World performance tips and tricks

Virvatuli

It's easy to get carried away when we build our worlds when there's so many ideas and beautiful pictures in our heads which simply needs to be made reality. And then it's not uncommon to forget the performance aspect! I am guilty of that myself, and thus, I decided to create this list. Please, tell us about any great tips or tutorials you know about to increase world performance! Feel free to point out any broken links, typos, or tips that seem faulty. Thanks!


CONTENT

World objects
- Amount and variety
- World objects with high poly count
- Tree clustering

Spawners and effects
- Effects
- Multiplying spawners
- Using the right amount of spawners

Lots
- Number of lots
- Object amount and variety
- Pillars made of walls and double walls
- Plant amount
- Terrain paints

Routing
- Long, "handle-like" paths
- Narrow paths
- Overlapping
- Stuck NPCs
- The boxier, the better

Terrain paints and sculpting
- Terrain paints

Performance myths
- Broken lines
- Layer amount

Notes
- Credit
- Efficiency and necessity
- Numbers


WORLD OBJECTS

AMOUNT AND VARIETY
The more types of world objects you use per chunk, the more you are asking from performance. The total object count in the entire world will affect performance. Keep both these things in mind (http://www.twitlonger.com/show/g70enl)

WORLD OBJECTS WITH A HIGH POLY COUNT
Flowers, rocks and fences are high poly objects and usually render at a high level even when far away. Keep this in mind! (http://customsims3.com/forums/thread-88.html)

TREE CLUSTERING
A tool we all know and love. Trees cluster depending on type, chunk and layer. This means all trees of the same type on the same chunk in the same layer turns into one object when you use the clustering tool, and this is good for performance!
- Since trees cluster per layer, it is best to keep all trees of a certain type in the same layer. (http://www.thesims3.com/content/global/downloads/caw/help_en.pdf)
- Since trees cluster per chunk, try to not let your trees "spill" into other chunks when not necessary. Example: if you have 50 trees of one type in a chunk, and 1 tree of the same type "spilling" into the adjacent chunk, they will cluster into 2 objects. If you move that single tree into the same chunk as the others, they will cluster into 1 object. This is preferable! (http://www.twitlonger.com/show/g70enl)
- Since trees cluster per type, it can be a good idea to keep the variety of trees per chunk low - 4 is a good guideline (http://www.twitlonger.com/show/g70enl). To create variety whilst still having performance in mind, you can use different sets of trees in different chunks. Thanks to BSIRegina!


SPAWNERS AND EFFECTS

EFFECTS
Rendering effects affects performance. Effects can be from spawners - jumping fish, moving beetles etc. - or effects objects - waterfalls, waves, birds etc. Don't use too many. (http://customsims3.com/forums/thread-88.html)

MULTIPLYING SPAWNERS
When you place a lot with spawners from your library and rotate it, the spawners can (will?) multiply. This can lead to lots with more spawners than intended. Always check your lots with spawners after they've been rotated, bulldozed or placed. Delete any additionals! (http://modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=442319)

USING THE RIGHT AMOUNT OF SPAWNERS
http://customsims3.com/forums/thread-88.html - thanks to VanillaTwilight93 for the tip!


LOTS

NUMBER OF LOTS
Try to keep the number of lots under 100. Too many decreases game performance. Thanks to BSIRegina!
If you want many lots, spread them out, so that the game doesn't have to render as many at the same time. (http://www.thesims3.com/content/global/downloads/caw/help_en.pdf)

OBJECT AMOUNT AND VARIETY
Since most lot objects disappear when the lot is at a distance, object variety on lots is not a huge issue. But the overall number of objects and their complexity(both script-wise and polycount-wise) do make a difference. (http://www.twitlonger.com/show/g70enl)

PILLARS MADE OF WALLS AND DOUBLE WALLS
These empty rooms decreases performance because the routing has to take them into account. Use them sparsely. (http://www.thesims3.com/content/global/downloads/caw/help_en.pdf)

PLANT AMOUNTS
Limiting plants to 4 types and an amount of 30 per lot is a good guideline. (http://www.thesims3.com/content/global/downloads/caw/help_en.pdf)

TERRAIN PAINTS
Limiting terrain paints to 4 per lot is a good guideline. (http://www.thesims3.com/content/global/downloads/caw/help_en.pdf)


ROUTING
It can't be stressed enough how important routing is for world performance! If you haven't used routing paint before, you should learn the basics first. You can find some links to tutorials at the excellent CAW FAQ (http://forum.thesims3.com/jforum/posts/list/278761.page).

