User Guide

81
IMPROVING PERFORMANCE IN
WORLD BUILDER
World Builder is a high-performance application that makes significant demands on your system’s resources.
If you are experiencing slow-downs in screen updating, try the following to improve performance of World
Builder.
✯ Reduce the amount of map displayed on-screen. World Builder slows down if the display area is too
large. Under the View menu, select VIEW PARTIAL MAP SIZE. Choose a smaller size of map to display.
✯ Close all other applications. While World Builder can work while other applications including the game
are open, it works better if all others are closed.
✯ Display only what needs to be displayed. Use the View toggles to hide elements of the map that are not
germane to your current task. For more information,
➤ View Menu on p. 18.
✯ Turn OFF object shadows. The shadowing of objects can significantly impact the performance of World
Builder. To turn off shadows, deselect SHOW SHADOWS in the View menu.
✯ Turn OFF display of clouds. Similarly, clouds can significantly impact the performance of World Builder.
To turn off cloud display, deselect SHOW CLOUDS in the View menu.
✯ Get acquainted with layers. You can organize objects in your map into layers whose display can be
toggled. For more information,
➤ Layers List on p. 27.
✯ Lower window resolution. If you set the window resolution too high, you may experience slow-downs in
performance. Try lowering the window resolution through the Window menu. If the Work window
becomes too small on the screen, set the screen resolution through the Windows control panel. For
more information, see your Windows documentation.
✯ Use the default water plane. Each map comes with one default water shape that has much less impact
on performance then any custom water shapes. For more information,
➤ Water Tool on p. 23.
✯ Avoid soft water display. When displaying soft water, you soften the edges between water shapes and
the land that surrounds them. While this effect is much more pleasing to the eye, it slows down World
Builder. To toggle display of soft water, select SHOW SOFT WATER in the View menu.
✯ Use default object shadows. While customizing shadows for individual objects can produce some nice
effects, there are more important design tasks. Additionally, it can slow down your speed in completing
those more important ones. Use customized object shadows sparingly.
✯ Check the amount of map displayed on-screen. Are you displaying the entire map? To toggle display of
the entire map, select SHOW ALL OF 3D MAP from the View menu.
✯ Watch your object counts. As a general rule, keep the number of objects below 100 per player in
multiplayer/Skirmish maps and 1,800 total objects for single-player mission maps. Object counts can
impact performance in World Builder and the game.
✯ Toggle OFF display of the macrotexture. To toggle display of the macrotexture, select SHOW
MACROTEXTURE from the View menu.