SadieJoan wrote: »

I honestly do not understand the argument that ZOS use regarding performance issues when referring to item slots in houses, because some quest areas etc. In the game are filled with lots of items and many many players too at times. It is rare to see bare and empty areas in game, like certain areas of larger houses are often forced to be, and although lag happens here and there, for the most part performance is fine.

Much of what the game engine does is also an "illusion".
In the 3D rendering world, there are individual objects and then there are "meshes".
Technically, all 3D objects are a mesh of some type, but for the purpose of explanation I separate the two.

Example 1.
An object - Book
Rendered sides: 6.

Example 2.
A Mesh - Crafting Station
Rendered sides: variable, from 6-256

When developers design 3D meshes, they are meant to be static objects that have a minimum number of sides and textures "wrapped" to them. Depending on the Art, texture resolution, mip-mapping effects, et al...it is possible to create the illusion of an object with multiple sides or textures by creating a "mesh" that the engine treats as one object.

Now throw in homestead, and we have individual objects with various textures all independently loaded and positioned by the players inside a static mesh "home".
The odds are (and this is speculation, but based upon experience) that the total item count was an estimation of what the engine could handle on A-typical hardware, where the minimum requirements are assumed as the average.
This would place limits on the total number of static objects and meshes that could be rendered within the game engine before performance or function issues occur.
Too many lights for example, and the engine starts to omit them as a functional rendering limitation.
Too many animations, and the engine starts to remove some of them. (This happens in my Daggerfall castle already with candles; the light still appears from them, but the animated fire is absent for some until you forcibly interact and turn them off and then back on again.)

While it may be possible for the engine to support and actually display a larger number of individual objects in a given area, it is already obvious that loading these objects requires time, as I can login to any of my houses and readily "Watch" the objects being rendered out of empty space, typically a few dozen at a time.

I would wager that the current housing limits are a conservative estimate that the developers put in place to control performance issues across all platforms, and that its simply a functional limitation of their current engine, server hardware, and expected playerbase hardware.

The only solutions are:
1. Better hardware (expensive and subject to market availability and affordability)
2. More efficient rendering systems (would require a redesign of the current engine, which also requires a significant time and monetary cost investment)
3. Restrict the total number of items, and/or create more static meshes that come "pre-packaged" like the Redguard Bookshelves that already have books on them. (I can almost guarantee you that those books and the items on them are not individual objects, but are meshes made to appear that way)

@SadieJoan I don't mind subs having a higher item cap than non-subs, it's a nice perk in an otherwise fairly low-rewarding sub model. I will agree with you on one thing: both sub and non-sub item limit should be raised across the board in all home types.

They keep releasing new homes and furniture, further casting bait out their for Crown Store fish. However it feels like ZOS has all but abandoned those players who wish the Homestead model would be "improved", rather than just adding things to it.