The latest version of SoA2 should have incorporated at least "some" of TSOP into it by now. At least that is what i gather from the project lead.
Harpo is correct to a point. We found with working on TSOP that the late game lag is also caused depending on the size of the map used (number of planets), the number of AI's used, as well as the numbers of units on the map at once. Setting to lower detail does help, but there is also a limit to that. I have machines that are way above, and beyond Sins recommended specs. Both 64 bit. They both lag with vanilla sins (no mods) about mid point into the game. Sooner with Entrenchment/Diplomacy running. ANY type of game. I can postpone the lag if i set all of the graphic settings to low. With TSOP enabled it makes the late game lag exactly that. Happen at late game when 1000's of units, and structures are on the map are on the map. Even small maps will have hundreds of units on it if you count all of the strike craft, structures, starbases, and mines. TSOP fixes the graphic lag caused by way too high resolution textures for a unit/particles size It also standardized all of the textures to DDS format. The vanilla TGA's in sins were using way too much memory for their purpose. That alone fixed the 2 gig crash issue, because the textures were the biggest user of ram in sins. We also fixed bugs that were causing some memory over usage. Like Textures that the game did not use that were being loaded into memory anyway. Mislabeled texture paths, or texture paths period when sins didnt need them, and missing, or mislabeled nulls. Its been a while, and i cant remember everything we did with TSOP.
The main issue now with Sins is CPU power. Even the best machines lag with Sins in late game. With TSOP enabled. Increasing the memory usage will not help. Each unit requires CPU. CPU to exist, to perform its standard AI functions (move attack etc. etc), to run its abilitys. Then the weapons/particles need CPU. Then the ability buff, and debuffs need CPU. One unit in itself is nothing. If thousands of units are on the map it all adds up. It is the same issue Supreme Commander has except that each projectile is not calculated. Too many units eating up CPU ticks. If the game was ported to 64 bit i think it would help, but only for a short time. The lag will show its ugly face again.
If you plan on adding new planets consider the footprint it will make. It is one more unit for the cpu to deal with, and with one more texture to render. The Vanilla sins planet texture is a 4096 resolution texture. However its true viewing area is 2048x1024 resolution. That is because the planets poles are UV mapped separately to prevent "pole pinch". Wasting 1/2 of the texture space. We tried to do pure spherical mapped 2048 textures, but failed, because of the pole pinch issue. If you chose to go the spherically UV mapped route that is your choice. We have not found a way to eliminate the pole pinch issue that really stands out in sins.
