Massive Asteroid Field with Models..?

[slap]

Im currently experimenting on how many asteroids I can realisticly have in a single level..! Larger roids have upwards of 2000 Polys and medium size ones are about 1000 each. And the very smallest versions are as low as 200 polys (perhaps even lower). All are normal mapped from very high poly displaced asteroid meshes and heightmaps, so they look pretty cool imho.. Currently Im planning a very dense field of these roids in a mini mod Im making, but I really need to have the asteroid field as densly packed as possible for exhilerating fly-throughs and combat etc..
But im begining to wonder how many roids can I have and still keep MP playable and smooth.. Here is my current idea on roid counts etc..
----------------------------
Large: 2000 polys x5
Medium 980 polys x10
small 200 polys x50
tiny 80 polys x200 +
----------------------------

Coupled with a clever layered background and the new skybox, it will be easy to simulate thousands of roids ouside the main playing area, but to keep that illusion going inside the map will be tricky.
Does anybody have any suggestions they care to share that could help to keep the roid count very high but still very playable..? I would appreciate any input fellas..! Thanks in advance..!

 

[The Dark Elf]

Well there is one way you could do it.

Have everything in the playable map, fade at a certain distance (allowing you to have lots more in the area without it slowing down)

Use the skybox to have even more in, so you can still see the more distant larger ones.

Increase the map size, you'll probably lose the very detailed physics from doing so, but in a space sim you don't really need them anyway.

use plenty of LOD's in your asteroid objects.

since there is still an entity limit in Source.. instead of having _all_ your asteroids as one asteroid per entity, have 10 per entity in some cases, so you can fit more in.

Have the smaller asteroids fade out/not get calculated/displayed at a closer distance than the larger ones, to keep the speed up.

Fake some of the very distant stuff with flat poly images in the skybox.. Morrowind uses two flat discs for its moons, playing it I never even realised they weren't real objects, so that easily works to help add to it.

 

[PvtRyan]

Maybe you could use prop_detail for the very small rocks too, can easily render a couple of thousand of those. However, they don't collide or get illuminated.

 

[slap]

Some good suggestions guys, thanks.. I was also thinking of bunching maybe 20 small roids together and have them as one entity, plus the combination of background sky textures layered, depicting larger more faded roids in the distance. All main roids in the center of the map will be a combination of static models and rotating ones. (perhaps even a few physic enabled ones for the unexpected collisions) Im currently looking at Nexus the Jupiter Incident and how they implemented a similar space environment background..! Looks darn nice..! Any more pointers would be welcome.. Thanks..!

 

[The Dark Elf]

Some good suggestions guys, thanks.. I was also thinking of bunching maybe 20 small roids together and have them as one entity, plus the combination of background sky textures layered, depicting larger more faded roids in the distance. All main roids in the center of the map will be a combination of static models and rotating ones. (perhaps even a few physic enabled ones for the unexpected collisions) Im currently looking at Nexus the Jupiter Incident and how they implemented a similar space environment background..! Looks darn nice..! Any more pointers would be welcome.. Thanks..!

Do it Homeworld style.. just a large background image in that none realistic but very impressive style.