It angers me a little to see this thread, most readers will lose even more trust in TMTK assets just by looking at the title.
And it is not really based on facts, but on assumptions.
The GPU will NOT render what isn't there. PERIOD.
The GPU cache might grab a file it's not supposed to pick, but it will not transfer to a render instruction.
The issue at hand is low-end computers, and sorry to say this, but there is only so much optimization with Vanilla, DLC and TMTK possible on the developer side.
It doesn't matter what kind of asset it is, except for really badly done LOD reduction on particular TMTK models and a few select Frontier assets.
In the end it really depends on the creator, and therefore a certain difference should be made in the judgement of whether to subscribe to their items, or not.
I run my PlanCo on a 1080Ti with a Intel 7700k, that's not low-end, though not top-notch either (it was 4 years ago)
I can run it fluidly with (and including all my TMTK-made assets) above 60fps at over 10k guests with way over 90k individual objects spawned, no crashes, no crazy lag EXCEPT FOR when it autosaves, which is just logical given the strain on the memory pipeline.
Everyone should be aware that PlanCo is a balance act between individual freedom of creativity and limitation of assets.
There is NO Magic Wand that will make this go away. You want to build more detailed parks,
you will have to at one point look into upgrading your system. There is no way around that,
and therefore i think this thread is pointless, as it's not factual (please provide some actual information on the supposed rendering of unspawned objects in PlanCo)
as it is only an assumtion of what might cause lag. In the last update in January/February the LOD distance for TMTK items has been nerfed, this was to balance out the
high poly count most LODs are taking up (AND IT DEPENDS ON THE CREATOR, WHETHER HE TAKES THE TIME TO REDUCE IT TO THE MOST OPTIMAL LEVEL, OR NOT) The same thing happened in RCT3 back in the days, just with more severe effects. Not all modders know or care about how to build a performant model
and in RCT3 it caused crashes and lag to a point where the game became too unstable to do anything with (from a user's perspective)
The big difference is, PlanCo is way more stable, and the tight limitations of the TMTK converter prevent models that are too extreme in polycount and size
to be implemented. But as much as i would want to complain about FDev's handling of PlaCo modding, this is as optimized as can be, towards performance.
If you want to go crazy with whatever you want to do within PlanCo, upgrade your RAM, your GPU and maybe your CPU, if you want that enjoyable experience.
You wouldn't overload your car by a large margin and expect it to still drive as intended, no? Same applies here.
I can't confirm the GPU instructs a drawcall for unspawned TMTK items, i have seen ZERO evidence pointing towards this.
Those assets are handled the same by the Engine as Vanilla, with the exception of LOD-draw distances (and even that's not a confirmed fact, but a subjective observation)
Stay safe, everyone!
ArtificialArtist