User Guide

78
OPTIMIZING YOUR MAP
As you build your map, it’s important to optimize periodically. It’s very easy to use the tools of World Builder
to create maps that play too slowly on even good machines. When the frame rate for the game gets too low,
the gaming experience is degraded. From time to time, you should perform these tasks to optimize your
maps for good performance on all platforms.
✯ If you’re having problems with performance in World Builder, consult the suggestions at the end of this
section.
ELEMENTS TO OPTIMIZE
OBJECT COUNTS
✯ The number of objects on your map is displayed on the far left side of the status bar at the bottom of
the screen.
✯ Limit the number of objects you use. A good limit is 100 objects per player in multiplayer maps. If you
have two players on the map, you can increase this limit somewhat, as there are many players creating
objects on the map.
✯ In single player, 1,800 total objects is the recommended limit.
✯ Be careful when creating cities and forests with high object counts. Remember that you are creating a
battleground with the impression of a city or a forest; you are not creating the city or forest itself. You
need fewer objects to create a simple impression. For example, you can create the impression of a forest
with no more than 40 trees. Practice to see what you can get away with, and remember that the quality
of the gameplay is always the overriding factor.
STEEP SLOPES
✯ Don’t build unnecessarily steep slopes. Units cannot target up a steep slope. To see which slopes are
steep, select SHOW IMPASSABLE AREAS and then select IMPASSABLE AREA OPTIONS from the View
menu. In the dialog, enter the maximum angle that is acceptable and click OK. You can now see
impassable areas in your map. Use the Smooth Height tool to smooth them down.
✯ Remember to reset the Impassable Area option to 45 degrees.
✯ Before you release your map, use the Smooth Height tool on all of the cliffs and across all of the flat
areas. Use it to smooth as much as possible. Don’t be afraid to turn up the Feather Rate to its highest
setting. Lots of smoothing makes your map look nicer and perform better.
BLENDED TEXTURES
✯ You must blend textures to create more natural effects, but do not blend textures unnecessarily. There is
always a resource hit on blending textures.
✯ Three-way blended textures are resource hogs. Limit yourself to no more than 300 three-way blended
textures in your map. Fewer such blends make for better game performance.
✯ There should never be more than 50 three-way blends in a single shot of your map from the standard
camera position.
✯ When in doubt, start over painting textures, and try to avoid overlaps.
✯ For information on reducing the number of three-way blends, ➤ Three-Way Blends on p. 76.