Smooth Terrain vs. Part Terrain - Which is better?

[Rallient]

I’m aware that there are advantages to both. My game, Contagion, currently uses part terrain that was generated and edited via a plugin. However, we are going to be expanding to an open-world, massive multiplayer game that can hold 20+ people and we have to take into account lag, FPS, and all of that good stuff for stabilization.

Before I begin, I’m stuck in between which to use because there are many games that have done it very well with using both. My team is aiming to create a realistic post-apocalyptic game so it’s crucial that players don’t view the game as cartoony, which is why we want to go more towards smooth terrain.

Games such as Apocalypse Rising have done phenomenal jobs with part terrain and it makes the maps look good and realistic, without taking a huge hit on performance. Another notable game I’ve played called Alone, took the smooth terrain route and it’s extremely realistic, but performance even on my beefy PC takes a hit.

With these in mind, I’m in a bit of a dilemma between smooth and part terrain and I want to be able to deliver the best possible environmental design that I can.

[nanosph (xXKing_BaconXx)]

Try to use meshes terrain with pbr. Or smooth terrain.

[nooneisback]

Roblox Terrain or Part Terrain?

Depends on what the game is like. Due to the LOD system, players with low graphical settings might end up seeing objects through terrain. This makes it infuriating for genres that rely on sneaking or shooters as you either end up getting a built-in ESP or shooting at something that looks like a clear shot, but there’s a small hump of invisible terrain in the way. As for the performance, smooth terrain is very well optimized and the difference will be almost negligible. Loading times might be a …

Use non-collideable PBR meshes with invisible parts for physics if you want the highest level of realism. Roblox terrain is nice, but it isn’t suitable for shooters.