Hi,

i do not directly work in gamedeveloping but i do something in the direction of it.
Maybe i can give some hints ^^. I don't want to sound smart-alec i try to be detailed as i know i have no expirience in game developing but maybe there are some usefull informations that are transferable. Please see this comment from this perspective. I Assume you are more expiriencend but maybe there is some information that helps a bit.
What i'm going to write is a mix of some stuff i learned over the years .. this is no book-knowledge (at least some of it) so see it as a discussion basis.
And as always, sry for my english.

For creating content in the 2d departmend i struggled till i found this ueber usefull tool:
Crazybump --> this tool creates pretty usefull bump maps from 2d maps, it made my live much easier.
cgtextures --> a very cheap option to gain access to a wide variety of texture maps.
gimp --> open source photoshop

Ingame Stuff.
Lighting:

Your Screenshots and the levels indicate that you use some sort of lightmapping. The ambient occlusion you use is waayy over the top. It would ad a more realistic feel if you tone this down a bit as in a raytracing engine ambient occlusion isn't needed anymore because the GI should deal with those details. I often find this effect more often problematic. At first it gives more depth but it also takes away from the immersion. As AO is just a trick to simulate real lighting i would recomend to bring it down i a prerendered setting with no realtime lighting.

You could use blender ... a open source 3d modelling tool to render the lightmaps, that could greatly increase the lighting with near to no effort. I use another 3d modelling programm but u would assume that you can do similar stuff with blender.

Besides that, it took us about 2 to 3 weaks to integrate a custome GI rendering system in our engine that overlays the standard diffuse map with proper indirect lighting and giving the scene more depth without beeing to much of a sledgehammer. Its more usefull than rendering HDR maps because a simple greyscale "lightmap" costs MUCH less grafic-memory and has a big impact.
All in all your lighting looks great its just a detail. Maybe you can make something out of it.

Lightprobing:
its a technique where you set helpers in your scene. These helpers are filled with cubemap like maps. You render the prerendered lightmap into them and can use them as local hubs for indirect lighting on animated objects. You can overlay the lighting with the direction and color of the probes light and get a smoother result. The whole scene feels more realistic.
Just don't ask me exactly how to achive that, i do not develope this stuff, just see the effect and how to use it in levels.
To some extend its a form of localised hdr lighting.

If you use a scriptable 3d modelling programm you could automate the smoothing group setting, polygon ids correct normals and the most important point, the unwrapping of objects to save serious amounts of time to get a useable unwraps for simple geometry and lightmaps.


Level Design.
Asetts: I tested your 2.1 Version on a relatively shitty laptop, and saw that i had some fps breakdowns on some objects. (fitness studio in particular)

You use some extremly detailed asetts. They feel a bit out of place. For example in the school scene you have windows with insane geometry details or chairs and tables with unnecessary bolts or knobs or whatever the english word is for them ^^. You even have geometry heaters.
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I see the benefit but it feels out of place in comparison to a relatively detail lacking room.
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In my expirience, your levels could benefit greatly if you try to even out the "contrast" on not important parts of the level.
Contrast from a artistic point of view is used to gaine attention. For Example if you have a desaturated skin and the chest has some very saturated nipples your eyes will be trapped by them.
Level of Details is one of the many contrast forms you have in a game (like saturation, dark and bright, level of detail or form-contrast like sharp and soft) even mental contrast works, like the schoolgirl in a conservative setting with a very slutty behaviour --> instant interest.

This isn't just a performance issue its also a "what do you want to show" issue. If your level is stuffed with overly detailed asetts the attention is lured away from your lovely character models.
I know its a thin line between shittty geometry and to much detail because both ends are bad.

Its very subjective and i also do not master this till today.

I'm not sure if you use these techniques but you can create LOD (level of detail) models to switch out high poly models with low poly models based on the distance to the player. The detail some of your objects have are made for standing right in front of them. If you have the right modelling programm you can just duplicate the model and optimize the polycount down. Than you can project the high-poly modell onto the unwrap of a low poly model and generate a detail-bump/normal map to boost the performance.


Level Design: viewing habbits

If i have to create a level i produce a logic map.Its something i learned in the study of architecture. It is a mind-tool to set up fast rooms. Just take a paper write down every basic room you need, connect it with lines and instantly see the priority of those rooms. It helps to create a basic layout that can function because you have A: a list of all rooms or doors with potential rooms behind them and B: a priority map to know which room should be connected to each other or is more important. Especialy in a fantasy setting some interessting combinations occur. With this logicmap you can create fast room setups. Those must not be standart. For Example your bdsm room could have a high priority.
Just a detail if you like to push the realism.
All in all your levels are functional, so don't get me wrong.


Attachment Points:
In the first appartment you do have some .. öhrm .. metal-beams? The metal pillars which support the buidling .. fuck i should know this term ..
They are going through the floor. Its also no big deal but you could just ad in the modelling process a small flat box under it und tada- you have a attachment point.

I mention this because its representative for something you will see in your subconscious. These are small details that hurl you out of the illusion.
It often is very very simple to kill those breaking points at it can greatly add to your scenes with near to no effort.

