NordKindchen 12 Posted April 16, 2013 The headline says it all - whats the terrain cell size for Arma3? And what can be considered the maximum cell size one should possibly choose? Greetings! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
m1lkm8n 410 Posted April 16, 2013 The headline says it all - whats the terrain cell size for Arma3? And what can be considered the maximum cell size one should possibly choose?Greetings! Well technically the terrain cell size can be anything you choose. However I think 8 or 10 is probable optimal. I think once you get over 10 it starts to look blocky. There was a thread earlier where the cell size was 60 and you could clearly see landscape looked like it was made of Legos :) I haven't gone lower then 8 but I know in arma 2 it seriously effected frame rates. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
NordKindchen 12 Posted April 16, 2013 Thanks for your answer! But 8 to 10 :butbut: wow^^ All the tutorials I read are talking about a terrain cell size of 5 at least^^ Even Bushlurker who I consider the most referenced author. I suggested something smaller for Arma 3 to be honest! Do you have any idea on how to find any related information in Arma 3s datas? I have got the feeling that the rvmat files contain this information in some way - but I am not sure. Greetings! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
m1lkm8n 410 Posted April 16, 2013 (edited) Well if bush said it then its good to go. He's knows more. I wouldn't go to small though cause it effects performance. I just know that arma 2 uses 10 meter grid cells.(course it's much more optimized now tho) plus if its just a small island its probably fine anyway. How small where you going to go? Edited April 16, 2013 by M1lkm8n Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sealife 22 Posted April 16, 2013 stratis is 4m cell size so far as i can tell fom doing some tests with logic and xyz data i thought it would be 5M myself but 4M seems to fit the Math better Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bushlurker 45 Posted April 16, 2013 It's interesting to watch the terrain sizes BI themselves choose to use... Back in the Arma 1 & Sahrani days 10m cell size was considered the rule - copied from Sahrani's 2048x2048 @ 10m size When Arma 2 came along and everyone had better computers ;) the main terrain, Chernarus arrived - that was 8m cell size I think, still on that 2048x2048 grid... More ground resolution, but at the cost of size... Same deal with Takistan - smaller again, but 7 meter cell size I think... By the time we got to "Proving Grounds" and PMC, I think they were using 4 meter, but, on a pretty small terrain... From what I can tell, Stratis IS 4 meter - you need a tight resolution like that to provide all those little ups and downs and ravines and ridges that makes playing on Stratis quite.... challenging.. BI have clearly decided we all have new computers... again, since this is the first terrain to use a small cell size, but start going larger in overall physical size... Dunno about you guys but I've had pretty good performance generally on Stratis, despite all the veg - so it looks like 4 meter IS a viable cell size for A3. Remember though, even though our "Arma 2 style" maps load into Arma 3 ok, if you look closely at the Stratis internals, something different is happening... I don't think it's an accident that there's no ground texture _mco's, and if you read any of the rvmats in the "Layers" folder you'll see an "_no" file being referenced for each segment tile. It looks like some kind of normals layer is being introduced, probably at the "import sat & mask" stage... This is new to me - I haven't seen anything like this on the VBS2 side of things either... Perhaps it's a more efficient way of handling Sat layers... one that allows larger terrains yet small cell sizes... I guess we'll need to wait for new Tools before we'll be able to experiment with that... In the meantime, using our current tech... it seems like recently, everyone's got new computers.... again ;) so the early A2-era 10 meter cell size recommendation is a little dated now... I usually recommend a starter size of 1024x1024 x 5 meter - it's a good all-round size that performs well, and allows you to crank up the sat layer res a little for a nice sharp look... More recently, I've tried 2048x2048 x 5 meter, for a nicely detailed 10km terrain, and even 2048x2048 x 4 meter cell - on this experimental terrain... They've all performed pretty well... I wouldn't go lower than about 4 meter though for general use... cell size IS a performance hog - if you overdo it... B 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
NordKindchen 12 Posted April 16, 2013 Thanks for the answers guys! I will go for the 4 m cell then. And Thromp - may I ask you how you could come to this number? I would like to try and confirm this! Oh and @M1lkm8n: I had no exact number in aim^^ But of course I would like and try to go as small as I can! Since Stratis is a good example it would be the island to copy from;) Thanks for your help guys! Ps: Oh and the 5m cell size I read about were all belonging to Arma 2 tutorials=) Maybe this is interesting to know for you M1lkm8n. Best regards! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
m1lkm8n 410 Posted April 16, 2013 Bush Have you tried a 4096 by 4 or 5 in a3. I'm curious now how it would perform. May have to spend the night doing that. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
luki 53 Posted April 17, 2013 (edited) Im surpriced how well arma runs now with low terrain grids. I use for example a 3m cell size on a 2048 grid size and it runs great. For bigger maps i got good results around 6m on 30km maps. And Thromp - may I ask you how you could come to this number? I would like to try and confirm this! 2048 grid x 4 cell = 8192 terrain It looks like some kind of normals layer is being introduced That is since TakeOn and a reason for lower surface count per segment, hope it will be not a vis4 only feature. Edited April 17, 2013 by Atsche Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Shelestov 270 Posted April 17, 2013 Hmm, i have created 1024x5m terrain and it crashes the game constantly with "Internal error: Rendering buffer to small" with high viewdistances, or with clutter on. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
m1lkm8n 410 Posted April 17, 2013 Hmm, i have created 1024x5m terrain and it crashes the game constantly with "Internal error: Rendering buffer to small" with high viewdistances, or with clutter on. whats your base texture layer? try increasing it. heres one of my 4096x5 meter cells and it works just fine http://i.imgur.com/WNb32eF.jpg Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Shelestov 270 Posted April 18, 2013 ok, so i'm trying to do that now. ---------- Post added at 10:12 ---------- Previous post was at 08:52 ---------- whats your base texture layer? try increasing it. heres one of my 4096x5 meter cells and it works just fine http://i.imgur.com/WNb32eF.jpg yay, it worked out. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
NordKindchen 12 Posted April 21, 2013 Has anyone tried any smaller cells by now? =) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ZeroG 23 Posted April 21, 2013 Am using 4096x5 now, running fine - but not "better" ? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
