Original Post
I am making an engine for a quake III-like game. The levels will be mostly indoor, and if they are outdoor it won''t be terrain (rolling hills, etc.). At first it was tile based, ie. a long wall would be divided into several squares. Now it isn''t, the map is made of huge polygons. My dillema is:
1) A non-tile based BSP system has the following advantages/disadvantages:
a) fewer, but bigger polygons. (I have a non-conventional
system that avoids splits).
b) if a small part of a large polygon is seen, D3D must do
texturing and lighting on the entire polygon.
2) A tile based OctTree system has the following advantages/disadvantages:
a) more polygons. Long walls are divided up into square
tiles.
b) Less time is spent filling the polygons (with the
texture) and less time is spent lighting the polygons.
It seems I will either be slowed down by filling or the number of vertices. By the time this thing is finished (if ever) any self-respecting gamer will have hardware T&L. Maybe I should go with more vertices, what do you think?
Proceeding on a brutal rampage is the obvious choice.