[Newbie Q: Architectural prefabs or DR objects?]

Models and prefabs are two different things. It's probably not a good idea to use those terms interchangeably.

 

Prefabs are collections of brushes and patches saved out for reuse. They have no performance impact because they are still comprised of brushes and patches. Their sole purpose is to spare the author from having to recreate an object over and over.

 

Models are neither brushes nor patches. They have some benefits as well as some drawbacks as outlined here...

 

http://www.modwiki.n...dels_vs_brushes

Thanks for the education... and a good reference!

[1.02 still produces quicksave crashes]

Do you remember in which situations it crashes?

I've been watching for patterns and haven't found one. Alert guards, non-alert guards, etc - can't see any trend. However I have noticed that some FMs appear to be more susceptible than others; Thieves Den 1 crashed fairly quickly, NHAT after an hour or so. RttC didn't crash at all despite frequent quicksaving. As with all these things, lack of data points makes it hard to determine if this is related.

[Newbie Q: Architectural prefabs or DR objects?]

OK new to this. Question for the masters though: I see a number of architectural objects that have been created as models. At what point do you decide to create a prefab/model (using Blender or whatever fancy tools you have) rather than create the object using DR's tools (brushes, patches).

 

I don't mean furnishings and fixtures - I can understand the need for intricate creation of hi/low-poly models, UV maps etc in a tool more suited, but for example, I see some arches as prefabs - but you can make pretty good arches using DR patches.

 

So, are there performance benefits behind prefabs, or is it just to make them more transportable (to other missions, etc)?

[1.02 still produces quicksave crashes]

Minor bump, but I'm getting crashes when performing quicksaves in a number of missions, which then can't be loaded. It's a real shame as I'm finding myself stopping playing that FM at that point, as I don't want to have to restart (and "full" saves break the immersion!).