Doors or portals:

Doors are a blocking thing. There is geometry or building assets which are designed to hold your movement.
If you look at your scene in the pool. The showeres are opened to everyone,. BUT the story you tell is one of a sneaky pervert asshole. If you just ad a "girlsroom" door to your level and make it a bit less accessible you realy add to the tention.
Some little adjustments to your levels could greatly improve the storytelling just by beeing there.


So .. as i nearly fall asleep at this unholy hour i think i quit writing.

I hope i could sharpen your senses for some details. The suggestions are made for your completed work , if i say something like "if you change this or that" its a example from which your future work may benefit.
If this is unsubstantial for you please just delete the post .

You bring up a lot of good points.

I have brought up unbalanced map design before as well. Also around the number of round objects, and the superfluous details that only adds to the workload on the system. The amount of detail given to the ceiling in gym, seriously the gym does not need long pipes running though its the ceiling.

The maps in XSP do need better level design. The new maps do make the player run around. The apartment Peter starts his story forces the player to load first floor map, even though the player has no business there. But I''l talk about that when I have time to draw up graphics on how to improve that.

XSP is built around Maya standards. I don't know anything about 3D modeling so I don't know how relevant that is but so far it feels like a road block. I don't know what it takes to convert anything other than a Maya format to a Maya format. Which is frustrating for me, because I'm trying to get the DigitalEro community to start work on converting erotic SFM models to XSP usable format.

It is not super amount of polygons. Option to turn off detail object or force low poly LoD for old computer may be good test if that make slow down. Do you play modern game, many more polygons in level. May be shaders more the problem. Need more graphic option to see.

Hi there.

I think the performance is ok. I tested it on a lowbob laptop cause it is much more sensible to slowdowns cause its more on the edge ^^.
The post wasn't about performance issues btw. more about stuff you create with great effort and after all it causes the performance to drop and even decrease the value of your scene. Or instead buy assets online and running into issues because they aren't made für your project.

As my job eats my time i guess i can't reliable mod some scenes.. afterall its not my genre, i'm here by pure accident and i'm interessted in the progress as i stood before similar problems not long ago and the project is ambitious.
At least hoped i could give some readers who like to mod some hints on what level you can read stuff or sharpen your senses for level design. Or to start a discussion on some issues.

To your Problem .. i have no idea what digitalero or SFM is. I hope some quicksearch provided me with the right information.
And i have no access at the moment to the moddabel 3.0 Version.
That they use Maya i would guess is because of its good animation system. I prefer 3ds Max because the polyediting system is great and give you a good control over what is going on. You can be very precise, and the porting capabilities for Autocad or generel import export issues is beyond the competition.
For example i had some problems because maya can be a bit touchy with import and export even from programms of the same company.

For your Problem:
I think its a great idea to connect a existing supposedly dedicated community to this project.
I have no idea what the "digitalero community" is using in generall.
Most of the time you have to define some standards from both sides.
I guess that importing your stuff in maya produces more problems than its worth.
Most game engines work with a specific bone definition. (Namespace or maximum bones or parameters for blended animation) So you have to overcome the problems with file interpretation. Common is the OBJ format but i'm not sure at the moment if it can hold animation information like rigging and or skinning.
For static Geometry this way can be a option .. for animation i fear its not. You also could try the fbx container, but than you very likely run in interpretation problems and have more problems with fixing then generating content - but its worth a try because its very common.

I would recomend to work with the xmoon people together to say "thats the way to do it" and i think thats what they are doing if they write "mod support" ^^.
You have to decide the mainly used programm.
Than you should write a export plugin as the "standard" on the game side and a "how to do it" on the creators side.
IF the communty isn't allready using the supported programms.
So you can meet in the middle and establish a good working pipeline.
The how to do it part is mostly more dificult because you have to overcome habbits that are usefull for your specific field of modeling and creating content.

I often recommend to look at blender, because its free and open and the community is nuts. You can do pretty neat stuff with it and the development is great. I would wonder if you can't find someone who is interessted in helping you create a exporter for xmoon.
Why don't i use it? Because of the common workflow in my profession.
Its accessibilty - in my opinion - is a key feature for a modding community because its more "democratic".
For 3ds Max or maya for example you pay your first born for support thats not needed outside the professional area.
Its closed but effectiv, thats not needed and hindering for developing creativity in a modding community.

If you have geometry try to import it by using obj.
Generall modelling tips:

Control if the normals are ok (google on how to do it, in 3ds max for example you can view them directly in the mesh modifier section or you directly see through the model, thats a rather obvious hint^^) Thats important for your geometry to get renderd from the right side, engines are often very sensible for this issue.
avoid doubled faces and edges to avoid flickering.
--> weld vertices
in generell try to generate a clean looking mesh.
Try to model in quads as they are easier to handle in general.
--> clean mesh http://www.relativitybook.com/CoolStuff ... r_mesh.jpg
imported mesh: on the edge to unusable: http://www.tenlinks.com/news/PR/spatial ... 3dmesh.jpg

If you start modeling try to learn the language first.
What are vertices, edges, quads, normals, normal maps, mapping coordinates, smoothing groups, poly IDs, whats a unwrap and so on.

greetings

P.S. you should start a thread dedicated to your issue.