I'm using blocks set to "none" to simulate shadows for complex static entities, but I am wondering if these blocks impact the game's frame rate even though they are invisible. Is this the case, or does it only slow down the compiling process? Thanks!

blocks with their surfaces set to none do IMPROVE yor framerate. Infact, a good level designer sets all non-visible surfaces of the blocks(those wich the player will never, or should never, see ingame) to none, so it improves the framerate, even if it are just small surfaces(like the downside of a wall) but it all sums up

Best way: Select all of your blocks, set them ALL to none, then go back and texture JUST the visible portions. It's usually a case where you have fewer sides of a block visible than not, so this can save time.

Thank you for your quick responses! I actually already did this with the walls, floor, etc. in my level because of speed.

My question is, does the framerate slow down at all just by the block's existance in the first place, even if ALL its surfaces are "none"?

In other words, say I have a square room with a giant crate in the center. The crate itself is an entity. I want the crate to cast a shadow using blocks, and so I create an invisible block around the crate to cast a shadow around the room. The block that is on the crate is invisible, but it DOES cast shadows. Does this make the framerate any slower than if I had never made that center block over the entity?

Thanks again!

Not really, yet at the same time, yes.

What I mean by that is that no, the block itself shouldn't give you a hit on framerate, BUT, by having that block there, you're dealing with shadows, which is going to affect your framerate.

The shadows are saved in the shadowmap, and thus do not affect the framerate.

Dynamic shadows won't affect framerate?

static shadows

The shadows are static. The entity itself isn't casting any dynamic shadows. Thanks, guys!

The blocks would affect speed in another way as they would be considered in collision detection.