LONG, "HANDLE-LIKE" PATHS
One of the worst things you can do routing-wise is creating long, routable handle-like paths which forces sims to travel around large parts of your world. Forcing the sim to travel longer and bendier routes is bad. It's better to let them travel as straight as possible, from A to B without any detours. (http://ts3cc.forumotion.ca/t283-perfecting-routing-an-oc-approach-to-routing-paint-by-eyelem)

NARROW PATHS
Do not make the routable paths too narrow; leave them clear-cut and wide. (http://ts3cc.forumotion.ca/t283-perfecting-routing-an-oc-approach-to-routing-paint-by-eyelem)

OVERLAPPING
Do not overlap roads, or let lots overlap roads. Do not let lots, roads, or items sims can interact with (like spawners) be overlapped by sim non-routable paints. These two points are very important. (http://ts3cc.forumotion.ca/t283-perfecting-routing-an-oc-approach-to-routing-paint-by-eyelem)

STUCK NPCs
NPCs getting stuck can cause huge amounts of lag. NPCs can spawn anywhere on the map where routing is allowed. If one of these areas are not connected to the others, the NPCs spawning there are stuck. Avoid holes in the routing paint at all costs - paint carefully. Don't create islands or other areas which are routable but cut off from the rest - while your sim can get there (by teleporting or dive wells for example) and back, NPCs can still get stuck. (http://ts3cc.forumotion.ca/t283-perfecting-routing-an-oc-approach-to-routing-paint-by-eyelem)

THE BOXIER, THE BETTER
Instead of painting your sim non-routable paint in round or diagonal lines along the shapes (like mountains and hills) in your world, keep your lines as long and as straight as possible. Think boxy! Sometimes it is better to let red areas (steep) be routable to assure straight, unbroken lines. I'd recommend reading the link for this one, for the sake of clarity. (http://ts3cc.forumotion.ca/t283-perfecting-routing-an-oc-approach-to-routing-paint-by-eyelem)


TERRAIN PAINTS AND SCULPTING

TERRAIN PAINTS
Use up to 8 terrain paints per chunk. (http://www.thesims3.com/content/global/downloads/caw/help_en.pdf)


PERFORMANCE MYTHS

BROKEN LINES
Sometimes, the routing lines can look like they're broken, sunken through the ground. It has been rumoured to create lag. This is not the case. If you choose to not display the terrain in CAW while displaying routing data, you can see that the lines are intact. While the sim might sink through the ground when they walk along these lines, it will not cause lag. (http://ts3cc.forumotion.ca/t283-perfecting-routing-an-oc-approach-to-routing-paint-by-eyelem)

LAYER AMOUNT
Apparently, layer amount or the way your organize items in layers have nothing to do with performance. As long as you follow the layer tips under "tree clustering", feel free to organize in any way you want. (http://www.twitlonger.com/show/g70enl)


NOTES

CREDIT
All credit goes to the people giving me these tips (as credited) and the people writing the tutorials/threads I've linked to. I'd really recommend visiting these links to read the original text.

EFFICIENCY AND NECESSITY
Do you really need to follow all these guidelines? No, of course you don't. Most worlds out there don't and a lot of them work fine anyway. I've tried to put emphasis on the most important things above. Some of the above tips would probably only give a minimal performance benefit. It is up to you how to use this information!

NUMBERS
Most numbers quoted above are just guidelines. There is no magic number where adding one too many trees/lots etc. severely decreases performance. Most of these guidelines can seem rather extreme - they are meant to be guidelines for creating worlds that can run on low-spec computers. If this is not an issue for you, you can surely exceed the guidelines. Have a go at your own computer and see what works!

VanillaTwilight93

Another point could be to limit the amount of spawners you put in a world, less spawners means better performance

Theres a tutorial about it here:
http://customsims3.com/forums/thread-88.html

Virvatuli

I'll add that one, thank you!

betty_me13

Woah, so if I have more than 4 types of plants in my world, it will slow down?

Conorsim

What a brilliant thread. :thumbup:

I've been at CAW for quite a while now, but it's only now that I'm beginning to notice all the minor stuff that could make or break your world - how the routing paint is actually painted (preferably in straight lines, I never ever knew that), how overall routing is the main source of lag, the quantity of terrain paints in one chunk and all that.

