Which is More Graphic Intense? Mesh or Texture?

Cinebar · August 2018

I want to know for those who know about cc which is worse the size of the textures (polygons etc.) or the actual mesh?

I was trying to clean out some of my cc since my game is slowing down again (but I have a lot like 8GB actually installed but have more).

I noticed I have some large hair files with meshes of around 2,500 and then their textures/recolors.

I always thought it would be the textures that would use more of the CPU, RAM etc.

But I don't know now, I have some meshes that are like 5.5MB but their texture is only in the low KB numbers.

Does anyone know what the counts are of some Maxis meshes to compare? And which would be the one that would slow down (use more graphics) for instance if all townies wore custom hair? The mesh size which seems huge to me, or the textures which only use about 5KB of ram?

JULES1111 · August 2018

I don't know the exact counts on Maxis stuff, I can say it is the mesh though. It is always how many poly's it has. The size of the file isn't important, but the poly's. The higher the poly count, the more taxing it is on your graphics card. The more high poly stuff you have on screen at once, the harder it is for the game to render without slowing down. So if you are on a community lot with all townies wearing high poly stuff, it would have a effect if your graphics card couldn't keep up. Some hairs out there have a ridiculous amount of poly's,( think 20,000-75,000) hair is the biggest offender.

2,500 for a hair mesh is not high at all. Copied from Simswiki

For hair, Maxis meshes range from around 500 polys for really simple short male hair to about 3000 for more complicated female updos with funky stuff on them. Most everyday-use hair should range from 1000-2000 polys, with extra-detailed, curly, or special hair going up to about 3000 polys. Hair would have to be -very- special and used very rarely to push much higher, the upper limit being around 5000 for something incredibly special and complex in shape.

Mind you it is not only hair though. If you have a lot of objects on a lot that are high poly, it will contribute as well. Even neighborhood deco, if you have your settings set so you can see it. Sometimes you can find cool stuff, and then see that little flower vase you thought was cute and would look good in the house has 25,000 polys. Yikes! Some people just don't do a good job cleaning out unnecessary poly's or it has a lot of detail.

Cinebar · August 2018

Thank you Jules! I was afraid all those high poly meshes were part of my problem. All my Sims use custom hair, and more and more of my townies do, too. And all my Sims wear high poly clothes most of the time. Yep, I have a lot of objects so I should really clean out any large meshes if I can live without them. And look before I install them, at their counts. Yep, I've had some objects and stuff as large as 20,000 even some hair. I wasn't sure which uses more polys the mesh or the texture. Thank you. I'm going to put this in my noodle, it's the meshes.

You are the best, like a walking Simpedia!

Going bookmark this in case I forget.

ETA: Slaps forhead, polys are the points of the mesh right? And how much you would see, so yeah, I had a brain lapse. Glad you are here!!!!

JULES1111 · August 2018

Cinebar wrote: »

Thank you Jules! I was afraid all those high poly meshes were part of my problem. All my Sims use custom hair, and more and more of my townies do, too. And all my Sims wear high poly clothes most of the time. Yep, I have a lot of objects so I should really clean out any large meshes if I can live without them. And look before I install them, at their counts. Yep, I've had some objects and stuff as large as 20,000 even some hair. I wasn't sure which uses more polys the mesh or the texture. Thank you. I'm going to put this in my noodle, it's the meshes.

You are the best, like a walking Simpedia! Going bookmark this in case I forget.

ETA: Slaps forhead, polys are the points of the mesh right? And how much you would see, so yeah, I had a brain lapse. Glad you are here!!!!

Your welcome. LOL I don't know about a walking Simpedia.

Ya all meshes are made from triangles, the more triangles there are the higher the poly. It is safe to have some really high polly count stuff ( especially now a days when pc's are so much better then before) The more you add on, the better the graphics card you need to run it.

You can take a look here for a general idea of Maxis stuff http://simswiki.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:Poly_Counts Mind you this was years ago when pc's were not as good, so if something you like is a bit higher, don't be to freeked out about it. It also has a tutorial on SimPE to check how many poly's a item has if you don't know. Just try to keep in mind how many poly's certain things have, use the high poly stuff sparingly per lot, and you should be fine.

Cinebar · August 2018

Thanks, yeah, I might need to let go of some hair that townies are wearing etc. that might be at 6,000 and 7,000 polys. lol It doesn't look like it has that many polys, but that's why I got confused by the mesh or the texture. And yeah, I discovered I have some very high poly objects like that bed from PeggySims (with all the cushions and blankets) that might be way out there. My lots are getting slow to scroll again. Thanks for the links, I need a refresher about how many polys are too many.

The Sims Forums

Which is More Graphic Intense? Mesh or Texture?

Comments