[Feature request] Better way to handle large armies

I have had many epic battles in PA using close to 5000 units to flood a planet. This experience was made severely less epic by the fact that my game was running at 1fps(The Sim was at 12fps). It was running so slowly because my computer can't handle render so many polygons at once(5000 x 10per unit, estimated).


The request:
An option that handles display large amounts of units better. This could possible be not showing projectiles and showing units as boxes. Of course this would have to be turned on because there are some people out there who have super computers.

I also assume that they are already doing this but if they are not, please:
Only send the data that I can see to my computer. If I can't see my opponents moon because I am focused on my base don't send it to me and render it. ​

Orrrrrrr we wait until all the proper optimizations are in place before we resort to cutting corners like this.

Mike

I assume you mean different LOD's and performance tweaks.

Well there are lots of things, some are network related, others are graphics related, some are engine related for the server end of things.

Heck, not too long ago during the Beta the guys at Uber basically re-wrote all the Graphics code in the engine. Not only that but Uber is still messing around with exactly how they want the gameplay to work, after some balance changes we now have a game where unit production is way, way up, but that might not be the case after other changes, like changes to metal Distribution.

Uber is well aware that performance is not the greatest right now, they've said as much as well, but before we resort to shortcuts and "band-aid" solutions we need to make sure we've done as much as possible int eh "proper" way first.

Mike

TBH the game should run WAYYY better than it does. I have a very good computer (GTX 670, I7 3770K) and at the start of a match in a 7 planet system I get 30 fps. Later, when armies start rolling around, this drops down to 4.

With armies no bigger than 500 on a planet in a 7 planet system I should be getting much more than 5 fps.

We are getting to the point where we should be seeing big performance increases. Especially with the huge FPS increase needed.

Not to get picky, but what's your basis for that statement? How many Industry LEvel Game Engines have you written from scratch in a year and a half?

In short, what is your relevant experience?

Mike

Optimizations and graphics aside, I'm sure there are a few more features that could be added to make large armies easier to physically handle. One really cool feature I liked in Supreme Commander 2 was the "soft" auto grouping that could be done.

there's an in game option for that : turn unit render to zoom-relative.

Ugh I hated that system, maybe the theory is solid, but the implementation had me frustrated at every turn.

Mike

Im not saying the engine is bad or that they havent made an amazing amount of progress.

They promised million unit battles, 40 player matches and so on. This has to be in the release since games are judged at release.
To have this with acceptable FPS performance needs to get a huge boost and I just cant see that happening in time for a spring or early summer release.

it's cool by me if PA is released next year

Seems like ya'll are very aware, but yeah, we haven't spent a significant amount of time optimizing the game. We still have a lot of room to improve the experience. It'll get better!

Wait, i think we know that, right? SOON?

Can we get a loose definition of "soon"?
Spring? Summer? Fall? Next winter?

We have heard early this year and last night garat mentioned optimizing over the next few months. Doesn't look like early this year. Maybe steam summer sales.

I hate to be blunt. But no. No we aren't.

I say that because they are still adding hooks to unit behaviors, sorting out client side and server side duties, adding features to UI and chronocam, and even building end product lobbies and launchers. The optimizing being done now keeps it from getting worse while even more engine is added. Once the internal game is done, optimization can be done completely.

most quoted examples are driver friendliness, better thread usage, instancing units instead of individually rendering each, and condensing network communication from games.

the most likely your proudly displayed graphics card achieves 30fps, is more likely load in CPU ram speed and not size, or even network bandwidth limits

https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Valve_Time

Hate to break it to you man but I wouldn't call that a very good computer.