[key0p]

Does this sound right?

A GF4 Ti 4200 does 113 million vertices per second.

Generals runs at default 30 frames per second, and at fastest 60.So divide 133 million by 60 and we have 1 883 333.3* vertices per 1/60 of a second.

A four sided pyramid had 4 sides(polygons) and 4 vertices.A flat triangle has 1 side and 3 vertices.So, to take the extreme, divide 1 888 333.3* by 3 and we have 627 777 polygons per 1/60th of a second.

627 777 sounds like a lot of polygons, so theoretically couldnt we be making models with MUCH higher poly counts and still run fine?

[Flyby]

To start with, never trust the specs boosted by manufacturers.
They list either the theoretical bandwidth of their product, or the tests are about unshaded and untextured polygons.

Secondly, there is a lot more to be processed in the game then polygons alone:
-Texturing takes a hefty toll on performance, and alpha blending in particulary.
-Animation sequences for infantry fe. have to be processed and displayed.
-AI logic has to run (pathfinding, target aquisition, turretmovement, object collision, etc)
-particle and other effects...

From what I hear, people have tested up to 50000 polygons on objects before noticing slowdown...

[key0p]

Yeah I know all those other things are more costly on performance, thats why I was wondering just simply boosting the poly count shouldnt be a problem with todays hardware.

I mean, they made generals to run on a GF2(although extrememly poorly in my view), and I know those things have nowhere near the polygon rendering power of todays video cards - I dont need a manufacturers quote to tell me that.

I used the GF4 Ti 4200 as an example because of its proliferation, and the fact that it is now superseded by cheap radeon cards.

50 000 polys on one object on screen eh? Thats not good =(

[Kained]

Theres also the terrain and civillian units on any given map; which take their share of polys and then start throwing around a lot of units. Say 100 infantry, a job lot of tanks and some fighter cover and things will start being tricky, drop a couple of nukes in there as well for fun. Also, not everyone will have newer cards of pc's.

But with that in mind i remember modding Homeworld and as the technology progressed they were able to steadily up the polygon count. The Babylon 5 mods were always my favorite and they were able to get in some complex poly counts with full use of alphas.

[Chrizz]

over the 50000 poly's game go's slow down

[key0p]

50 000 polys is soo small.....

ANd I dont really care if people have older generation cards.Thats their problem, I have a newer card, and Im not going to wait for all those cheapskates who dont upgrade till their computer dies - id be waiting around another 10 years

Its jsut that infantry are so basic and ugly.I dont think they could have usede any less polygons in modelling it.

They are around 150 polys each.300-450 and they can start looking really good.....

[guyee]

50 000 polies is actually very high for a game, i seriously doubt any game has used that much for a model yet.

You also have to keep in mind how much polies the Sage engine itself can render, not just the hardware it's running on.

[key0p]

But its samll for what I was thinking of doing

[Sir_Psycho]

LOL I had a 89 000 poly model once and the game crashed immediately! :lol:

But that was in the old days when I didn't know how to reduce the count

[The_Phantastic]

lol da hot chicks from DOA3 (a fighitn game which should have extra details since only 2 characters and some background ones displayin) are only around 3000 polys from wut i've heard while tao feng (bad reviews) has a whoopin 10,000 polys. Both game runs fine with no lag and spectacular breast physic as well as interactive background :lol: