Concerning unit size and performance...

[Lentonius]

a quick question, if you reduced the size of the RTW models' and their detail, and, the corresponding skeletons, would that mean you would be able to have much larger battles without as much lag?

If it reduces lag, how hard would it be to 'shrink' the models and skeletons?

Regards
Lentonius

[Ciaran]

You could test it, RTW has more than one model per man, I think they come in four levels of detail. So you could try using only the models for the lowest level of detail (*unitname*_low.cas is their naming convention, I believe.) Just make the game use these cas files by editing the models_battle file.
Here´s an example:

model_flexi			data/models_unit/unit_egyptian_peasant_high.cas, 15
model_flexi			data/models_unit/unit_egyptian_peasant_med.cas, 30
model_flexi			data/models_unit/unit_egyptian_peasant_low.cas, 40
model_flexi			data/models_unit/unit_egyptian_peasant_lowest.cas, max

Now, to tell the game to use only the model with the lowest detail just replace the _high, _med and _low parts with _lowest. Maybe deleting those lines altogether, leaving only the last line might work as well, as some mods only use two levels of detail, but I´m not sure about that. Try at your own risk.

If the game runs significantly faster, that´s the solution. If not...

[EDIT]As everything I write about modding, this is a semi-educated guess at best! I haven´t done much of modding to be a save advisor, so don´t blame me if it doesn´t work.[/EDIT]

[Woad Warrior]

Each model is for each level of the unit graphics setting, there's no point replacing the High, Medeium, Low ones with Very Low, may as well turn Unit detail to very low in game.

Sorry, I'm new to modelling with 3ds Max, not sure how to shrink skeletons and models while keeping them in proportion.

[Ciaran]

Each model is for each level of the unit graphics setting, there's no point replacing the High, Medeium, Low ones with Very Low, may as well turn Unit detail to very low in game.

No, I don´t think so. You can see the models are switching when the distance changes (try the Chivalry mod, it´s especially prominent with their Early Royal Knights). Those numbers at the end of the code tell at what distance to switch, I believe. Of course, I very easily could be wrong.

[Woad Warrior]

Yes, on the higher settings, at a certain distance the model will switch and be replaced by one of the lower setting one, but those lines still indicate which model to use for each setting.

[Lentonius]

ok, thanks for your time, i will try this

[Duke John]

Lots of units is probably a problem because of collision testing than of lots of polys. Just try M:TW at largest settings and with a 4vs4. The graphics can easily be handled, but the it is the large amount of moving objects that makes the game start running very slow.

[Bwian]

The physical size of the unit will not have any bearing at all on the speed of th game. The critical factor is hte number of polygons that the game engine has to render. This is a common problem!

The models have four ( or sometimes 5 ) levels of detail, and the number at the end is indeed the render distance. Additionally, when very far away, you switch to sprites. MTW was all sprites, so different rules apply to it's display problems. As DJ pointed out...collison detection calculations were the limiting factor there.

IF you have a model with 1000 polygons, and you make each polygon half the size....the game STILL has to render 1000 polygons to draw your object. The actual size of the polygon would have virtually no effect at all. Make you unit with only 500 polygons, and you reduce the time it takes to draw it. If you multiply that across the number of models in the unit, and the effect snowballs. This is why levels of detail are used.

If, however, you reduce all your models detail by half, the figures start to look pretty ugly! You have to find a sweet spot between pretty and playable....which is why the game cuts out higher detail models when you turn down the detail options. It allows low spec PC's to play the game without the need for any extra art assets. It's all pretty 'industry standard' but it a very sensible approach

[Lentonius]

thats true, and to be honest makes complete sense.