XWA(U) Limitations

[Vince T]

While we're slowly but steadily approaching a level of customizability where "anything goes" thanks to advancements in hook programming, there are still some limits to what we can do. Here's a rough overview. For comparison, I'm listing both vanilla game as well as the game with hooks.

OPT Constraints

Model Dimensions
Vanilla: ~27km, beyond that, the craft will not show ingame
Hooked: unknown, Tests with 60km models were successful. BUT the model will disappear when you're within its hitbox and facing away from the center. Also, this is greatly dependent on your screen resolution. The higher the resolution the lower the size threshold. It is recommended to use very large model solely as background objects and do not involve them in the actual mission action.

Number of meshes p. OPT
Vanilla: 49-51, any additional meshes won't load.
Hooked: 255, any additional meshes won't load.

Number of vertices p. mesh
Vanilla: 512
Hooked: 65535, can be changed via XWA EXE Patcher.
However it has been shown that meshes with more than 10.000 vertices will cause some severe performance issues for OPTing programs.

Number of quad-faces p. mesh
Vanilla: soft limit at ~200, depends on texture mapping. Too many faces will cause Trinagling to infinity
Hooked: Theoretically unlimited, see vertices limit

Number of tri-faces p. mesh
Vanilla: soft limit at ~500, depends on texture mapping. Too many faces will cause Trinagling to infinity
Hooked: Theoretically unlimited, see vertices limit

Number of textures p. OPT
Vanilla: 100
Hooked: 1024

Texture resolution:
Vanilla: any power of 2, up to 256x256, anything else crashes the game
Hooked: No limitation

Texture color depth
Vanilla: 8Bit (256 colors), anything else crashes the game
Hooked: 32Bit is possible. OPTech still requires 8bit textures but you can replace them later using OPT Editor

Number of hardpoints
Vanilla + Hooked: 127, Superfluous hardpoints not active

Number of rotary Gun Turrets:
Vanilla + Hooked: 16

Number of Hardpoins per Gun Turret:
Vanilla + Hooked: 2

Number of engine glows
Vanilla: 16, Superfluous engine glows not showing
Hooked: 255, Superfluous engine glows not showing


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Mission constraints

Objects per Region
Vanilla: 96, Superfluous Objects not showing
Hooked: 192, Superfluous Objects not showing

Flihgtgroups per Mission
Vanilla + Hooked: 192, Superfluous Objects not showing

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FrontEnd/UI constraints

2D Image color depth (FrontEnd)
Vanilla: 8bit (256 colors)
Hooked: 32bit

2D Image color depth (In-Flight)
Vanilla: 8bit (256 colors)
Hooked: 32bit

Backdrop resolution
Vanilla: any power of 2, up to 256x256
Hooked: any power of 2, max scale can be changed via XWA EXE Patcher

Skirmish Pic resolution
Vanilla: 180x180
Hooked: No limit

Hull Icon resolution (Inflight)
Vanilla + Hooked: 32x32

Map Icon resolution (Concourse)
Vanilla: 16x16
Hooked: No limit

Mission Pic resoution
Vanilla: 256x256
Hooked: No limit

Battle Pic resolution
Vanilla: 512x256
Hooked: No limit

[ual002]

This is fantastic.

[the_stag]

This is some great information. Thanks for taking the time to compile this.