Idea to improve lag and lower spec for massive MP

[sapi]

Ah - i see what you mean there - that never has to be considered in a campaign game.

[x-dANGEr]

I believe what lags it differ.. It can be either GFX lag or CPU lag, but if your question is why at that zoom out? Well, I'm no expert in this, but I guess the game keeps generating/calculating reflections (lighting), shadows (lighting as well) and other variables all time. Not taking in count whether you can see them or not. They might turn into 2D sprites, but changing 2D sprites.

I remember in RTW, sometimes I'd have a higher FPS if I zoom in into one of my units, rather than zoom out.

[ElmarkOFear]

You are probably right x-DANGEr. It would have to keep calculating that, as well as other 3-D info., even though it would be converted to 2D sprites at the zoomed-out level. Otherwise, it might be impossible to have the 3-D Models placed in their correct positions once the player zoomed back in to the close-up view. So zooming out would actually be adding to the workload of your graphics card and CPU by adding in the 2D sprites on top of the regular 3D info.

[tootee]

You are probably right x-DANGEr. It would have to keep calculating that, as well as other 3-D info., even though it would be converted to 2D sprites at the zoomed-out level. Otherwise, it might be impossible to have the 3-D Models placed in their correct positions once the player zoomed back in to the close-up view. So zooming out would actually be adding to the workload of your graphics card and CPU by adding in the 2D sprites on top of the regular 3D info.

this is exactly what i tried to say in my initial post..

we dont need each man to be uniquely clothed and have different animation from zoom-out.. if i remember correctly, in STW/MTW, all men in an unit has same "animation cycle", i.e. all same legs motion if you get what i mean.

not sure how this is done.. but calculating the 3D info and logging them.. so as to allow 100% reproduction exact 3D model motion of a polygon object during zoom-in for all replays.. is this really needed (anyone notice if all motions are exactly replicated in all replays)? i dont mind if the same man fight differently during different replay, except that the combat result and movement is same..

[ElmarkOFear]

I would love to see an option which would allow you to use 2D sprites during the entire battle. It would help decrease lag in MP most assuredly. However, CA has never been one to offer much in the way of Options.