Post by kalbaern on Dec 18, 2008 21:16:52 GMT -5
As a general coverall I'll explain abit about "heartbeats" and how they affect NWN. "Heartbeat" is a catchall term for scripts that fire once per round or every 6 seconds. Nor are they merely limited to things that have scripts on their "OnHeartbeat" events. Any "perception" script qualifies as a heartbeat. "Stealth" mode when a player is sneaking qualifies as a heartbeat. Anything involving combat or familiars and summoned critters is heartbeat heavy. Lastly, anything using animated visual effects would qualify.
This is why we use encounter triggers to spawn creatures into the game. That way only those near actual PCs are firing scripts. It's also why we'll use "cleaners" to despawn creatures when an area is empty of players for a long enough period.
Wall torches, sparkling lights, prelit fireplaces, these all use "heartbeats" to recompute lighting effects as you near them. Use them sparingly if at all. For anything requiring an actual flame I'd prefer you instead use the "No Glow" flames listed under the Standard/Visuall Effects on the Placeables Pallette. the "No Glow's" are less of a load because they don't require the game to constantly recompute the static lighting as you move around or near them.
If any have a need to use the "Gargoyle Statues" in and area I have a way of doing them without their standard heartbeat and perception scripts. Just let me know.
It's not just flames and torches though. Check your exterior builds for rooftops that have smoke rising from them or tents and trees that seem to billow in the wind. If a city has one or two or even three scattered active smokestacks it's fine. Just don't send in areas with 15 billowing smoke out.
Sometimes though, there's simply no way to make something work without using a heartbeat in it's script. In those cases we'll bear with it. Heartbeats are at the core of any and all of the creature AIs we use. Too many heartbeats on the module running at once not only causes lag for all players, it makes creatures really dumb and ineffective in combat most times.
So bear with me in the future when my hesitation for possible changes or fixes is apparent. Most likely it's because nothing short of adding more "heartbeats" to the module is the fix or at least that I'm aware of.
Horses when/if added are extremely heartbeat heavy and can cause lag spikes especially in combat when mounted. If we're to eventually add horses into the module, then cutting as many other sources of lag out now as we build is the best course.
Lastly, consider this. For every 20-25 or so torches or other animations we do without, we enable at least one more area to be added to a smoothly running module in the end.
This is why we use encounter triggers to spawn creatures into the game. That way only those near actual PCs are firing scripts. It's also why we'll use "cleaners" to despawn creatures when an area is empty of players for a long enough period.
Wall torches, sparkling lights, prelit fireplaces, these all use "heartbeats" to recompute lighting effects as you near them. Use them sparingly if at all. For anything requiring an actual flame I'd prefer you instead use the "No Glow" flames listed under the Standard/Visuall Effects on the Placeables Pallette. the "No Glow's" are less of a load because they don't require the game to constantly recompute the static lighting as you move around or near them.
If any have a need to use the "Gargoyle Statues" in and area I have a way of doing them without their standard heartbeat and perception scripts. Just let me know.
It's not just flames and torches though. Check your exterior builds for rooftops that have smoke rising from them or tents and trees that seem to billow in the wind. If a city has one or two or even three scattered active smokestacks it's fine. Just don't send in areas with 15 billowing smoke out.
Sometimes though, there's simply no way to make something work without using a heartbeat in it's script. In those cases we'll bear with it. Heartbeats are at the core of any and all of the creature AIs we use. Too many heartbeats on the module running at once not only causes lag for all players, it makes creatures really dumb and ineffective in combat most times.
So bear with me in the future when my hesitation for possible changes or fixes is apparent. Most likely it's because nothing short of adding more "heartbeats" to the module is the fix or at least that I'm aware of.
Horses when/if added are extremely heartbeat heavy and can cause lag spikes especially in combat when mounted. If we're to eventually add horses into the module, then cutting as many other sources of lag out now as we build is the best course.
Lastly, consider this. For every 20-25 or so torches or other animations we do without, we enable at least one more area to be added to a smoothly running module in the end.