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Asset size and performance

Posted: Mon Aug 07, 2017 1:37 pm
by xavram
I'm working on an isometric map and it has a wall image that runs for like 1300 squares. To make life easier for me, I created a really big image of the wall, and then just copied it 4 times and pieced them together to get a continous wall. The asset is big, a 3000x1800 png image.

Then i got to wondering if this is the right way to tackle this. Which is preferable in maptool? Less assets that are really big...or tons of assets that are more reasonably sized? Is there a conclusive "go this route" answer or does it depend more on specific circumstances?

Thanks! No problems with chopping my 4 walls into 40 walls, if that helps with performance!

Re: Asset size and performance

Posted: Mon Aug 07, 2017 2:30 pm
by wolph42
IMX: lots of small is faster than a few large.

Re: Asset size and performance

Posted: Mon Aug 07, 2017 3:06 pm
by JamzTheMan
Yea, if it's a "repeatable" image, it's better to let MT repeat that image for you vs doing it externally and creating a large map. However, it's really based on memory size.

For instance, if that 3000x1800 is only 100kb image, then that's not much of a concern. If it's 30mb, that's an issue (well, could be, depends on your player's clients. Running on a core i7 with 48 GB ram and on a 1 GB network, is a lot different than I3's with 4GB ram over the internet)

So, if you have 1 10kb image representing 1 cell, and paste that 1300 times, MT can cache the image once and draw it 1300 times more efficiently than 1 single 130mb image...

Re: Asset size and performance

Posted: Mon Aug 07, 2017 8:03 pm
by xavram
Thanks for the feedback.

The original "big" image was 3.4 megs, the new one which I now repeat lots and lots times is 277 kb. Once I had replaced all the big pieces with all the small pieces, the overall size of the campaign file itself dropped by 3 megs, so that seems to be roughly the difference.

Have not had a chance to see actual performance, with players connected, but hoepfully this is a step in the right direction.

Re: Asset size and performance

Posted: Mon Aug 07, 2017 9:12 pm
by JamzTheMan
It definitely won't hurt at least.