Max Polycount in ArmA 2

[Takko 10]

Always bewn curios about that

[Murklor 10]

A good modeller make an excellent mesh with as low amount of polygons as possible, no need to worry about max polycount ;)

I've never modelled in Arma before, but a wild guess would be ~1500 for weapons (probably not including scope and such) and ~2500-4000 for vehicles. Its usually around there anyway.

The real question is what the happens when you go overboard, lol. In the Battlefield series, you can fill up with polygons until you run out of vertex memory.

[soul_assassin 1723]

It was mentioned by BIS that vehicles in arma aproach around 20000 polies.

[Murklor 10]

Wow are they really that high poly?

Well then it doesnt surprise me the engine run like arse :p

Guess I underestimated Arma...

[adumb 0]

32000 points or faces, whatever comes first.

[.kju 3240]

Best post a cite. Otherwise its just rumors.

[mikebart 1]

It was mentioned by BIS that vehicles in arma aproach around 20000 polies.

Wow, thats a lot of polys, are you sure you dont mean 20000 verts?

[max power 21]

A good modeller make an excellent mesh with as low amount of polygons as possible, no need to worry about max polycount ;)

I've never modelled in Arma before, but a wild guess would be ~1500 for weapons (probably not including scope and such) and ~2500-4000 for vehicles. Its usually around there anyway.

The real question is what the happens when you go overboard, lol. In the Battlefield series, you can fill up with polygons until you run out of vertex memory.

Weapon models in ArmA 2 have up to 8k polies, Characters up to 10k, and vehicles up to 20k. I assume that is to mean triangles. This information in available on the facts and figures pdf in the press kit section of the official website.

As for maximum number of polies for a single entity, I remember something being said about that or perhaps maximum size or something in a discussion regarding the aircraft carrier some months ago.

[MehMan 0]

I've never modelled in Arma before, but a wild guess would be ~1500 for weapons (probably not including scope and such) and ~2500-4000 for vehicles. Its usually around there anyway.

lol, this isn't 1998 anymore. A 1500 poly weapon will look ugly. Why go so low when you can add detail without ruining preformance?

In any case, 10k tris I think should be more than enough to model a huge machine gun with ease. 20k should be enough to model any vehicle with ease and sufficient detail. Ships are different though, but you can't really make huge ships in arma anyway, so, eh.

What matters most is proper LODing, with vehicles you can have a large variety of viewpoints the pilots need more detail in the cockpit while the passangers need detail in the cargo compartment, etc etc.

That's just the different view LODs, then there's the actual LODs, where the rule of thumb is that you cut down polies/tris by 50% for every LOD.

[mikebart 1]

Kind of OT but doesnt Oxygen2 currently limit you to 16000 verts? so will we be limited to that until an upgrade comes out?

Edited June 16, 2009 by mikebart

[.kju 3240]

Why go so low when you can add detail without ruining preformance?

* More units instead of detail.

* CPU/GPU used for AI/effects/scripts (features).

To name a few.

[abs 2]

32000 points or faces, whatever comes first.

I would take what he says as law. This is a wise man.

Abs

[soul_assassin 1723]

Why go so low when you can add detail without ruining preformance?

A good engineer is not the one who has nothing left to build but one that has nothing else to take away.

Kind of OT but doesnt Oxygen2 currently limit you to 16000 verts? so will we be limited to that until an upgrade comes out?

I think it was bulldozer actually crapping out on the polies, not O2. Now A2 as bulldozer it should be fine. Never the less new tools would be welcome.

[mikebart 1]

ah ok, i see.

I think the polycount also depends on what the model is, for something like a car where you have a high specular paint finish with possibly some chrome parts you need more polys to make those shaders render nicely.

Projecting you're normals from high poly models can allow you to cut out alot of polys, but can also add alot of extra time to you're project.

[gms 0]

What do you think 12000 triangles for the infantry weapon that's OK?

[max power 21]

Is every edge loop and bevel contributing to the model in a meaningful way?

[Murklor 10]

Is every edge loop and bevel contributing to the model in a meaningful way?

I would answer that with: never :p

Maybe I'm old-school, but I really like low polygon meshes. That's why they came up with normal maps. Plus I'm damaged from being handed modders meshes in BF... I remember cutting a simple building down from 2000 polygons to 400 and it looked exactly the same *shudders*

[scubaman3D 0]

What do you think 12000 triangles for the infantry weapon that's OK?

Yes, thats fine. This isn't OFP anymore :p

I have stated elsewhere that some of the models I made for ArmA1 were nearly 13k tris and I've never had a single person complain about it and its never been an issue for me.

However, a good rule of thumb/guideline is to stick around 10k tris. Some of the BIS weaps approach 9k tris, I believe.

[Synide 0]

I would take what he says as law. This is a wise man.

Abs

In theory, technically the data structures support significantly more than 32k poly's (or verts), especially if you start using proxies. And, you can get a working model in-game with many more than 32k... However, this does effect other factors in the game. In practice, there are reasonable set of 'rules-of-thumb' that one should try to adhere to when modelling various models for Real Virtuality engine. Use the BIS ArmA1 example models as a guide for this.

Always bewn curios about that

Your question has no 'real' definitive answer as it depends on a reasonably large amount of variable factors. Remember, the answer to your question is always.... 42.

[da12thMonkey 1943]

* More units instead of detail.

* CPU/GPU used for AI/effects/scripts (features).

To name a few.

If there are lots of objects on screen I'd be more concerned about the section count of the models and the texture resolution of those sections than their face count to be honest.

Section count appeared to have a more significant impact on ArmA's performance than face count, and unfortunately it's something that gets overlooked. Good LODs are important though; I've always been advised to try to half the face count in every resolution LOD.

As scubaman said, he's put weapons with fairly a high polycount (for a weapon) in ArmA without causing significant frame-rate issues for the end user because they're well optimized; with reasonable section counts and good LODs.

I would take what he says as law. This is a wise man.

Abs

QFT; Adam knows what he's talking about. Even if the engine can do more, I'd take his advise on what's a good target face/point count for models that represent the usual content of the game.

[gms 0]

Have not bevels. The model implemented by all the rules of low-poly. But there are 16-24 segments in cylinders of barrel&etc, and lot of holes in mesh, what don't want make with Alpha.

[thesun 14]

Weapon models in ArmA 2 have up to 8k polies, Characters up to 10k, and vehicles up to 20k. I assume that is to mean triangles.

This should be kept as a guideline for everyone since it matches in most cases the game's models.

[Placebo 28]

Spam posts removed, I'll assume they're spam rather than abusive comments aimed at another forum member which would have resulted in post restrictions for the three of you.

[raedor 8]

I'd suggest to stop spamming, it'll just bring you in some more points...

[mikebart 1]

Have not bevels. The model implemented by all the rules of low-poly. But there are 16-24 segments in cylinders of barrel&etc, and lot of holes in mesh, what don't want make with Alpha.

Its ok to have 16-24 segments, but to keep them as one "section" you'll need to have them share one texture. Each moving part needs to be its own section though.

You can check you're sections in the resource library in O2