A way to reduce the piece count?

[sockeyejo]

I bought Planet Zoo for the animals and then also fell in love with the building but I can't do anything especially elaborate as my computer can't cope unless I stick to really small zoos. But I had to do something in Photoshop earlier and as I merged the layers I had a thought: what if we could do this in Planet Zoo for buildings and scenery? My vague thoughts were that you'd create something and then merge it all into one piece on the understanding that it can't be undone or changed, much like a .jpg file vs the original photoshop version.

I've no idea if that is even possible or if Frontier would consider such a feature but it would be amazing if the answers were yes.

 

[Lelka]

I don't really think that would help much of the performance...Even if multiple basic pieces get merged to be a united "piece", it would still have all the verticles of each pieces' models.

 

[Firestar97]

Doesn't just merging Objects into one Group have the same Effect? I think someone mentioned it once

 

[WolfofAnarchy]

Do you build with a lot of wooden pieces? Pieces that are climbable are constantly being calculated by the game's climbing algorithm, whether you have climbing animals in your zoo at all or not. People report it all the time that areas of their zoos with lots of climbing objects lag more than climbing-free areas.

 

[KellyL]

Do you build with a lot of wooden pieces? Pieces that are climbable are constantly being calculated by the game's climbing algorithm, whether you have climbing animals in your zoo at all or not. People report it all the time that areas of their zoos with lots of climbing objects lag more than climbing-free areas.

This is interesting. Do you know if the regular wooden barriers are constantly being calculated even if you add the no-climbing top? Are they constantly being calculated even if you use them for non-climbing animals?

 

[Leaf Productions]

Planet Zoo does not lag out of Piece Count as you would think but instead lags out of vertices and polygons. For example, if you place 5000 Wooden Beams, it'd be much more of a lighter load than say, 5000 Mech-a-Roos. I usually recommend for players with lower budget rigs to get more funky and creative with those low polygon pieces instead of much more intensive pieces.

 

[Firestar97]

This is interesting. Do you know if the regular wooden barriers are constantly being calculated even if you add the no-climbing top? Are they constantly being calculated even if you use them for non-climbing animals?

I assume it would need to be climb proof from both Sides to not constantly calculate

 

[WolfofAnarchy]

This is interesting. Do you know if the regular wooden barriers are constantly being calculated even if you add the no-climbing top? Are they constantly being calculated even if you use them for non-climbing animals?

I'm not sure to be honest, but as I'm playing on a lower-end machine myself, I've never experienced lag where barriers are concerned. Just climbable construction and enrichment pieces.

Also +1 to what Leaf said. Complex pieces will also lag the game more than good old box-shaped pieces will.