I have 7 active in one location though not quite all necessarily to view at one time. Still they all have an accumalative influence on performance and its pushing the limits somewhat in an otherwise also complex level. Much optimisation is required to achieve this.
One would have difficulty in inserting a large number of people or perdestrians in an outdoor city level. Add some vehicles moving around and considering any other dynamic entity requirement - its asking for a lot in FPSC.
Loading and unloading such entities is about the only way to AI achieve optimisation and still keep relatively decent numbers in such scenarios I would think, but designing that in is difficult and limiting to the game level design and restrictive on where the player can go and how he gets there.
The only other option is to stick to sparsely pouplated and make like its that kind of game.
Hers a tip : If you want to show some characters at long distance or at locations you cant get to - say high up in a window in a building try using a decal with some people images and remove them if necessary when you get near. The FPSC world is a little small to make it believeable but you might just get away with it with the right lighting and so on. If its dark you wont necessarily need a full AI character.
Its surprising what you can get away with. You might even use simple very low poly models at distance and invent your own LOD system - now theres a thought for the creative thinkers and innovative users here.
If someone else dont do it I might.
Well say thank you - I'm full of helpful information.
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