Baracken addon ver. 1.1 released !!!

[MP Studio 0]

Quote[/b] ]think it is better to make the objects in the mission

No! Nogova has 250000 Objects, try that even with a script  

"Das Tagebuch 2" has 3000 Objects additionally to the ones on the map. if they were on the island per WRP, the performance would have been better

[miles teg 1]

I agree 100% with Avon Lady.   I tried making a Blackhawk Down mission on the desert island once inserting a whole ton of buildings in the map editor.  It lagged horribly.  However similar maps like the MOG map that came out recently, have many more buildings and I have no problems with framerates at all on that map.  So yes there is a HUGE HUGE HUGE difference in CPU usage.  I have not tried any of the new maps that use the AGS buildings, so I can not say whether or not they lag any worse then maps with the buildings already within the map.  But I would guess that they don't as its loaded together as part of the map.  

Chris G.

aka-Miles Teg<GD>

[Postduifje 0]

Ages ago, Inquisitor made a mission map called Devils Island.

It had a ton of objects placed in the mission.sqm file. It lagged like crazy.

Here's Inquisitor's Devil's Island Page. The download is no longer available there.

Wow, that island looks nice though. so, they made a version with the objects permanent in the island? and that lagged significantly less? If so, someone knows where to get it?

-Post

[raedor 8]

ok ok... u (avon, mp,...) may be right!

[theavonlady 2]

ok ok... u (avon, mp,...) may be right!

I think this is a very important fact for addon and mission makers to be made aware of.

BTW, Inquisitor never made a real island version of Devil's Island. It was just in mission form. It lagged like ............................... the devil.

[redliner47 0]

very clever avon , these barracks r great for CQB, just bust in with an MK and boom, no more enemy

[-CCCP-Stalker 0]

STOP IT ! The disscussion is about Barracks addon.

@All

Do not put all addons that are required be the island in one pbo 'cos people may already have this addon.

[theavonlady 2]

Stalker @ June 04 2003,21:30)]Do not put all addons that are required be the island in one pbo 'cos people may already have this addon.

Your point is not clear. What do you mean?

[raedor 8]

he wants that addon buildings and islands are not in one .pbo cos not everybody has a fast connection to the internet and he doesnt want to d/l an addon two times (one time for his use and one time in the island)

[theavonlady 2]

he wants that addon buildings and islands are not in one .pbo cos not everybody has a fast connection to the internet and he doesnt want to d/l an addon two times (one time for his use and one time in the island)

Oh, that's for sure. Yes, I agree. I mentioned something similar about the way the new Operation Mercury campaign's ZIP file includes that addons in the same file as the campaign PBO. Should be two separate files.

[The Frenchman 0]

Devil's Island Page. there.

Neat island. Looks like Guba's Carribiean hide out.

[ruff 102]

got a nice trick to it the devils island

its say dl now

and when u press it ti comes up with a page the says sorry

[Major Fubar 0]

[Guest]

Ye gods....you could fit one of the barracks in that mouth! (see how that was on-topic )

[philcommando 0]

Mission placement of addons vs Wrp inclusion:-

An apple to apple comparison:-

Subject:- 10 map squares of ofp building one type.

Placement:- one set within mission editor file on desert island

one set within wrp new island similar in every way to desert island.

Test1.

Chopper AH1 ride start. - at southern tip ( just sand area)

mission editor - no lag

'wrp'ed island - no lag

Test2.

Chopper AH1 ride over buildings

mission editor - est.30%lag

'wrp'ed island - est.30% lag.

lag calculation = time taken for chopper to move in straight line 10map squares over empty area.

Conclusion:- No difference in placement either styles.

However, mission editor offers greater flexibility to amount of addons u require for missions, where else islands are fixed.

Secondly, addon makers must reduce as much as possible of unused or unnecceary parts and use pics to represent the addon as much as possible. Eg:- a detailed lamp is good, but why modelled it after an actual pole, with details of the bulb, the bulb cover, the filament, every round curve of the pole?

The more unnecceary polys u put in, the heavier (KB) your addon will be, and when used in many areas = lag cos ram gotta read and process each and every face of the addon.

Thirdly, why ofp island does not lag much ( except NOE) is cause the addons are space out. Noticed BIS did not create any cities?

Reccomendations:- Space out the buildings, have enough for a mission within an area. That way, when u travel from one point to another, u wont feel much lag and addon makers must decide whether they want photography picture taking polygon perfect addons or game usable addons.

BTW, to keep in topic, nice addons

[blackdog~ 0]

10 buildings isn't going to lag you very much.

[theavonlady 2]

10 buildings isn't going to lag you very much.

Yep. Of course you can add objects in a mission. Plenty do. But when you get past a certain point, watch out.

Try 200 objects and measure the difference.

Recently, Winters came out with an I44 mission, "We Stand Alone, Together". He placed a ton of tank blocks and barbed wire barricades on a town's perimeter. It was measurably laggy even on 2GHZ+ systems. He reduced the amount of objects and the lag dropped considerably.

Others here, such as Miles Teg, also speak from experience. More serious testing is needed. Furthermore, maybe some objects cause more lag than others. Who knows!

[Eviscerator 0]

Furthermore, maybe some objects cause more lag than others. Who knows!

They absolutely do, BIS buildings average about 900 faces per house, down to about 200-400 for the ones that arent enterable, and as high as 3900-4000 faces for things like the factory/office, now when you add this up you'll see some of the ofp towns/cities have huge poly counts, lipany must be somewhere near 80,000-100,000 polygons, however, with much more simple buildings, there is a great deal less lag, for example:

http://www.ballistic-studios.com/images/Eviscerator/houses.jpg

Here we have 1024 16 face buildings, thats 16,384 faces if anyone doesnt have a calculator, about the same as 3 1/2 MH-47's (or 20 or so BIS houses), i was suffering absolutely no lag while flying around, i was shooting the buildings, blowing them up and it ran fine, size also doesnt matter (contrary to popular belief), you can have 3-4 storey buildings for the same amount of faces and still have them looking good, well, i suppose you'll see for yourselves soon.

[ag_smith 0]

Returning to baracks topic:

models are outstanding, I love them.

Only one more thing I'd like to see (hear...) are the sound effects for doors.

[MP Studio 0]

We decided against Door Sound because we didnt want that every door sounds the same and we didnt want to make 100 different sounds

[-CCCP-Stalker 0]

Maybe you would make a gatehouse, gate and single crates (not a whole bunch of 'em but one ot two)

[ag_smith 0]

@ MP Studio: Ok, that's reasonable explanation.

On the performance topic:

Total game performance is actually dependant on 2 factors. I think it goes like this:

Total Lag = Visualisation Lag + Objects Number Lag

Visualistion Lag is a function of number of faces currently rendered on-screen and nothing else. It must be the same for both WRP-placed objects and Mission Editor-placed objects. I estiamte it's 60-70% dependant on graphic card performance and around 30-40% on CPU.

The second factor is a result of total number of objects placed anywhere on the map (in-fact also AI units). From my experience I belive that it's significantly greater (I mean lag) for Mission Editor-placed objects.

The way raedor suggested - using scripts to build and remove objects a certain distance is not good. In OFP scripts are interpreted each time they are executed. This means there's a have workload and therefore huge performance loss when running very complex scripts (just like that one). It is probably better to have hundred thousands of static objects on map than a few thousands dynamicaly placed and removed.

That's what I think!

[BronzeEagle 2]

Some people I don't like, some people I do. I can't stand the first. Sheesh, it feels like I'm at war with some people. Anyone know what I mean?

[MP Studio 0]

No