I think this should be linked in the FAQ.

ETA: the quantity of plants is very, very hard to avoid. Even making a small world it's hard to stick to 4 types. I'd call that impossible of you want the world to look good and shtuff.

Virvatuli

@betty_me13: I don't think 4 is a magic number where suddenly performance decreases if you exceed it, it's just a guideline. Using a few more wouldn't hurt on most computers, I think. Experiment and see what happens on yours!

@Conorsim: Thank you Conorsim! Thought it'd be a good idea to increase my knowledge about performance before learning how to use CAW better. Wouldn't want to spend ages on perfecting a world, just to realize it's really laggy Have you ever noticed a lot of lag in your own worlds, or worlds made by others? Or do they run fine in general, without using lots of tricks to increase performance?

I agree with you when it comes to the plants - I could never limit myself to 4! But it's a number I'll keep in mind when I'm getting too wild with the vegetation

betty_me13

It will be impossible for me to limit it to 4! I will just do what looks best and go from there
Thank you so much for the info!

Conorsim

Yes, you can work your a.rse off to make the world stuning beautiful, but there's no use playing it if the routing is bad, there's lag and all the rest.
To answer your question - I've only made smallish islands so far with CAW (all in my studio) as my computer can't take so much since it's pretty low-spec. But yes, back then when I was making those worlds I didn't have a CLUE about what caused lag, so I left it down to my computer being the source of error. Saying that, though, they aren't unplayable because of the lag. But if I was to redo them I could probably tidy them up a bit.
I can't really say for other creator's worlds, as most are big. I have downloaded many, many worlds - big and small - but if they are big I WILL leave it down to my computer as it's obvious it's just not suppoed to run them. I'm excited for Xmas though, as I'm getting my computer updated so I;ll see how everything goes then

I've also found, doing my current world, Rinn fada (in signature) it's very hard to not use so many terrain paints. I'll need to check some of the chunks later, but I'd be guessing that it is just over the 8 makr :? I'll look into it.

Rflong7

Hi,

PLANT AMOUNT*
Limiting plants to 4 types and a maximum amount of 30 pet lot.

TERRAIN PAINTS*
Use up to 4 per lot ...

Those are for lot building~ which is important to world performance but not to be confused with CAW.


And it's nice to see some people still read the manual. :thumbup:

BSIRegina

What Rflong said. When it comes to plants in the actual map level, turn on the chunk boundaries and try not to overlap different types of plants into different chunks. For example, you may end up with an oak forest that's interspersed with aspens and two or three types of flowers in one chunk. Then in another chunk have a totally different set of trees and plants. This gives a feeling of diversity without using sixteen different plant types in one chunk.

Rflong7

I don't agree with this~ http://builders.forumotion.net/t2197-perfecting-routing-an-oc-approach-to-routing-paint

It has corners which are one square. There are no circles or weird shapes possible with the paint. It comes down to one square... What's the difference between that one square corner of long paint then one square corner of a three square of the paint?

What's important is to not have any holes in the painted areas which make it unreachable by the game.

*Even in her world she broke what she said about having them line up... Sorry but I don't agree.

Virvatuli

@BSIRegina: So you can add a lot of different plants as long as you only have a few different types per chunk, without taking any larger hit on performance?

@Rflong7: I decided to add performance tips for lots as well since most world builders also build their own lots in the worlds they create
When it comes to the routing tutorial, I think it's pretty accurate, though I am not a specialist at all. I think it makes sense that the game tries to divide the routing into big shapes, for example, it "remembers" that a whole chunk is unroutable instead of 256x256=65536 small squares. So creating big shapes makes it easier for the game, at least in certain cases.

Rflong7

Virvatuli wrote:

@BSIRegina: So you can add a lot of different plants as long as you only have a few different types per chunk, without taking any larger hit on performance?

@Rflong7: I decided to add performance tips for lots as well since most world builders also build their own lots in the worlds they create
When it comes to the routing tutorial, I think it's pretty accurate, though I am not a specialist at all. I think it makes sense that the game tries to divide the routing into big shapes, for example, it "remembers" that a whole chunk is unroutable instead of 256x256=65536 small squares. So creating big shapes makes it easier for the game, at least in certain cases.

Those are tips from the CAW Manual. It's probably best to say a great tip is to read the Manual.

