Help Optimising Content: Texture Size and Asset Bundles

[KRYAT]

I am a noob developer in the process of creating 3D terrain and maps for my RPG sessions, and would like to optimise loading times and RAM usage since some of my players have low end PCs.

So I have two questions:

1. Should I pack all of my textures as individual images or as a big 4K or 8K texture atlas?
I've been studying a lot of games from the days of old and I notice there is never a consensus. When I look at PS1, N64, Xbox or PS2 era games I see that some of them use individual textures while others prefer texture atlases. Meanwhile, pretty much all modern games use atlases only for characters, items and creatures, preferring individual textures for their modules and assets. Articles on the web keep praising atlases as the best option to optimise, but i never see anyone in the industry using them in actual commercial projects. So which is best on TTS?

2. What is a secondary Asset Bundle and how to I use them?
The TTS knowledge base doesn't explain anything about them and Unity documentation is extremely confusing on the subject, containing only examples on how to use them in complete Unity projects and not as an add-on like in the TTS case.

Any guidance on those two subjects is much appreciated. Thanks in advance!

[SaltyO]

welcome. You should join the official discord (link on intro screen in-game) and bring these questions up in #modding, modder channels are very active and you'll probably get more eyes and feedback.

[KRYAT]

Thanks! I'll do that!

[Baryonyx]

1. Actually a good question, if I build bundles I never bother making an atlas out of it, only for custom models where you have to do it. I've been told before that a lot of large textures or even animations can cause lag, but so far only polygon count has had an impact for me.

2. I have also never bothered with them, but the idea is that if you use a lot of common files between several objects, you can use the secondary bundle to have the common files always with the object but switch out main parts with the primary bundle.