Hey guys, jsut a quick question! I’ve begun modeling my characters with a very low poly count and using a level 1 subsurf modifier to bring up the smoothness. What i’m wondering is if there is any performance change between leaving the modifier active and applying it. I’d like to keep it active for quick model updates later on, but i don’t know if the modifier will add any extra strain on the system. Thanks!
im reasonably certain the BGE applies the modifier before running, so there should be no difference?
just test it.
Create 800 copies of your model ingame, check the frame rate (if it is >=60) add some more until it is 20-50fps.
now apply your modifier and run the same test again. Check if the frame rate significantly changed.
See thread CPU costs of… .
It contains a demo file, you can easily modify for your needs.
Monster’s method of checking out if it drains the FPS is correct, but I believe that applying the modifier makes the BGE run faster than without it. However, I wouldn’t worry about it until your game’s finished.
Applying modifiers that dramatically adds polygons and complexity in hopes of speeding up the BGE will increase the file-size of the .blend as well, so I would do that with caution if you want to keep the game size down.
I model like this all too often. For simple display and physics, you wouldn’t see a huge change, but at 375,000 faces applying the modifier saw a significant framerate increase.
Also, the rasterizer does not seem to like armatures and subsurfs together on the same model, you’d want to apply the modifier before it’d be ready to go. If you don’t, then as soon as a bone deforms the mesh, the rasterizer goes up a rather absurd amount and kills your framerate.
Good to know, thanks a lot guys ill keep all this in mind!