Multiple static mesh instances Vs big single static mesh

Development Programming & Scripting Blueprint
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1

I have to put a long fence on the side of a road.
All fences are the same mesh.

My question is: what is more optimized?

500 instances of the same static mesh in the UE scene

I am not sure because I know 1 single fence will take a single place in memory to be instanced and should be better, but downside is having a lot of actors in the scene instead a single one or splitting into just a few groups.

or

all the fences collapsed into a single static mesh?

Fences dont have collision. Just visuals.

Thanks
Dany

1 Like
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Can you:

image

Or, if the fence pieces need to remain individual / interactive, would a hierarchical instanced static mesh work? You get LODs this way.

3

Hi @Everynone thanks for your answer!

I can import all fences as single mesh from external software like blender and is a lot easier to make an array of fences, place along a spline, etc.

I know I can also collapse multiple meshes inside unreal into a single one, but my question is what is more expensive during gameplay: a lot of instanced static meshes (unreal static meshes in the scene are static mesh actors) or a single mesh with everything on it.

first option will take less memory as all the fences are just one with instances along the scene, option two has a single actor with a way bigger mesh in memory. Memory wise no doubt option one is better but performance wise I am not sure because the engine must deal with a lot of instances instead just one.

No need to use collisions.