LOD setting

[kiddan]

Players should be able to change a LOD (level of detail) setting in-game that would affect the following:

1. Making wedges and stuff look like normal blocks from far away (if this actually helps :P)
2. Making colors more basic from further away.
3. Making groups of blocks look like one chunk of blocks from far away (a 9x9x9 group of blocks where more than 50% is one type of block will make the whole group look like that block in one big chunk from far away)
4. Make lighting less advanced from further away.

So, yea. All these factors could be changed in the settings preferably, allowing players to have what they want .

 

[therimmer96]

I dont think LOD's would work in a game that is so dynamic, plus we already have occlusion culling so most of the ship isnt even rendered.

 

[kupu]

Players should be able to change a LOD (level of detail) setting in-game that would affect the following:

1. Making wedges and stuff look like normal blocks from far away (if this actually helps :p)
2. Making colors more basic from further away.
3. Making groups of blocks look like one chunk of blocks from far away (a 9x9x9 group of blocks where more than 50% is one type of block will make the whole group look like that block in one big chunk from far away)
4. Make lighting less advanced from further away.

1, If we were using LOD models wedge shapes actually use less tri's than a full cube.
2, We use mipmapping currently.
3,
4, The only complex lighting we have (shadows) has a relatively short cut off point already.

I had a chat about LOD stuff with Omni a while back, but i think it was pretty unclear if it had a serious benefit to warrant implementing it.

 

[kiddan]

I had a chat about LOD stuff with Omni a while back, but i think it was pretty unclear if it had a serious benefit to warrant implementing it.

hmm, yea I guess technology does get better all the time :p The one I'm most serious about is #3, being able to keep your sight high and see a whole planet but have higher fps than normal would really help people building big things on planets. Especially when they have to find something they made with a low rendering distance.

2, We use mipmapping currently.

Doesn't mipmapping take up more fps to run the calculations?

 

[kupu]

Doesn't mipmapping take up more fps to run the calculations?

Depending on the application type you can see performance gains. While mipmapping increases the amount of video memory used, (by a third usually) it can help with cache efficiency while creating a smoother image (seen from distances).

This is a pretty good summary of it's application.
http://infocenter.arm.com/help/index.jsp?topic=/com.arm.doc.dui0555a/CHDEIJID.html

btw; your proposal of making the "colours more basic" from afar, is pretty much mipmapping.