How many units until it's going to lag?

[Icyculyr]

My map at the moment supports twelve players.

The most units on the map at any one time could be a max of 480;
240 Footmen, only patrolling, 240 Mortar Teams firing.

Is this going to lag for some people?

Also I'm wondering, if it would lag, would it go away if the majority of those units were not visible to the current player?

IE, he only see's 40 footmen and 40 mortar teams, would he still experience any lag from the other 400?

Kind Regards

 

[Komaqtion]

1. Well, I can't say a limit for lag, since there are many more factors than just units, but that seems like quite a lot... Though shouldn't lag too much :S

2. No, it would still lag as much, since it still takes mamory to create the units (Which is what causes the lag)

 

[Icyculyr]

I see, well, is there a definitely OK range for not being too many?

Like perhaps 20 units per player?

Is it likely that large amount of mortars firing every 3 seconds will cause lag also?

Is there anything I can do to make it lag less, like: less smaller units?

Kind Regards

 

[Komaqtion]

Well, I'd believe that 20 units per player is definately in the "no-lag" range, as that's less than what a normal player in a melee map owns...

And don't think that the mortar teams should cause lag, but unsure...
It's not gonna cause lag which makes the map unplayable, at least

Is there anything I can do to make it lag less, like: less smaller units?

Use Vexorian's Map Optimizer

 

[Icyculyr]

Thanks, how does that decrease the lag though?
That also obfuscates it right, so it's protected from map vandalism?

Kind Regards

 

[HydraRancher]

Thanks, how does that decrease the lag though?
That also obfuscates it right, so it's protected from map vandalism?

Kind Regards

Vexorians Map Optimizer makes the map smaller, Komaqtion assumed thats what u meant.

 

[Manix]

My map at the moment supports twelve players.

The most units on the map at any one time could be a max of 480;
240 Footmen, only patrolling, 240 Mortar Teams firing.

Is this going to lag for some people?

Also I'm wondering, if it would lag, would it go away if the majority of those units were not visible to the current player?

IE, he only see's 40 footmen and 40 mortar teams, would he still experience any lag from the other 400?

Kind Regards

1: The lag your units can be simply reduced by doing this, although the lag depends on how powerful the user's computer is, it might lag for someone but not lag for someone else..
2: Yes it is possible, since the user's map wont be displaying the units the lag might be reduced.

 

[Bird]

I play custom 12 player FFAs all the time... certainly there could be 480 or so units at once on a map, and there is no problem. The only lag I ever see occur is when I am playing against computers - I assume the WC engine can't handle all of the AI decisions for 8-12 computers with many units at once. With 12 human players you are fine.

 

[RedactedFriend9900]

I don't know, I found warcraft 3 likes to die on me at around 400 units.

 

[tmow]

Just preload the units. Itll be a longer load time but itll be much more worth it....The way II WOULD do it is

if your trying to make a maze game. Have it so when the units reach a checkpoint it brings all allied units to the checkpoint and removes all the units from the previous course and spawns the new ones for the next course instead of having 1000 things going off at the same time...

 

[TheCrystal]

Many units on a map will not cause map, the only thing the player would be currently loading on his computer is on his screen. If you have 400 units on the screen, you'll get lag regardless of your computer (That's when the gamma messed, and the models get all funky).
The best thing to do is not have them all on the screen at the same time.
For the mortar men, everytime they shoot it creates an "Explosion" effect on the ground, if you're worried about people with failcomputers, lower the length of that explosion through the Terrain Editor->Advanced Tab->Game Constants (Effects or something it's called in there).

 

[FhelZone]

1. The animation of the unit, animations always cause lag, take for instance Night Elf Melee AIs tend to cause lag most of the time because of the highly animated buildings.

2. Unit's location, the more unit is on the players screen, the more lag the player would experience.

3. Projectiles, sure projectiles also cause lag, but that would be a case if your units attack cooldown would be .01 or something around .10 which alows the unit to fire too many projectiles at once.

4. Effects, consider the attachment, buffs and etc. that would be on you unit. They are small effects but can also cause lag. One lag maker attachments are hose who emits too much particles.

5. Doodads and trees, yes they are harmless, but if you use too much of these they may be a factor of lagging, especially if you use skills with deformation effects (Shockwave, Hoof Stomp, etc.)

In the end 480 might not lag in a computer with lets say 1 gig video card. Play the game in a computer with 512 MB RAM and no video card, you will surely have the best gaming experience brought to you by lag. Hope this helps you.

 

[Icyculyr]

I see, well technically it's a maximum of 50-100 units visible on the screen at once (all of them on the minimap).

Only few units with little animations, no buffs or abilities.

Projectiles I can reduce the size of it a little if necessary.

No doodads or tree's at all.

@tmow, it's an escape maker, so it won't work that way unfortunately.

How do I preload units?

Kind Regards