I don't know exactly how loot is generated, but I do know that there is a often noticeable pause when I loot my first corpse after a boarding action, fort attack, or town conquest. I assume at that moment, the engine calls the list of possible loot items and generates all of the loot in an area simultaneously. I cannot prove this, but it makes sense to me given what I have observed. If that is the case, then that moment of loading will get more significant as the number of potential loot items grows.
In either case, the more code the engine has to process, the longer it will take. That is a given. So yes, if you add significantly to the loot lists, somewhere in-game, you have just added to the load on the engine. The result will be either longer load times, or potential performance hiccups (such as the aforementioned pause). But, as Pieter said, if there is any performance change at all, it will not likely be significant.
That said, I am not averse to the addition of a few more precious gems or trinkets. However, I do have an objection to the addition of potentially hundreds of new items that will have little effect on gameplay. There are already shoes, dead birds, and that funky clay... thing in-game. There are already a number of pendants, rings, jewels, statues, necklaces, pearls, etc in-game which with the addition of the book mod will officially add nothing to the playability of the game. I have already modified some of the items which have lost their voodoo powers to be more loot-worthy in the next version of book mod. I think much more clutter in the game will be just that - clutter.
Of course, some valid solutions to a clear difference in opinions on the matter would be to either:
A) Release multiple versions, one perhaps as a part of the Combined Mod with a small number of additional loot items for some added variety, and another separately for those of you who want loads of junk for your collections.
Or,
B) Not include it in the Combined Mod at all, but maintain compatibility with it, that way anyone who wants it can have it wihout forcing it on anyone who is happy with loot the way it is.
In either case, the more code the engine has to process, the longer it will take. That is a given. So yes, if you add significantly to the loot lists, somewhere in-game, you have just added to the load on the engine. The result will be either longer load times, or potential performance hiccups (such as the aforementioned pause). But, as Pieter said, if there is any performance change at all, it will not likely be significant.
That said, I am not averse to the addition of a few more precious gems or trinkets. However, I do have an objection to the addition of potentially hundreds of new items that will have little effect on gameplay. There are already shoes, dead birds, and that funky clay... thing in-game. There are already a number of pendants, rings, jewels, statues, necklaces, pearls, etc in-game which with the addition of the book mod will officially add nothing to the playability of the game. I have already modified some of the items which have lost their voodoo powers to be more loot-worthy in the next version of book mod. I think much more clutter in the game will be just that - clutter.
Of course, some valid solutions to a clear difference in opinions on the matter would be to either:
A) Release multiple versions, one perhaps as a part of the Combined Mod with a small number of additional loot items for some added variety, and another separately for those of you who want loads of junk for your collections.
Or,
B) Not include it in the Combined Mod at all, but maintain compatibility with it, that way anyone who wants it can have it wihout forcing it on anyone who is happy with loot the way it is.
), but I've been able to get some good results in the past on poster-y and interface-y kind of images.
