I want to create a large city with level streaming but I have some concerns about my workflow.
The way I thought I would go about this is to create modular pieces for buildings within my modeling program and then use those to construct full buildings still within the modeling program and then export the whole building to unreal.
I figure this would be better for performance since each building is going to made out of a few parts and multiple materials rather than hundreds of modular pieces each with multiple materials. That seems like it would be a lot of unnecessary drawcalls. This also lets me control how I want the building to look from far away when it switches LODs. I’m not sure how I would handle LODs if the building was made up of hundreds of parts.
The interiors would be their own separate mesh so that it can be loaded and unloaded if the player is outside of the building. The different floors or rooms could be loaded using volumes but I’m not sure how I would stream the exterior. Would all the exteriors be in their own level or all in 1. Would ue4 cull these when they are not in view?
If you guys have any tips, recommendations, concerns, ideas, anything at all I want to hear it. Does this sound like a good way to approach this kind of project?
Any advice you guys can provide would be appreciated!