Should I use small tiles or one large image?

[TonyHayes]

Hi Guy's,

My frame size is 4000 X 4000 and I am unsure whether to use one large quick backdrop for the play area or use individual tiles. I want to keep the performance reasonably fast and I'd like the game to be compatible with as many computers as possible. Alternatively would it be better to break up the large single image into say 400 X 400 segments?

Your experience in this matter would be appreciated.

Kindest regards,

Tony

MM2 Dev with windows Vista.

[Jahkri]

Hi TonyHayes,

i think it doesn' t realy matter (except if you want to make your Game Flash-Compatible, Flash can only handle Pic-Sizes up to 2880 x 2880 Pixels).

I think the "Tiles" would only make sense if they are all the same (duplicates). If every Tile is an individual Graphic, then i think it doesn' t matter if you
leave it one big size-texture or if you cut it into many small pieces (perhaps small pieces are even worse because MMF2 has to "calculate" every single Tile.

Perhaps i' m completely wrong on this (but to me, it seems logical that way).

Greets

jahkri

[Jacob]

There is probably an equilibrium where the memory saved by using small repeated tiles and the performance saved by keeping track of fewer tiles matches up, but as a general rule if you want to cut down on RAM usage, use small tiles. If you want to keep the lag down, use larger ones.

[LB]

If you are using HWA making the image sizes powers of two will increase performance.

[TonyHayes]

Thank's Guy's for taking the time to reply, I really appreciate it.

Tony