TGE maximum Polycount? TSE?

#1 I think it would be important to mention such factors as on which machine are you going to conduct such test, in what kind of setup (with or without collisions ? realtime lighting and shaders or just ambient ? with or without textures ? one graphic card or crossfire... etc.)

#2 There is next to no answer to the question because of the wide variety of variables that Radoslaw noted as well as the LOD of models, texture size, number of textures, number of ghosted objects on-screen at once (this may delay updates more than pushing polies), etc. What I would recommend is to take your target machine and begin adding models to the default FPS mission around Kork's path. That way you can gauge a ghosted object moving in and out of your rendered LoS.

#3 Hi Talon. As noted above, lots to think about.

As a base level though - in FPS game, your hero models can be in and around 2000+ tris. Not more than 3000 I would suspect but it will depend on the number of models in frame and any given time.

The lower the better. If you targeting next gen style machines (TSE), 10,000 tris is the norm I believe.

Build and test. :)

It is easier (!?) to build too much detail into a model and then scale back, than go the other direction.

Cheers!

#4 Thanks James, that's cool.
And TSE 10,000? That has great possibility.

--Talon

#5 "It is easier (!?) to build too much detail into a model and then scale back, than go the other direction."

That is a matter of personal experience and modeling style. In my book it is always easier to add detail to a model than to cleanly reduce your poly count, the key word being cleanly. But again, that's just me.

I would love to hear some numbers for a third person game running on a 360 under Torque.