Map making, are there unit limitations?

[CapnGimp]

I've made a few missions for ground attack primarily, for myself and a few folks that fly with me. I only use ground objects and ships... no ai aircraft.

Anyway, I have made two maps so far that have had a problem with low frame rates for me as I host and play simultaneously. Even sitting still on the runway and viewing second person of others, the ground units or even zooming in and out on the map.... the screen lags/ is jerky with pauses. In fraps or the ingame fps counter, there are approximately 10 to 20fps, varying widely. I sent them to a couple of buddies and their computers maxed out @ 100% cpu usage and 1-5 fps. The other people in the map can fly no problem.

I have a quadcore with 4GB ram and it runs about 27%cpu on these 2 maps, which is about the same on any other map I host.

 

My main questions are these...

 

Are their certain ground units that when placed in a map cause this?

Or maybe too many of them in one grouping causes problems?

Or is there a limitation of TOTAL number of ground units that can be placed?

Or does placing units atop buildings cause problems?

 

I've searched throughout this and a few other forums with no luck, figured I would post this here for starters.

 

I wound up trying to remove units to solve the problem to no avail. I have saw large maps with HUGE numbers of units and MANY planes flying at same time, so I am doubting that there is a TOTAL unit limit. Anyway, thanks for the help.

[Boberro]

Unfortunetely by crappy Lock on engine if you put many units on map game will slow down much, very much. AFAIK there is no any unit limit, except machine specifications which can limit it instead of game - simple even strongest home machine isn't too strong to hang very poor Lock on engine well with much, much units. It isn't un-normal that your FSP jump from x to x. Engine faults. Only one good solution is removing unneccessery units from map. I heard SAMs are much power-consumption units (but dunno know on 100%), putting at groups don't make difference.

 

As like as not problem with many units will be solved in first module of DCS series. We will wait, we will see...

[CapnGimp]

Thanks Boberro,

I pretty much used only shilkas for aa on this one, with a bunch af armour, etc. I'm going to figure it out SOMETIME, lol.

Thinking of adding a few at a time and checking its frame rate. That will be slow, but about the only way to see.

[Brit_Radar_Dude]

If you do not need all of those ground units to move or fire, then you can try to save some FPS by using some Static Objects instead of actual units.

 

For example, you might have a mission where the target is a truck parking area guarded by a couple of Shilkas. Instead of putting twenty actual trucks, use twenty static object trucks. make the Shilka's be real units so they will fire at you. To make it look more realistic, you could have one or two real trucks driving into the parking area.

[JEFX]

Hi!

 

Brit is right, it is a good way to go around.

(by the way, I noticed your 1000th post Brit!!!! I am impressed and I drink to that: :drunk::drunk::drunk::drunk::drunk::drunk::drunk::drunk::drunk:)

 

Some static objects eatup your FPS (for example detailed models aircraft such as F-18 or SU-25T) but for sure SAMs do not take a lot of power. I just finished a lot of experimenting beause I will make a very big mission soon and I had 28 SAM sites going on at the same time and it does not change my FPS at all.

 

good luck

 

 

JEFX

[Brit_Radar_Dude]

Cheers JEFX !! I hadn't noticed it myself. I've just nipped downstairs to get a wee dram of the decent Scotch (Glenlivet) and drinking right back at ya....

[JEFX]

Cheers JEFX !! I hadn't noticed it myself. I've just nipped downstairs to get a wee dram of the decent Scotch (Glenlivet) and drinking right back at ya....

 

 

HAAAA!

 

Even if I live in the New World, I do love scotch too!

Congrats and long life to Glenlivet!

 

JEFX

[HavokFlight]

I understand the need for a couple of fingers of a good beverage ... Bourbon usually ... port when I am feeling a little shot down !

[HavokFlight]

Along the lines of his initial question, has anyone found a maximum of objects that can be added to a map. There is a thread about the maximum number of planes that can be added to an airport.

[Grimes]

Theres probably a physical limit in the game somewhere, but your system will fall to its knees long before you get close to that mark.

[golfsierra2]

Unfortunetely by crappy Lock on engine if you put many units on map game will slow down much, very much. AFAIK there is no any unit limit, except machine specifications which can limit it instead of game - simple even strongest home machine isn't too strong to hang very poor Lock on engine well with much, much units.

 

I disagree with you:

The Lock-On engine isn't that 'crappy' at all. If all the ground units are active units and not static objects, the game engine has to calculate the weapons envelope for each of the active units, whether other units are in range or not. If AI is firing the weapons, trajectories of the projectiles / missiles are added to the calculation load.

The more active units you put on the map, the more the engine has to calculate, which slows down the overall response time.

That has nothing to do with a 'crappy' engine, it's normal behavior for every game engine.

[Boberro]

I disagree with you:

The Lock-On engine isn't that 'crappy' at all. If all the ground units are active units and not static objects, the game engine has to calculate the weapons envelope for each of the active units, whether other units are in range or not. If AI is firing the weapons, trajectories of the projectiles / missiles are added to the calculation load.

The more active units you put on the map, the more the engine has to calculate, which slows down the overall response time.

That has nothing to do with a 'crappy' engine, it's normal behavior for every game engine.

 

Yes it is normal but one engine is better other worse. One better will do faster something another slower.

[JEFX]

One question just popped to my mind (I am in the process of designing missions with lots of units...):

 

Do any of you know if units that have not spawned yet but are in the mission editor's tasking order eat up some computing ressources? As an example, lets say you make a mission with only one aircraft : ... no fps problem. You make another one with one aircraft active at the beginning and, say, 50 more to come within the next 2 hours of game play (inactive at the beginning) : ? I have the feeling that the fps is much worse...

 

Is it my fps-paranoid-imagination ?

 

 

JEFX

[Brit_Radar_Dude]

Based on my slight Sim programming knowledge from back in the day when I was a Computer Science student, I reckon that the answer is Yes those inactive units will affect FPS to some degree, for the simple fact that the Sim has to check those inactive units periodically to see if it is now time to make them active.

As long as they continue to be inactive then the Sim doesn't have to do any serious processing for them regarding their movement, visibility on radar to active units etc.

[JEFX]

Thanks for the answer Brit,

 

I had not seen it, was too busy lately...

 

I was kind of expecting that too. Too bad.

There simply is NO way to make a complex battlefield right now...

 

I kind of am longing for the bubble concept again...

 

JEFX