Blood on the optimized rooftops
Posted: Sun Mar 27, 2011 11:19 am
I've been looking into the track files of carmageddon 1 lately. These files are heavily severed by the preprocessing of carmageddon.
Preprocessing is a method for cutting up a track into columns and rows. This enables the game to index the track into small pieces, making it easier to determine which part of the track is closest the the part you are already in. This way the game knows where to put active non-cars and active pedestrians so it doesn't have to calculate the non-car and pedestrian behavior of the entire track all at once.
anyway, the preprocessing heavily fucks up the models faces and especially ruins the smoothing groups. I took some time to optimize the blood on the rooftops map from carmageddon 1. The two pictures below show the difference between the direct port of the track and the optimized one. I took away all unnecessary edges and vertices, leaving only poly's and quads.
In the end, the number of polygons saved isn't as dramatic as I had hoped. I took off a total of 2000. (this is we re-adding the curbs which were missing in the direct port, so these add up again)
The preprocessing cutting is especially noticeable in the big meshes. We knew this already, but what was fun to see is that the actual number of columns you define in plaything for the preprocessing matches the number of cutting lines on the model. The preprocessing basically throws a cutting grid on the biggest model, cutting it into the appropriate pieces.
I will keep this model, as I might just have a go at it turning it into an up to date model with new shit 'n all ya know! :)
Preprocessing is a method for cutting up a track into columns and rows. This enables the game to index the track into small pieces, making it easier to determine which part of the track is closest the the part you are already in. This way the game knows where to put active non-cars and active pedestrians so it doesn't have to calculate the non-car and pedestrian behavior of the entire track all at once.
anyway, the preprocessing heavily fucks up the models faces and especially ruins the smoothing groups. I took some time to optimize the blood on the rooftops map from carmageddon 1. The two pictures below show the difference between the direct port of the track and the optimized one. I took away all unnecessary edges and vertices, leaving only poly's and quads.
In the end, the number of polygons saved isn't as dramatic as I had hoped. I took off a total of 2000. (this is we re-adding the curbs which were missing in the direct port, so these add up again)
The preprocessing cutting is especially noticeable in the big meshes. We knew this already, but what was fun to see is that the actual number of columns you define in plaything for the preprocessing matches the number of cutting lines on the model. The preprocessing basically throws a cutting grid on the biggest model, cutting it into the appropriate pieces.
I will keep this model, as I might just have a go at it turning it into an up to date model with new shit 'n all ya know! :)