Normally when a map is well designed with the game's limitations in mind, the game does a good job of optimizing the environment through the use of occlusion culling. However, there may be times where it appears to take into consideration objects that are not visible to the player. Of course, if the level designer (and scripter) does not fully consider what can decrease performance, then there isn't much that the game can do to optimize. This article will touch on mostly (flawed) map and scripting design, as there is nothing us users can do about the game itself.

The main cause for performance issues that i have found deals with having too many objects with high poly counts. There is an apparent limit as to how many objects with a high poly count that the user can have near him (though this may be more dependent on the hardware). At a far enough distance they tend to be okay, but if the user gets at a certain distance from the objects, the game may decide to take them into consideration even if they are not visible to the user.

Making use of corridors prevents the user from looking too far. This gives a chance for occlusion culling to work its magic. Even if you have doors blocking the way between each room, you should still consider corridors, as not all combinations of doors and door frames properly block out the users view (though the player may not be able to physically see behind it).

Having too many particle effects can reduce performance. This includes lamp entities, be they torches, candles or otherwise. If you require more light, consider simply adding dimmed box lights or point lights with a large radius or replacing the wall with a window, or have a sunroof, with a spot light shining through.

Having a function loop too fast by use of timers can cause performance issues. Anything below 10ms is pushing it. Ideally, you'd want at least 20ms. That should be more than enough for any event.

This article is a work in progress. More will be added as they are discovered.

For players that aren't part of the story creation process, turning off World Reflection can help increase performance.