Thermometer Eaters

Hi All!

Salutations if you prefer. I've performed a couple of thread searches and have not found a one stop shop for clear and concise thermometer saving tips. I myself am always at odds with my thermometer (... and have yet to win one of our debates!). In talking with AJnKnox, he gave me some simple insight right off the bat... So I guess that's the way this thread should start...

(all apologies if I am rehashing anything here, but you people are brilliant! Bring me some do's and dont's.)

Thermometer Saving Suggestion #1

Don't embed lights. It makes the shape more complicated, thus eating more thermometer.

What I need to know is, how do I reduce the number of shapes?

I said possible because I could be wrong...(it has been known to happen!)





2. Keep shapes as simple as possible. The more cutouts or angles you have make the shape more complicated.

3. Circles are not simple shapes as they are made up of alot of little edges...enlarge one and see for yourself.

4. When using dark matter to 'hold' something use a triangle shape as it only has 3 sides.





:grr:

Emitters also eat thermometer space for breakfast especially if you set the maximum number of emitted objects to unlimited.
Use basic materials where possible they use up less then space then the others.
Try to use as few different materials as possible.

Keep it under 4 materials. That's the most simple one.

I have an idea, not sure if it works:

Use triangles for all hidden logic. I think the one less vertex would save a lot of thermo in a complex-logic level.

Hmmm.... there was actually a thread somewhere that Wyth and I did some REALLY intensive testing on this a few months ago. There always seems to be quite a bit of misunderstandings here.

There's actually a number of thermos, but the one most filled is the one that displays. This means that if you're already using a ton of edges in your level (so that your "complex shapes" thermo is really high), you might as well use a bunch of different types of materials because it's a separate thermo.

The "separate objects" thermo is a totally separate thermo that contains all the unglued objects in your levels, and therefore they are governed by complex physics. So, to have less objects you can glue more things to dark matter or the base of the level.

Emitters, if used properly, are actually pretty darned efficient. The biggest mistake people make that uses up a bunch of thermo here is to set the "max emitted at once" higher than necessary. The thermo is raised by the max emitted at once x the thermo taken up by the object being emitted. Also, since an object doesn't exist until it's physically emitted an object that's emitted can be easier on CPU than an object that sits in your level all the time.


So... to illustrate - on Splat Invaders II I was at about 95% thermo near the end of development.... however, since this was primarily separate objects and vertices thermo, at that point I was able to add about 10 more material types without the thermo going up at all.

Can anyone back up my idea?

Absolutely - the less edges on your materials the better. You can keep your complex objects thermo down that way. But since most levels don't have a TON of background logic, and you are only saving 1 edge per switch - it's kind of a small difference.

Mm should release a patch that lets you see the most important (if not all) thermometers, like in the start menu or something.

I TOTALLY agree. I think the issue is the tradeoff between friendly and feature-rich. They are going for a design that makes everyone completely comfortable (including kids), but the creators are now incredibly advanced and are pushing a lot of this to the limit. When I'm creating, I use a flow that makes it kind of moot - I design incredibly boxy with little detail and few materials, then when the entire level is built I go back and start adding edges and controllably adding materials so I can see the thermo usage through the process.

But it would definately be useful to see all the different areas that are becoming full... but, of course, at that point the file sizes of the published levels will start getting much bigger because creators will push ALL the thermos to the max (which, maybe, MM are trying to avoid?)

Don't overcomplicate hidden mechanics, find out the easiest way to do it first using as little materials as possible, doesn't matter if it's messy, they won't see it :)

I only have one tip for now.

Remember that enemies will eat away your therometer as if it was a chocolate bar, so don't put in too many enemies and keep the enemies as simple as possible. A good thing to avoid your therometer from getting filled by this is to plan out how many enemies are going to be in your level.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by lk9988

I only have one tip for now.

Remember that enemies will eat away your therometer as if it was a chocolate bar, so don't put in too many enemies and keep the enemies as simple as possible. A good thing to avoid your therometer from getting filled by this is to plan out how many enemies are going to be in your level.

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But.... what if my enemy is a little electric square with a brain on it?

;)

Circles eat shape thermo, but sometimes you need a circle for design purposes or visual effect. I have kind of a workaround I've been using; I noticed I can save on edges if I use a sponge material and an OCTAGON instead of a circle. An octagon looks very much like a circle when using sponge, it's still visually pleasing and it only contains 8 sides. Also, going back and having a look at your "curvy" edges, if some are part of sponge materials, you can almost always cut down on edges without the sacrifice of its visual shape and curve, the in-game engine smooths them out really nicely :D.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dawesbr

Can anyone back up my idea?

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My testing doesn't bear it out.

I managed to put 1398 flat circles on a bare stage before overheating.

Contrast that with 1399 flat squares.

This is post-Yarg. Pre-Yarg it was different.

Basically, anything written Pre-Yarg needs to be retested as they've changed a lot about how thermo is calculated.

All I know is when using a lot of logic ALWAYS make different types of switches to see witch ones are more thermo friendly. One of my levels uses a ton of logic. Mainly one type of switch was used. my first version of the switch annihilated the thermo badly. back to the drawing board. second version worked out great.

These are great tips, LBPCentroids.

Anyway, umm...I can't think of a tip, now. I'll come back later...