How Big is too Big for a Map?

[Streetboat]

you can go bigger than you might think. The maps in my current story are each about 20 MB in size, but that's mostly due to the insane detailing. They still run smoothly. The only map that has a drop in performance is one where I have a building interior that is highly detailed, as well as the exterior for that building. If you turn around and look back at the whole thing, FPS tends to drop by about 10.

You can get away with more than you might think, so go for it! Computers these days are more powerful than they were when HPL2 was released. It HAS been about 4 years, after all.

As an example of what you can and can't get away with, look at my story Bitterwood Peak. The entire thing, up until a week before release, was one map. You could go from outside to inside and down to the cellar with no load screens. However, FPS was awful on other peoples' computers, and I was having issues with scripting it all, so I split it up into an inside, outside, and cellar area. That saved everyone a lot of performance.

So, a good way to look at it is to split your maps up by locale- Amnesia doesn't handle 'zones' well, such as going from outside to inside, due to the difference in detailing that comes with it. Just split your maps up based on how you want the player to progress from zone to zone.