Mechanist's Lair

[aurreth]

Today I decided to take a look at the age old question, "Why is performance in the Mechanist's Lair so bad, even without mods?"

 

OMG. Have you ever looked at it in the CK? Zoomed way out? There is almost as much junk UNDER the floor that you'll never see as there is actual Lair. No wonder it breaks down even unmodded. That's why precombines and previs always fail.

[HeyYou]

But doesn't the engine NOT render stuff you can't see?? Or is the performance problem due to the engine choking on deciding just what you can't see?

[aurreth]

But doesn't the engine NOT render stuff you can't see?? Or is the performance problem due to the engine choking on deciding just what you can't see?

 

Pretty much every game claims to handle occlusion correctly, then they do things like one-sided walls to get around loading textures you would never be able to see. Objects and textures you can't see still get loaded, just in case you turn a corner and might be able to see them. So they make things one sided to reduce texture loading.

 

That doesn't help when there is a huge amount of stuff below the floors. You might never see them, but the textures and meshes are getting cached just in case you might, someday, with a crowbar and shovel, be able to see them. And when those hidden objects are included in precom/vis you just compound the problem. Especially when some of those objects are linked to visible objects for no reason I can figure out. I mean why is anything linked to a hard hat the player will likely ignore?

 

Someone want a mod project? Clean up all the underfloor stuff in the Lair and generate new precom/vis that actually works. I guarantee practically everyone would download it.

[HeyYou]

 

But doesn't the engine NOT render stuff you can't see?? Or is the performance problem due to the engine choking on deciding just what you can't see?

 

Pretty much every game claims to handle occlusion correctly, then they do things like one-sided walls to get around loading textures you would never be able to see. Objects and textures you can't see still get loaded, just in case you turn a corner and might be able to see them. So they make things one sided to reduce texture loading.

 

That doesn't help when there is a huge amount of stuff below the floors. You might never see them, but the textures and meshes are getting cached just in case you might, someday, with a crowbar and shovel, be able to see them. And when those hidden objects are included in precom/vis you just compound the problem. Especially when some of those objects are linked to visible objects for no reason I can figure out. I mean why is anything linked to a hard hat the player will likely ignore?

 

Someone want a mod project? Clean up all the underfloor stuff in the Lair and generate new precom/vis that actually works. I guarantee practically everyone would download it.

 

Hhhmmm.... That could be a fun project. The area is HUGE. :) I would also wonder if cleaning it up, and then posting the cleaned esp would annoy bethesda?

[aurreth]

Hhhmmm.... That could be a fun project. The area is HUGE. :smile: I would also wonder if cleaning it up, and then posting the cleaned esp would annoy bethesda?

 

Eh, if they cared they wouldn't have released it in this state. It's fairly obvious that some suit said, "I don't care if it isn't ready, send me what you've got."