is a static meshe worth it?

[Gage]

is a static meshe worth it if you only use it once in a map?

The whole idea of a static mesh is that ever time u use it in a map it will only take up a small amout of memory.

say u have a mech of a tree that takes 500k of memory. the first Tree would = 500k in memory. now the second tree = 1k and the 3rd treek = 1k of memory and so forth becasue all thoes little 1k
s is only a pointer to the first tree.

But if you only use the static mech once in your level is it really worth it?

does a brush and a static mech = the same amout of memory if only used once in a level..... ?

[Nexx]

well it realy depends on how important it is. If it's a small decoration then it's probably not worth it, a hallway or somthing..maybe..but if it's like say the sub in december then go for it. Last time i checked there was only one submarine in that map.

[Yeti]

Static Meshes draw much faster than BSP based poly.
I am using a single static mesh of 150,000 triangles.
Poly version is impossible - crashes editor and game.
But static mesh runs at 60 frames per second.

Yeah the lighting model, collision model etc are much simpler on meshes compared to BSP.

A critic might say we have left behind true lighting models and returned to the sprite based equivalent of GT's first shooter "AMOK".

But a supporter would notice the poly count and the lack of NEED for fancy lighting on tiny surfaces. I'm kinda keen on 200,000 triangle scenes. ;-0


SUMMARY = it's ALWAYS worth it - unless you is talkin' tiny poly count mesh.
I think normal meshes (about 2k triangle) are ALWAYS worth it.

[Rahnem]

What yeti said. Static Meshes have more advantages than being a single instance in memory. It runs way faster because it utilises your graphics card and therefore can be rendered much faster.

I guess we will all have to accept the fact that a lot of our editing will be done in Maya or 3D Studio now.