NEVERMIND

[Drongle McMahon]

"you could set the maximum number of vertices a single mesh could have"

I'm not sure an absolute number would work, becuase it wouldn't be appropriate for small and large meshes at the same time, say a teaspoon and an antique dining table. Somewhere deep in the jira there is a feature request for a per-object parameter that would scale renderVolumeLODFactor for each object (by 0..1). That would allow object owners to tune the LOD display distances of different objects according to the circumstances of their use and amount of detail, provided the LODs are well designed. That might have provided a useful means of lag control.

"the problem I am seeing with normal maps is because ... it is being compressed blurring the image"

I have wondered how much of the glazed look in close view is due to that. For maps with specific detail, small maps would never be adequate, but for general roughening, perhaps high repeatitions of textures small enough to get lossless upload could be used. I wonder if anyone has tested that?