General Question Performance Hits, Blocks and meshes

[paddy2]

I am putting my own base together and was wondering on how more detailed textures for blocks and hangers impact on performance.

Is it better to have one 512 by 512 texture or to have a 128 x128 scaled 4 times on a block ?
If a given block is to be 100 metres long in real life does it need a 256x256 texture or can I go up to 1024 by 1024?

I could just make 20 blocks with 5 different textures but there must be a more scientific way!

Any comments or ideas most welcome

 

[asbjos]

For blocks and buildings on bases, there is (in most cases) no need for super-high resolution like 1024. I think 512 is a suitable maximum for random meshes placed around a spaceport. Also, some old computers have problems with textures above 256*256 textures.

 

[RisingFury]

Also, some old computers have problems with textures above 256*256 textures.

Those computer can't run Orbiter these days, seeing as how every texture is now 512 or larger.

 

[orb]

Also, some old computers have problems with textures above 256*256 textures.

I'm not sure how old computers are in consideration, but graphics cards as old as GeForce 2 MX having 32/64 MB VRAM can handle textures up to 2048x2048 px in dimensions.

Maximum texture dimensions supported by graphics cards:

• DirectX 7 capable graphics cards: 2048x2048 (capable of running Orbiter at all)
• DirectX 9 capable graphics cards: 4096x4096
• DirectX 10 capable graphics cards: 8192x8192 (in Windows Vista and newer, 4096x4096 otherwise)

For cards like 5 years old GeForce 8900 GTS, between using 256x256 and 2048x2048 textures, the performance hit is negligible.

Using many small textures displayed at the same time uses the same amount (if not more) of memory as using one larger texture, and with many polygons using different textures, you have much more vertices and faces, which can probably cause similar (if not higher) performance hit as using.a single much larger texture applied to a single polygon.

 

[paddy2]

Thanks for the input gents.

Thinking along the lines of 3 blocks to make a H shape building, then in turn 3 blocks to make 3 floors. The idea being the "Hotel" would have ground/entrance floor(s) in one texture, Middle level has the name sign and the top level none of the latter.

So 3 textures for the front and rear views on the legs of the "H", 3 for the side views and a common one for the middle cross section. (7 in total, spread over 9 actual blocks). Each of which would be a 512 by 512 dds/bmp file.

Used the orbiter performance monitor and with my rubbish graphics card still got 40 - 50 fps looking round a block with a 1024 texture applied and then looking towards a few standard blocks. Only really changed when I panned back to take in all of the airfield, i.e. 1km in the air