Another 3D Modeling Question

I'm curious is there's a polygon limit for Trainz. (I have Trainz12 Build 61388) MSTS has roughly a 11,000-12,000 polygon limit. My friend says there's no limit so he is now cranking out some very detailed models (75,000+ polys on some of them.) We a both new to Trainz, have been playing for about 2 months now. We are originally MSTS freaks.

Thanks

Good Morning Trainsimmer07
There is no hard limit to the poly count on a model for Trainz, however there's a few things that may limit you.

First is that Trainz, as with most games, has got a 'cap' on how much can be shown in a scene at any one time. This is about 1,000,000 triangles in TS12, but this does vary depending on computer to some degree.

Beyond this, there's a 'variable' limit on the number of triangles on each material of around 20,000 triangles, but this is not a hard limit. A 'simple' solution is to have two materials (referencing the same texture files) with some of the triangles using the second material.

However, to ensure that you still get good performance in Trainz, all objects really should have LOD (some very low poly/triangle objects can live without it mind). This is becomes more important the more triangles your model has. So a 10,000 triangle locomotive has less need of LOD (although it should still have it) than a 50,000 or 75,000 triangle locomotive.

LOD is used to remove triangles/detail as you move away. If everything had LOD (or more, efficient LOD's), then you'd be able to have a lot more detail up close for around the same performance.

Regards

Usually, it is best to keep the poly count as low as it will go. That way, the asset will load quicker, and won't use up a lot of unnecessary resources.

As low as it will go also means low detail. Depends on what you're modelling. Locos can be higher poly than wagons (due to number of them in shot etc.) but it doesn't mean splash out on unnecessary polys

Zeldaboy14 said:

Usually, it is best to keep the poly count as low as it will go. That way, the asset will load quicker, and won't use up a lot of unnecessary resources.

Click to expand...

This isn't necessarily true, yet is entirely true.

Each object should use the minimum number of polys that is needed to make it look good. Any fewer, and you may start to degrade the visual quality of the model. Any higher, and you'll start to degrade performance unnecessarily.

These days, most objects should be relatively high poly in their highest LOD. Then, as you move away, the LOD reduces the poly count/detail to ensure that performance is kept at a reasonable level. LOD is also used by the detail sliders to allow you to increase/decrease detail in-game. This is achieved by changing the transitions of the LOD in-game. Highest detail settings will have the transition further away, lower detail moves it closer to the camera to reduce the performance impact.

An easy example is to change the detail slider for SpeedTree assets in TS12, as you can see the difference in LOD transitions at the lower detail settings, compared to higher detail.

Regards