What is a tile?
A tile is a collection of six diverse workloads concurrently executing specific software. Running on one of two separate operating systems, each workload runs in its own virtual machine and executes applications found in all the world’s datacenters. Included in a single tile are a web server, file server, mail server, database, java server, as well as an idle machine. Each virtual machine in a tile is tuned to use only a fraction of the system’s total resources. As a tile, the aggregate of all six workloads normally utilizes less than the full capacity of modern servers. Therefore, the complete saturation of a system’s resources and accurate measurement of server performance with VMmark require the execution of multiple tiles simultaneously.
The areas in Neverwinter Nights are composed of individual tiles, each one 10×10 meters in size. This tile-based terrain system has a number of significant advantages over the use of arbitrary mesh. From a purely technical standpoint, it significantly decreases load times, minimizes bandwidth usage, and optimizes pathfinding while in-game. From an artistic perspective, any map you create will look good and make sense because the tiles automatically line up and fit together while you work. From an ease-of-use perspective, it allows you to paint down your areas in a matter of minutes, freeing your time for important role-playing elements like story, dialog, and scripting.
