Need Tips & Tricks on 2000+ NPCs Optimization

[vantoanvh]

1. I would like to reduce bandwidth/memory of 2000 NPCs or more, since FPS is not a problem because I have tried 5000 NPCs stress test on my iphone 8 plus and still manage to get ~55 fps - 60 fps

2. Here is the video: (sorry for low quality video and it was recording on mobile due to I don’t have a good recording software on my laptop)
   

   
   The Bandwidth goes VROOOM VROOOOOMMM reaching up to 800 kb/s receive
   also this is the game: Game optimization - Roblox

3. I have tried these methods so far:

• Lightweight Network optimizations ( bit32, buffer, ect…) Yea, I used chatgpt for this since I don’t know anything about these “things” , and it turned out pretty well, insanely well I meant.

• CFramed NPC ( I know this thing caused insane amount of bandwidth but I want a smoother NPC instead of just server throttling NPC’s physics)

• Skinned mesh ( 1 NPC 1 mesh include 3 bones ), Bones in this case use to move in X, Z, rotate in only horizontal angle for the character.

Forums I tried:

How we reduced bandwidth usage by 60x in Astro Force (Roblox RTS)

[image] Summary Hello! This is a summary of some of the bandwidth optimizations we made in Astro Force, our Roblox Accelerator project (link here)! Astro Force is a real-time strategy (RTS) game @loravocado and I are working on, and the goal is to have a system efficient enough to handle hundreds of independent units. While a lot of these bandwidth optimizations are very specific to our game, I thought it’d still be cool to share what we did! This is also my first time doing bandwidth optim…

IF you guys have any good tips and tricks for me to optimization even further, I would very glad :DD

[DurinzTheThird_2 (Duri)]

How are you currently handling the server code/client code?

Also props, for 2000 npcs I can handle/maintain 200~ average FPS, but I do see what you mean by the Recieving.

[vantoanvh]

server handling every movement of the characters and send the client the cframes, the client create fake characters ( using the server cframe to handle the fake one )

[DurinzTheThird_2 (Duri)]

I see, the receiving issue is probably the fact the amount of cframes being sent to the client with remotes i assume.

I imagine what you could do is limit the amount of cframes being sent through depending on distance of the zombie from the client (Maybe better to raycast the zombie to the player and see if the player is capable of actually “seeing” it?)

I think also as an addition to that, entrust some of the zombies cframe movement to the client so its smoother and takes load off the networking?

[nowodev (Nowoshire)]

Do you really need 2000 NPCs visible all at once?
If you have them spread around a large map, try using instance streaming.

[DurinzTheThird_2 (Duri)]

FPS/Optimization isn’t an issue, its a networking issue.

[nowodev (Nowoshire)]

Yes, streaming helps with that.

[vantoanvh]

That is an actual good trick, let me try ur method if it is works

[DurinzTheThird_2 (Duri)]

no it might just create more issues since the server will likely send data for things that dont exist on the client and create errors.

It doesn’t hurt to try I guess though.

[nowodev (Nowoshire)]

Please read the Instance Streaming docs.

[DurinzTheThird_2 (Duri)]

I have, doesn’t change what I say about it, I’ve had issues where attempting to access a model unrendered due to streaming enabled caused my systems to error.

[nowodev (Nowoshire)]

• Because clients will not typically have the entire Workspace available locally, use the appropriate tool/API to ensure that instances exist before attempting to access them in a LocalScript. For example, utilize per‑model streaming controls, detect instance streaming, or use WaitForChild() on objects that may not exist.

[DurinzTheThird_2 (Duri)]

I am aware, I already said I have.

[nowodev (Nowoshire)]

Then you shouldn’t be running into errors if you’ve built your systems properly.

[DurinzTheThird_2 (Duri)]

I am not, not anymore, because of the small snippet you sent me! Thank you very much! Absolute LIFESAVER.

[luauwiz (breakon)]

Instead of supplying the client with an entire raw cframe per npc, you can try bulking all outgoing cframes per frame into a single buffer and just fire that instead.

[vantoanvh]

I already did this method, by using 3 byte per Cframe. But thanks for the tips!

[ardrous]

TD game entity system, help on optimization

I haven’t looked through your code super closely, as this article seems quite lengthy. So forgive any ignorance I might have in making this post, I see this as more of an educational post for anyone who might be curious about this topic. Bones, Skinned Meshes One thing that will help a lot, is to reduce the number of parts on your character models. If you use Bones you can have an entire, animated “R6” rig in a single part. Additionally, you can have a “control bone” which can be used to contr…

[happya_x (Happya)]

maybe send just the positions of the characters and then you can compute their direction on the client as angled from their last position to the current position with

local ROTATE = CFrame.Angles(math.rad(180), math.rad(180), math.rad(180)) -- constant

CFrame.lookAt(currentPosition, lastPosition) * ROTATE

[Madonox]

Instead of simulating the NPCs on the server in real time, try sending the simulation instructions to the clients. Meaning, if the server wants an NPC to move somewhere, it’ll calculate the path and then send the path to all clients, and have each client simulate the NPC’s movement instead. This would help reduce bandwidth a lot, as the server only needs to communicate with clients when the NPC’s path changes.