[SCRIPT] Some questions regarding modding

[brunoalysson]

How HPL Engine handles the optimization of the levels ?
It seems that they don't have a LOD system, just culling i guess ?
Should i be really careful with the polycount ?

[Spelos]

The number one optimization mistake you can make is rendering to much at the same time is simply rendering to much at the same time. While polycount does matter, you can get away with a fairly high-poly (even 4K textured) entity as long as it's not something as common as a wall.

While Amnesia does NOT have Level Of Details system, Frictional Games uses DDS textures for their models, which basically does some optimization. In case of using .tga format (as many moders including me do), the optimization might not be as strong, though it's one of the smallest optimizations.

Culling is the way to go to avoid the main source of issues, but Clever level design is the best solution.

• Creating L shaped corridors.
  
• Making sure player cannot see really far into the level from any point.
  

While those are the main sources of trouble, there are more optimization errors you can make:

• Using too many Particle Systems and/or Decals
  
• Using too many Spot-lights with shadows enabled
  
• Very fast-ticking timer loops.
  
• Some scripting errors or poorly written code, though that is quite rare
  

Now, to list all the optimizations you can make would take a book or two. So, basically, try to think about what you're doing and what it might cause and you most likely will avoid pitfalls early.

[Romulator]

This page might also help. Spelos has explained a fair bit of what's on there, but this one might help also:

https://wiki.frictionalgames.com/hpl2/am...erformance