Significance of Height and Optimization Methods

[Parhelion]

So this is really two questions rolled into one, but here goes:

1.) What is the significance of the "Height" option when selecting a height map? What is the real difference between 100, 200, and 300? Is there a particular reason you should choose one height over another in any particular scenario? (I realize that it limits the maximum height of terrain [or seems to], but does it limit the camera height in game? Is it just an optimization?)

2.) What are some methods that you use to optimization your worlds when you plan to create very large ones? (For example, ones with 100+ lots, multiple rabbitholes, etc.)

[Volvenom]

I think no 1 is a very interesting question. I have tried twice to fit one very big mountain on a very low above water terrain. So it's flat just with the one very big mountain. I thought 300 was very low originally, compared to the landscape I wanted to recreate. Then I decided I wanted to make a lot on the top, suddenly I have to get sims up there somehow.

I don't really remember and that's the main problem. I had the camera going all the way to the top of my mountain, and I used 300 hight map in one of the tests. I never playtested the world though. Now I want to try it again. I think I'm gonna use the 300 map, and I was thinking about digging my way down, not raising the terrain so to speak. If I'm not mistaken I can select higher edge on the world I'm making so I can do that, but I don't remember how.

[SimmyRN]

I'm by no means an expert world builder, but I've picked up a few things by reading these forums. In answer to #2, routing is very important so be sure to rebuild and check (view) your routing frequently. Use the no-routing paint to keep sims from going places you don't want them to and getting stuck at an isolated circle. Another important factor seems to be limiting the number of lots which use CFE (ConstrainFloorElevation) cheat and, possibly, the MoveObjects On cheat. I've heard that a bunch of those types of lots can cause problems. Multiple rabbit holes can be used. However, the game does not always seem to decide logically which rabbit hole to use - the school closest to where a sim lives, for example. There is a mod - if you use them - that can fix that issue. Setting your community lots as "No Visitors Allowed" will help keep the game from generating constant actitivity at those lots even when your active sim is not at the lot versus the "Visitors Allowed" lots for which the game is constantly generating visitors for every lot marked as such. (Sims still show up at "No Visitors Allowed" lots when your sim is on them.) It is better to have more "No Visitor Allowed" type Community Lots than residential lots. The game generates NPCs like bosses and service people and can only handle a certain total population (about 120-130, I think) without problems. You can read more about it in the forums here, but I seem to recall that the recommendation is not to have more than about 30 residential lots. (That allows for an average of 3-4 NPC sims on lots in which the player does not put families. Of course, if you plan to play lots of big families, you might have to adjust the number of residential lots accordingly.) I read that the game will actually start to "kill off" sims - usually toddlers and children - when the population gets too high. If you plan to have a lot of "filler" or "shell" buildings, you might want to consider either not putting doors in them and/or using the no-routing paint to keep sims from wanting to go to the lot. (I'm not sure about not putting a door but it seems that a building without a door wouldn't be very attractive to sims. Perhaps a more experienced world builder can help answer that question.) Hope that helps!

[Volvenom]

I just made my map choosing 300 hight and then a 300 flat medium map. I didn't get it 300 hight anyway, so I can dig my way down. Thanks for the insight Simmy. I'm lurking around a lot too, I haven't noticed most of what you say.

[simsample]

1.) What is the significance of the "Height" option when selecting a height map? What is the real difference between 100, 200, and 300? Is there a particular reason you should choose one height over another in any particular scenario? (I realize that it limits the maximum height of terrain [or seems to], but does it limit the camera height in game? Is it just an optimization?)
You should pick the lowest one for your needs. Think of the world as a cube. For a large world it will be 2048X2048 units on the length and breadth, and if the height is 100 it will be 100 units high. That means that your computer has to deal with 419430400 units of space. If you make the height 300 units, your computer has to deal with 1258291200 units! So you can see that increasing the height will decrease the performance of the world somewhat. If you use SuperCAW, you can choose any height- so theoretically you could have a 2048 cubed world. I don't fancy getting that to run on my computer, though!

2.) What are some methods that you use to optimization your worlds when you plan to create very large ones? (For example, ones with 100+ lots, multiple rabbitholes, etc.)
1) Group trees together
2) Use decor and effects sparingly
3) Have <8 terrain paints per chunk
4) Clean the global layer (I'm assuming this must help somehow, although very minimally)
5) Test, test and test to make sure there are no routing bugs.
6) Decorate lots sparingly- don't go overboard with the clutter, as most players will want to redecorate when they move their sims in, anyway.
7) Don't have your weather randomizing too often
8) Make insignificant lots 'no visitors allowed'

Probably loads of other things I can't think of at the moment! :lol: