Hello, I am currently working on a game and I am getting the main menu created. I’m wondering if I should implement an option to put it to “Voxel” because I have heard Shadowmap can be pretty laggy on low-end computers. Would this be a needed option? I’m trying to make my game accessible to all platforms at a smooth frame rate.
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Also please excuse me if this is the wrong category.
If you don’t want lag, use Voxel or compatibility. Plus, future isn’t out yet for the public.
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Oh wow, well my bad then. I’ll change the title to shadowmap.
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I think roblox automatically changes lighting depending on device, this means if device or something in it isn’t supported for certain graphic mode then roblox will automatically changes lighting to the lighting which is supported by player’s device.
Also some people say that roblox automatically turns off shadows on low graphic level but I don’t think that’s right. There is difference in performance between shadow map and voxel.
Ok, I will make it so that the player can change the lighting tech through a settings option.
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Unfortunately lighting tech isn’t scriptable iirc. If it was, a ton of games would have that option already.
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Well, that’s unfortunate. I’ll find another way to reduce lag.
No there isn’t. It isn’t scriptable for a reason, because of how intense having to re render the whole game in a different lighting technology would be. That’s why you can only change it in Studio.
What is scriptable though, is GlobalShadows in lighting. That’s how games have options to turn off shadows.
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Now I understand, thank you but I think turning off the shadows is already a big thing.
It helps, but it’s not that major, even though it seems it would be. Still good to have though
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Do what I’m intending to do for my sandbox tycoon - add a setting for a ‘low detail mode’ which takes you to an alternate place with lower quality assets and Voxel/Compatibility lighting.
ShadowMap can really lag your PC if it is not beefy. The computer has to calculate where every shadow should go and it’s angle. Combine that with a day/night system, and oh, you got something heavy.
Take a look at the ShadowMap possibilities on these photos directly from my game. There was no editing done to these photos. They were taken in Studio on Max Graphics:
Wow, and I was planning to use Future for my game when it released, if shadow map is this bad then I can’t imagine what future would look like on a low-end computer.
(I have an intel-core i7 and a GTX 1060 and it runs smoothly, so I guess I need to ramp the graphics down).
I included a setting to turn off Shadows, Water Reflectance, Water Transparency, and to replace Neons and Glass parts in the workspace with regular plastic parts.
Im on an intel i7 @ 1.60 GHz.
I get around 25-30 frames on the 7th graphics quality.
Tbh, I think you are going to be good. Roblox automatically removes shadows if the player is under a certain graphics level.
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Roblox will continue to optimize lighting.
Most players have devices that can handle future and shadowmap, so give them the option to turn off shadows, but don’t turn it off automatically. It’s a crossroad between performance and immersion, but you can get away with both if you give the player more freedom.