Resolution LOD Samples – Operation Flashpoint
The official BIS 5tTruck uses the following resolution LODs:
| LOD | 0.75 | 1.50 | 3.00 | 5.00 | 7.00 | 9.00 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Points | 2409 | 1517 | 994 | 696 | 464 | 222 |
| Faces | 1832 | 1096 | 555 | 331 | 191 | 91 |
If you test this on an empty map (desert), with just one truck visible, you will get the following switching distances:
| 0.75 | 1.50 | 3.00 | 5.00 | 7.00 | 9.00 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 175 | 310 | 535 | >1000 | >1000 |
(Which means that LOD 0.75 will be used from 0-175 meters, LOD 1.50 from 175-310 meters, and so on.)
View distance isn't the only variable that comes into play though.
If, instead of one truck, you look at ten instead, you will get the following results:
| 0.75 | 1.50 | 3.00 | 5.00 | 7.00 | 9.00 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 40 | 100 | 210 | 300 | 380 |
As you can see, the switching distances are significantly smaller.
Instead of switching to LOD 1.50 at a distance of 175 meters, with 10 trucks visible LOD 1.50 becomes active at a distance of 40 meters already!
If you tighten the whole range a bit (instead of going from 0.75 to 9.00 you go from 0.00 to 5.00), you will see that the lowest resolution LOD (5.0) becomes active at 190 meters already. (Whereas in the original setting the car wasn't even visible anymore at the highest LOD, as it was more than 1000 meters away.)
| 0.00 | 1.00 | 2.00 | 3.00 | 4.00 | 5.00 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 car | 0 | 40 | 80 | 115 | 155 | 190 |
| 10 cars' | 0 | 30 | 60 | 100 | 145 | 185 |
Game settings also come into play, when it comes to LOD selection, as you can see from the following example.
The first series was done with video settings set to 'High Detail', and the second one with 'Low Detail'.
Since in the 'Low Detail' setting fewer other objects/polygons are visible, model LODs are switched later:
| hi-res | 1.00 | 2.00 | 3.00 | 4.00 | 5.00 | 6.00 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 car | 0 | 80 | 140 | 180 | 230 | 280 |
| 10 cars | 0 | 50 | 100 | 130 | 200 | 235 |
| lo res | 1.00 | 2.00 | 3.00 | 4.00 | 5.00 | 6.00 |
| 1 car | 90 | 205 | 300 | 380 | 460 | >1000 |
| 10 cars | 220 | 335 | 440 | 555 | >1000 | >1000 |
To demonstrate a very extreme setting, you will see that with LOD settings of 100 and more, the second LOD never even comes into play with a single vehicle, and even with 10 vehicles it only switches from the highest LOD to the second stage one at a distance of 520 meters:
| 0.00 | 100.00 | 200.00 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 car | 0 | >1000 | >1000 |
| 10 cars | 0 | 520 | >1000 |