
The limitation in this game is usually not the GPU. Unless you have a very untidy mod that really overdoes it with the amount and quality of graphics. But then you will most likely run into crashes.
The real limitation in this game is the CPU as it is an old 32Bit application and originally it was limited to one core only. (Implementing
multi-threading is possible though if you are a skilled programmer.)
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So yeah, I can confirm what
@Nightinggale already said.
(Just adding that broken animations are also a risk for crashes.)