Disp Complexity

[yzmxer608]

Here's a question I've been thinking about. When disp maps are more complex (lots of small random hills/bumps for instance) why is that harder on your hardware (drop fps)? Does this happen with all games that render terrain? I just thought that the disp map is loaded and that's it.

[jlv]

A 1025x1025 map would use over 2,000,000 triangles if not optimized. MX Sim, like any good terrain engine, uses less geometry for flat terrain.

[yzmxer608]

So the game actually changes the geometry of the track depending on how complex it is? That's pretty cool, I just noticed a big fps hit if there is a track with lots of ruts for example. Is this how the terrain geometry graphics adjustment can be used?

[jlv]

Yes. The terrain geometry setting controls how far out of the plane (in screen space) a vertex can be before that triangle is subdivided.