Say that on a StaticMesh asset there are 4 available LODs and the “Minimum LOD” specified is 2.
Question 1:
Does the packaged version of this StaticMesh asset only include the LODs 2 and 3, with the consequence of a reduced disk size? Or this settings is only used for rendering purposes at runtime, bur all the LODs are packaged anyway?
Question2:
If all LODs are packaged anyway, what about specifying that LOD0 has 25% reduction? Would this cause the packaged asset to be actually smaller?
Hello there @rickyviking!
For the first question, all LODs are included by default for the pack. Setting minimal LOD to 2 will affect runtime, but the data will still be present inside your build.
As for the second one, the reduction will decrease the poly count, indeed. And if you apply from LOD 0, it will affect all subsequent LODs, so the final asset will be smaller.
If you want to ensure that extra/un-needed LODS are not present in your build, the best approach is to remove them from each mesh in Editor:
Hi @brs-sebascova !
Thank you for the detailed answer.
Just to make sure on point 1: by default the cooking process keeps all the LODs, but if using the setting explained by your link, the packaging will discard the LODs higher than the “Minimum LOD” specified for the mesh - is this correct?
What I’m after is not only reducing the tri count for the rendering, but also the size in order to improve the World Partition streaming performance.
And from your explanation, using solution number 2 should achieve that result as well.
Hello again!
That is correct, the process from the link will discard the LODs higher than minimum set. As for the second solution, that will keep the LODs, but reduce their polycount further. You could combine both methods, having a minimal LOD at a reduced polycount, and also removing the ones not being used.
Crystal clear! I’ll give it a try right away.
Thanks!