[Craig]

Once a map gets built up significantly, the GPU can start struggling to draw all the graphics, causing lower frame rates or draw lag.

It's all about visible faces. A face is the side of a block. If the side of a block is exposed to air, that side is a visible face and the game must draw it. The more visible faces the game has to draw, the more work it has to do; the more likely the map will start to hit the limits of the graphics hardware.

1. Hidden visible faces. How can visible faces be hidden? These are faces inside enclosed areas. The game does not know if a face is inside an enclosed area, all it knows is if the face is exposed to air. Significant landscaping can create enclosed areas. e.g. if you build a flat surface over a non flat terrain, this can leave empty areas underneath the flat surface you built, down to the ground. Any face inside this enclosed area will still have to be drawn, even though players will never see them. So to remove these hidden visible faces, fill in the enclosed areas. The Creative Fill tool is a great way to do that.

2. While the sunrise/sunset effect is active, the GPU is executing a lot of extra commands to create the effect. If you freeze the day/night cycle so that the sunrise/sunset effect is always active, the GPU is working much harder than it is during normal day or night time. If your map is experiencing draw lag, freezing the day/night cycle outside the sunrise/sunset effect can help.

[RF In The Jet]

thank you craig, this will be very helpfull

[N0T Original]

Thanks for sharing that! Now I'm more likely to completely flatten land when building something...

[Kitty]

Thanks for the Info Craig, very helpful.

[DecadentBeaver]

If I ever build a flat surface over non flat terrain, I always fill it up. But the other tip is very handy to know.

[Whereiswaldo114]

I have a question. DO Sunblocks by any chance create lag when used in large quantities?

[pulse1motion]

thanks for those tips they are very help full

[DiamondBack662]

I have a question. DO Sunblocks by any chance create lag when used in large quantities?

I just got through removing a bunch when creating a component map... they seem to increase the size quite a bit as well.. removing them helped reduce the size of the map for me (I was using them to line up components, thus I didn't need to keep them.. Had thousands)

Good info on leaving voids on the map.. I'll be filling in some of those.

[Craig]

I have a question. DO Sunblocks by any chance create lag when used in large quantities?

No they don't create lag. But like DB said, they will increase the save file size because they add light, which is data, which needs to be stored.

[Holiday]

Once a map gets built up significantly, the GPU can start struggling to draw all the graphics, causing lower frame rates or draw lag.

It's all about visible faces. A face is the side of a block. If the side of a block is exposed to air, that side is a visible face and the game must draw it. The more visible faces the game has to draw, the more work it has to do; the more likely the map will start to hit the limits of the graphics hardware.

1. Hidden visible faces. How can visible faces be hidden? These are faces inside enclosed areas. The game does not know if a face is inside an enclosed area, all it knows is if the face is exposed to air. Significant landscaping can create enclosed areas. e.g. if you build a flat surface over a non flat terrain, this can leave empty areas underneath the flat surface you built, down to the ground. Any face inside this enclosed area will still have to be drawn, even though players will never see them. So to remove these hidden visible faces, fill in the enclosed areas. The Creative Fill tool is a great way to do that.

 How does that work with the grass and flowers? If I use flood and it fills in around grass and flowers does it leave a visible face? How about water if I flood over water how does the system handle that? Should I fill in the water first or does it not matter?
Thanks for your time.