Sorry, I still don't agree. What certain cases? Making sense and being true isn't the same thing.
I don't see the game dividing it up because of Townies and NPCs running around the map even if you're not there or playing them. The map must be "remembered" when it generates *the whole world map* to keep Sims from roaming anywhere. It's not the same as rendering each chunk for the graphics cards.
But maybe that only makes sense to me... :?

*expanding on

BSIRegina

I should have said this earlier but forgot. There is one single thing I've found that hits performance on my computer more than anything else and that's the number of lots a world has. I've played several beautifully lush worlds that have around 70 or 80 lots with no problem. If the lot count goes over 100 everything takes way too long, from load times to save times.

Virvatuli

@BSIRegina: Thanks, gonna add that one, as well as limit plant number per chunk!

@Rflong7: Of course making sense and being true isn't the same, but if there's a good method to increase performance, it's likely that it's used. Also, since eyelem got some info from a friend in the games industry, I believe it's probably correct.
Think of it like this: first, the game looks at a chunk. If it's entirely covered in unroutable terrain paint, it remembers that there can be no routing in this chunk. If it's not, say if there is a single routable square in the corner of the chunk, it has to zoom in closer - maybe divide it in 16x16 pieces. It then noticed that 255 16x16 pieces are fully unroutable, but one isn't fully covered in unrouting paint. It zooms in closer. It then notices that 255 squares in that 16x16 piece are unroutable, but one isn't. So it has to remember 255 medium pieces and 255 small pieces that are unroutable, and one small piece that isn't, instead of a big unroutable piece. That is a lot more thinking! But if the method wasn't used at all, instead of keeping track of around 500 or just one piece, it would have to keep track of over 50 000 pieces.
Now I'm not saying that this is how it works, it could be divided in another way or not divided at all. Just speculating here!
I'll keep the link there in any case, and people can choose themselves whether they think it helps or not. Anyhow, lots of people are building worlds without this method and their worlds work fine anyway.

Rflong7

You're looking at routing as if it were paint layers. Chunk layers is for graphics and not the whole map set up.

You're looking at it from the wrong angle. Routing lines are generated in CAW. They are not seen and not rendered for view or generated for one area as the Sim moves. There are many Sims moving along the lines across many chunks.

Routing, once generated is there... you can remove the road and the routing is still there. You move a lot and don't regenerate the routing then it's messed up.

This is not the same as chunks for paint or trees or objects. The way I see it and understand it.

Plus, I have no idea who this person is nor their friend is or in what section of the game industry they are in. With no disrespect to them.
I just don't jump on an idea because someone makes a tutorial. I have seen a lot of misinformation out there.

And remember- from you example, a big block of routing paint must also be rendered down to each littler square.
*And their long little curly lines would still have the problems they say they want to avoid by using big chunks. Sorry, contradicting very much.

Virvatuli

Nawh, I didn't mean that it was to be rendered based on viewing distance. I just think there's a lot less information saying "this chunk is unroutable" than "this square is unroutable... and that one... and that one" over 50000 times And no, in my example, it's not about down to the smallest square. It's about different size shapes - a big one (chunk), instead of 256 medium ones (16x16) or 65536 small ones (1x) or a combination thereof.
Anyhow, let's just agree to disagree

And it is indeed true that you shouldn't trust everything you read out there! Wish more people had that in mind.

Rflong7

But I see this as misinformation without proof. Comparing it to China and the Vacation worlds which everyone knows is a routing mess is not proof.

:)I was meaning the long, thin, curly routing lines she uses in the make "big routing blocks."

Agree- we disagree.

*typing

Virvatuli

I'm going to bump this old thread, to see if anyone else have any great tips.

Damienf519

Virvatuli,

You also should try to limit the number of objects per lot, including the number of spawners per lot. Also don't overdue it wit the spawners.

As for keeping the number of lots under one hundred, that's a good idea, unless you are intend on making a multiple expansion pack all in one hood. Than its very difficult to keep the number of lots under one hundred and still have enough for all the different venues, and rabbit hole careers, plus all the residential lots. If you want to make a map with all the expansion packs release so far, try to keep the number of lots under one hundred fifty instead, if you're worried about them not working on slower machines. That still might be too many for some machines, but than the average machine should be able to run it.

One way to cut back on the number of lots is use multiple use rabbit holes, like the city halls from Bridgeport. Bridgeport's city hall is actually a city hall, police station and military base all in one.

Virvatuli

List has been updated and more points have been added (or refined). Bump!