Model QA Checklist

Are the source files available?

They should be put to the asset repository.

Does the model have detail levels?

LODs should be included in every model. The number depends on the case. For ships 2-3, for stations and buildings 3-4.

Does the model have a proper collision mesh?

All models must have a collision mesh, and it should be very low detail (<100 triangles). Collision mesh should enclose the model as tight as possible.

Does the model have a large number of geometry nodes?

One geometry node equals one drawcall. All static geometry should be combined into one node (or one per material).

Some day the importer may provide optimization options, but until it does modelers must merge geometry before exporting.

Does the model have many materials?

Geometries with different materials will be drawn separately. Identical materials should be merged together.

Are the camera and weapon tags included?

Place one properly named empty for each of the six views, and the two weapon mounts. Rotation counts, scaling should be 1 on all axes.

Does an animation have a large number of keyframes?

Some exporters have the option to resample the timeline, creating new keyframes at set intervals. If almost every frame is a keyframe, the file size will increase quickly.

Does the model have large secondary texture maps (glow, specular, patterns)

Glowmaps usually don't have much detail, so they should be half or quarter size of the main texture. Patterns should never be very large.

Do .png textures include an unnecessary alpha channel?

Opaque textures don't need to be 32-bit. With Photoshop this mistake is easy to make, so flatten the image before saving.