Modular Level Design Performance, When is it too Much?

Development World Creation
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1

Hello,

I apologize if this is a repeated question, however, I could not find a detailed explanation of when taking the modular route how much is too much.

Currently I am designing a large multiplayer map with a small team and we first designed the entire map as a single object, however, this method has been a large pain when it comes to aligning textures and uv mapping since we are using blender. I would much rather do the entire map in a modular design with some large pieces, but the most consisting of 3m x 3m blocks.

After doing a quick estimate, this would equate to nearly 10,000 pieces for the map (Not all unique pieces, just repeated). Granted most of these would be flat plane objects, but would this many blocks be too hard on the engine for suitable gameplay, or would we be better off doing larger items and finding ways to combine multiple items for a partly-modular map?

2

Hi!

The main objective of the method of modular buildings is a use minimum resources. This is a link for best example of modular environment with minimum resources.

But i think your main question about in-game optimization, such as Precomputed visibility, Level Of Details and Level streaming. With these methods and with Unreal World Composition technology, you can create very huge world with tons of details. You can download “A Boy and His Kite” project in Epic Game Launcher. This is an example of World Composition and in-game optimisation.

3

Thank you for the reply, I had a misunderstanding of how instancing and draw calls were being used and was concerned it would impact performance adversely. looking at the one texture enviroment definitely helped.