How many parts is too much?

So today I decided to start building a huge map with a big terrain and it is also heavily dependent on a lot of parts. So i was wondering. How many parts is too much?

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It’s hard to say how much would be too much because it really depends on your game, generally I would keep everything that isn’t the focus detail medium-low details and things like maybe things players will interact put more details

if you’re making the terrain put of parts then I would probably make it from mesh instead since you can delete the bottom faces which will cut your tri count in half

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With a good scripter and lag-reduction techniques, you can get up to some pretty insane part counts. That said the density also matters to an extent. You don’t want too many parts in a small area. There’s no real simple answer, but if you’re reaching 20k or higher without script-based optimization work, it’s usually best to find a better solution or optimize significantly. You can find plenty of tutorials about optimization here on the dev forum.

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There isn’t a definitive answer to this. I’ve seen games with 260k block work perfectly fine on iPads, and some with 15k are unplayable.

If you add zero optimization, aim for about 40-50k to run on a computer. For tablets, about 15k is a better area.

If you add optimization through chunk loading or meshes, then I don’t have definitive numbers.

I want to point out that unions are NOT always better. Unions should only be used for certain props, like a book. Otherwise, it’s better to not use unions, as generally, they can lag the game even more. With meshes, be careful of triangle counts.

Sort of as a summary, there isn’t a definitive answer to this question. It really depends on what you are doing. With raw building, aim for fewer bricks. If you are adding in meshes and lag-reduction techniques, then that count can go up. If you are unsure, play your game how you want people to play it.

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Hey, can I ask what game/s have 260k+ parts? Im personally looking to explore ways on what I can do to reduce part count. Personally (And recently) ive been starting to utilize textures more as it helps reduce lag alot ( textures on buildings like windows for example )

There should be a balance. Games that have large amounts of parts, and 260, is just a number, generally cope with that amount of parts by limiting outside lag attributions like textures, terrain, and other sources that could be considered memory leaks. Reducing parts, while sometimes effective, can always be second to a quality chunk-loading system or simply streaming enabled. Replacing all of your parts with textures is reckless for one reason - textures aren’t always more optimized. If you are replacing a wall with multiple parts with one texture that gives you the same look - then it’s more optimized. If you’re putting a texture on every face of every brick in your game, you’re creating a memory leak.

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