ok this is just a kinda of a topic more than a question. Im building a 3d iso game at 1/3 and well its got a huge world im kinda set on using real 3d for the ground it gives the best feel nice transitions and stuff but detaling every leaf in a tree is way to much work for the cpu. so what do think should fall in the sprite catagory and what should be full 3d remember its a fully interactive rpg and you can fly and swim so the sprites have to be pre renderd at atleast three angles inbetween the prime angles, not to mention the diferent fx sfx that could impact it
this is more a how to intergrate then a the ultimate type thing as im aiming at low end machiens no graphics cards under ghz and around 24 meg ram .
Low end? Low end = P2 400 and 64 mb of ram. Sprites eat ram(multiple angles for all sprites=lotsa pictures). 24 megs is sub-par. Windows alone eats 8 megs, and that’s when no progs are running and the version is 95. 98 eats more ram. You would be best adviced to use point-sampled texturing and mainly 32x32 and 64x64 textures. Target resolution is thus 640x480, or if you need the extra few fps, 640x400. 320x200 is just TOO low res for 3d. Pixel swimming would be painful.