As mentioned in other posts I ran into a mesh limit issue that I am not too happy about. The reason for this is at 1300 hrs in game I found this new limit to completely stop me from being able to add the new and future machines/items in my existing house. It would basically require me to redesign my workshop even though I have space to put things but without understanding what mesh limit there was and if my efforts would succeed. Note I can’t even place a torch because of the limit.
I completely understand the concern on mesh count and how it could lag computers within the current game engine. I feel that if there is no other way around this then we do need some type of limit. But, based on what I am seeing right now the limit isn’t making sense and I think there is a bug or other type of problem with it because of the problem I am having. Or the limit is way too severe.
So I wanted to offer a few observations and suggestions on how to change the design:
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My house (Berlyn, 1023N 1484E) has a multiple floor design to keep it smaller and looking like an actual house. The mesh count was 526 in each plot of a 2x2 plot area. All other plots around were much lower in count. Since mesh limits apply to the chunk which is vertical, that means all 3 floors of each plot were locked with no ability to build.
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I found a tower (Elop Portas, -2139N -377E) that was a 2x2 plot design as well and had about 637 meshes in each plot. So we have a case of a higher mesh count than mine but if the limit was set to the highest mesh count in all the worlds then I would have at least 100 more meshes that I could place – yet I cannot. So the limit must be set to 526 and not 637 since I cannot place, or there is a bug.
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Cities are the biggest reason for mesh limits, yet many only hand people out a 2x2 type design and we also see many towers in cities because of that 2x2 design. Due to this you will have builds that have multiple floors like my house and come across people trying to place every item and machine (at least 1) in the game on each of those floors. My house didn’t have an excess of items and mostly focused on ensuring each item had at least 1 storage and machine. So the mesh count needs to at least allow for that in the design. You have to expect smaller 2x2 builds across this game and that they will be putting a lot of meshes into that 2x2 area.
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I visited many cities and workshops that were not locked down and looked at the mesh count in the dev tools. I noticed many plots that had 200, 300, 400 values even in builds that were larger ones. So even a large build could accidentally be designed in a way that results in more meshes in 1 plot than expected with low mesh values in the plots surrounding the large one.
Here are some suggestions of how to make the mesh limit easier for us:
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Offer a FPS counter in the upper right like you do for the network MS value and ping. That way at least we can see easier how computers respond to mesh lag.
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Offer an entry in inventory like you have for plots that shows us when we are near the max amount of meshes in a plot. This helps us plan a bit better.
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I’m not sure the design but it appears mesh limit is focused on a single 1 plot vertical chunk. Instead design it around the AVERAGE mesh values for a 8x8 or 16x16 PLOT block. Or something like that.
This allows a better count of the actual meshes in the area since that is how builds end up. Most builds had a high mesh number in a single plot and very low numbers in plots beside it. If we focus on the average then it makes it much easier to support builds and not cause a constraint situation where a couple plots completely ruin a whole build and time the person put into it.
Additionally, this AVERAGE mesh count across plots or whole beacons would fit better in a city design as well as a small house design like mine. Obviously the average number still need to be very high to support all the items in the game.
If you are still worried about some fool taking the time to get all the resources needed to craft a million machines and pop them into a single plot then set a mesh limit but please make it at least 2000 or something much higher than my 526 or the 637 build. Those places are done in a way that could be VERY common in the game and shouldn’t be hurt because of a possible grief situation that isn’t likely going to happen.
I know there are a lot of things on the devs plate to look at and change, but I hope since this can be looked at because if we are getting new items that will increase the mesh limit then you might start seeing problems soon because of the limit being too low or causing problems with simple builds like mine.