Question Mesh based terrain or terrain generation tools for Battle Royale game (PUBG alike)

Hi,

I'd like to ask whether I should use the mesh-based terrain (all done by 3Ds Max/Maya) or terrain generation tool (like Gaia Pro 2021, Terrain Composer 2, etc.) for a map like PUBG, Apex Legends in terms of performance and productivity?
Our game will be on PC and Mobile platforms.

Thanks,
Anh

 

Hey, it is recommended to use meshes on the mobile platforms because it performs much better than the unity terrain... On PC it doesn't matter much.... U can profile it yourself if u want to check .... U can use the unity terrain and covert it to a mesh by exporting its heightmap to blender or any software u like and displace it and optimize it by dividing it into chunks and creating LODs ( if u use unity terrain there is Auto LOD for landscape)... There is also a asset called terrain to mesh which u can use to convert the terrain to mesh.... The assets u mentioned all use unity terrain i think ... If u are planning the assets to use for the looks and sculpting for your game then u should also give a try to the unity terrain tools which is great and free .... If u want to use custom terrain meshes from 3ds max the advantage u have is that u can have concave cave like structures which is only possible with unity by creating hole in the terrain and bringing in the concave mesh and again u would need to author the LODs youself.... I also recommend u to benchmark the performance of terrain and mesh yourself because unity terrain might run great on newer Mobo devices

 

Thank you @EagleG . Yes making LODs for the maps is quite challenging using terrain meshes.