Walkmesh Cutters and Trees

[ElCadaver]

Hi All,
I've just read on a building forum that the common practice of walkmesh cutters around trees actually causes areas to use more resources for PW's, as loading all the cutters is harder than loading a smaller TRN with holes cut out of it. Apparently the less walkable area, the easier on the system, and the holes count. So below is what is recommended. What is everyone else doing, and does anyone have any comments?

[t-ice]

It would make sense for that to be the most effecient, since cutters shaped round and otherwise curved will need more mesh nodes to do with the triangles. I would wager that the effect is so small as to be totally irrelevant, though. What matters is that trees are environment objects with walkmesh cut-outs , as opposed to placeables.

[I-KP]

It would make sense for that to be the most effecient, since cutters shaped round and otherwise curved will need more mesh nodes to do with the triangles. I would wager that the effect is so small as to be totally irrelevant, though.

Depends. The NWN2 engine is a shocking peice of work so I always erred on the side of caution when building and opted for pumping as fewer polys at it as possible. (It is for this reason that cutting densly built exteriors into sections is always preferable over leaving it as a single, over-built exterior - largely due to the cutting resulting in a very high number of polys in the walkmesh. BG's Gate is a good example of a well segmented, densly built up region; whereas MS's Caer Callyydr[sp?] isn't.)

On a related note, builders should be aware of the value of leaving an environment object such as bushes and general undergrowth, even low hedges, as walkable. Throughout my time on BG I noticed that the walkmesh cropping was super-aggressive rendering even the smallest patch of bushes unwalkable. Leave the undergrowth as walkable; it creates opportunities for hidden (from sight) encounters/placements and allows a wider arena of operation and RP for the sneaky / outlander types (both PC and NPC). It makes sense to cut boulders and tree trunks from the walkmesh, of course.

[Zelknolf]

Dubious claim sounds dubious.

Where's the original discussion?

[ElCadaver]

"envi(ronmental) objects never count, but the mesh cutters around them do. Walkmesh cutters are the only trigger that affects the walkmesh. Basically it is just cutters and placables and the walk/not walk terrain painting that affects the mesh. "

http://nwn2.wikia.com/wiki/PW_Builders_Guidelines

[Zelknolf]

The placeable limit referred to is a condition when the complexity of the walkmesh in a tile becomes too severe for the toolset's baking to decide how to bake it-- and it'll just make the entire tile unwalkable. The advice there is to look at the baked walkmesh and look for tiles which have been blocked off entirely (they won't have a baked mesh on them, and will be surrounded by a white outline). When those show up, shuffle things that change the walkmesh (like placeables and cutters) and/or remove some to get it to bake.