The instancing system for trees was given a massive overhaul to improve memory usage, to increase performance, and to reduce stutters. The system (VAS) memory footprint per tree was reduced from 276 bytes to 16 bytes (that is a 17x reduction in system memory per tree). Some of the work previously done each frame was completely eliminated while other work was reduced or moved onto background threads and the GPU (graphics card). Visually, trees can now LOD (Level of Detail) in progressively while still scaling in to prevent popping. Random rotation of trees was also fixed, which means that trees will be more varied looking and will again load in at the full density near the camera. A max autogen default flight has had it’s system memory reduced by over 550 megabytes!
Yeah. Trees are cool.
Not that you high flyers will see any of this.
