Polys per unit.

[Hanny]

Given that i like a lot of units in game, and who does not?, at some point the game will lag, so what should the units poly count be kept under to stave of this as long as possible, 500-700 or lower?.

 

[seZereth]

Given that i like a lot of units in game, and who does not?, at some point the game will lag, so what should the units poly count be kept under to stave of this as long as possible, 500-700 or lower?.

well the poly count is the minor performance killer, given the fact, that you dont really see a lot of units at once on a screen (top most of stack, etc.), you will aim for a count less than 1000 polies. thats fine, mine normally consist of around 700 with a 256 texture.

more influence on performance, you will see from :
-how many textures of which size does it use (one 256 is still preferred above 2 128, because it is more important to open less files than to use smaller ones).
-how many objects does the nif include, a nif edited unit overall 700 polies, but with the head of one unit, the body of another and two seperate weapon and shield objects, all with seperate textures, will create alot more performance drawback than a single object unit (body head weapons all one object) with one texture and 1300 polys i think.
one object has the drawback, that you are restricted to using only one same texture and material for the whole unit, but thats really minor and increases performance anyway

so, i think before worrying about polycounts, make sure you have a clean unit, consisting of as few objects and seperate pieces as possible... then you can easily go higher with polys (aim for a maximum of 3000 polys for one "unit" ( warriors = 3x 1000, 2 horsemen= 2x1500 or one dragon=1X 3000).

hope that helps.

if you plan on a epic conflict scenario, with formations, regiments and hundreds of units on the screen (which would be awesome), you will have to create really really low poly units and make sure the camera doesnt come too close. (with a nice texture, even 300 to 400 poly units look acceptable in a not too close zoom).

 

[Hanny]

Thanks Sez, all usfull info.

As you surmise, im playing around with regiments(actually companys/Battns in my scheme) with a 12 -3 with heroes and a bodyguard as the lowest range of represenation, with a fairly uniform poly count, and unique units, Balrog Dragons etc at a larger count but single represenation, i should mention im also using differnet variants of the same model to beak up the regimented appearenceof that unit, so it could have 3 variants of shileds for instance in a 12 man company, from my .24 testing, 1250-1750 units in play was not unusual, a good point you mention is to fiddle the camera zoom, (but would that not conflict with music and sounds?, unless im carefull), given how may are on screen at any one time, the poly count seemed to me worth looking at as a source of lag. Im sure there are other causes as well, but hey ive got to start somewhere!.