Hello all..
I downloaded the city prefab on the acknex resource site, the very BIG one.You know how big it is.Anyway, I want to put it in my game, so i loaded the prefab, made a player and put a player action to it. I built the level ( for a long time, but i think its ok 'cause its such a big level).. So i ran it, took a long time to load,then alas, it opened...what looked like a slideshow! the framefate was ridiculous, it only increases when i look at the floor or some small areas. I have seen a tutorial on how to handle big levels, know any?

Pls give some tips so i can run my game, tnx people!!

Well outdoor levels have low FPS
The problem with the A6 is that is has a normal culling system,
called BSP tree. (Binary Spave Partition)
The BSP tree system is the fastest and the most effective, especially for indoor levels, but has the disadvantage that the BSP tree must be precalculated by the level editor.So this requires compilation of the level every-time one makes a change to his level
So basicly this system is used for indoor levels.
The second culling system that the A6 engine, saddely doesn't include, is the Portal or Octree which is very effective when using the outdoor levels.

Now I'll give you an introduction to LOD system:
The LOD system is know as Level Of Detail system which helps the engine inceasing the FPS in the outdoor level.The LOD system automatically switches to 'simpler' shapes of objects when they are far away from the camera, thus reducing the overall number of polygon drawn per second.As soon the shapes or object come closer it automatically starts showing detailed stuff instantly.

What can also reduce the FPS is using low poly models and a lack of sprites !!
This can make a huge difference !!
Also, a new plugin on the market named Sphere Engine made by Matt_Aufderheide, is an exellent plugin when using outdoor levels.
I have even another suggestion for you, just make sure when compiling that the
visibilty calculation and the light calculation is set to low like here:
http://img226.imageshack.us/my.php?image=compiler5xw.jpg

Well maybe abit huge to swallow at one piece but this is just the plain truth
Not that I don't love the A6 engine, it's simply the BEST game engine on the market !!

Cheers

Frazzle

Using model-only levels has tons of advantages:

1. They render far faster. With my system having a 3 GHz processor and Radeon 9600 XT video card without updated drivers (drivers from August 12, 2004 or December 8, 2004 - date format conflict), I'm able to get over 100,000 visible polygons and still have above 60 fps. That's without LOD, collision, or other complex things either.
2. The build times are near-instant. Regardless of complexity, it can take but a half second for it to actually build so you can build and run your level all within just 5 seconds, probably not even that long.
3. Flexibility in shape. Why bother restricting yourself to convex surfaces when models support any shape whether simple or complex.
4. Otherwise unlimited level size. Blocks don't compile much beyond 120,000 quants from the origin. Yet, models can go beyond 1,000,000 quants, theoretically up to 2,097,152 quants, allowing for extremely large levels.

These are the biggest of advantages. Tossing in LOD, you could simulate a level of 500,000 visible polygons and get above 60 fps. Collision, shaders, and complex dynamic light arrangements could have a further reduction in the frame rate.

Yey! tnx for the tips!! helped me alot!

so if those are the advantages of model-only levels, what are the disadvantages?
i have read this somewhere, but i forgot where it is...

I just noticed that what I had earlier is *much* less than I thought it was. I also discovered that the kps value in the debug panel is roughly half of what it actually is. With 640,000 visible polygons, I'm getting 30 fps which means 19,200,000 polygons per second. I haven't updated the drivers or anything yet nor received my new video card, but this was more than amazing. You can have 300,000 visible polygons and still get above 60 fps. Tossing in LOD, collision, possible shaders, and other things, you could still have at least 100,000 visible polygons (500,000 with LOD used), and still have a smooth 60 fps. I'm writing a program to do my benchmarking experiment I carried out nearly a half year ago so you can see for yourself how good the frame rates and stuff can get.

The only disadvantages I know of is that getting collision to work is a little trickier (I haven't done anything with collision yet so I don't know). Lighting is also a little trickier, but otherwise not all that bad. Overall, the advantages heavily outweigh the few minor disadvantages giving no competition at all (like an Olympic athlete to an infant that can't crawl).

by the way, is it possible to convert a map entity into a model entity???

I've heard of others being able to do so, but some had issues with doing this conversion. I've never done it so I don't know.

"Overall, the advantages heavily outweigh the few minor disadvantages giving no competition at all (like an Olympic athlete to an infant that can't crawl)."

Sounds like BS, honestly

So what actually are the Disadvantages of Model-only Levels? I always thought building the World in Blocks (WED) render faster and take less Ressources than Models (plus better/easier lighting and Collision)
Plus i somehow have the feeling its generally Low-End-PC-friendlier, or am i wrong?

WED blocks are downright slow. Try building something with just 100 blocks visible and see what the frame rate is. Now build the same thing using a model-only level. The difference in the frame rate is so obvious, there's no competition between models and WED blocks for who is better.

Again, sounds heavily biased... so care to explain why it is how you say it is?