Why does my Niagara mesh always render LOD0?

By default LOD selection follows the system actor's bound. Set LOD Method = By Component Bound Sphere or Per Particle to compute per-instance LOD.

What's the perf impact?

Per-particle LOD adds overhead but at large counts, the savings from rendering simpler LODs at distance dominates. Profile with stat Niagara to compare.

Override mesh's LOD distances?

Mesh asset's LOD Settings drive the distance thresholds. For dense Niagara fields, lower the screen-size thresholds so LODs trigger earlier.

Fix: Niagara Mesh Renderer Ignores LOD

Quick answer: Mesh Renderer module → LOD Method = By Component Bound Sphere. For finer control, Per Particle.

10,000 mesh particles all rendering LOD0. Frame rate suffers. Niagara’s default LOD selection uses the system bound, which always shows LOD0 if any particle is near.

The Fix

Mesh Renderer module:
  Mesh:                       SM_Rock
  LOD Method:                 By Component Bound Sphere
  LOD Bias:                   0
  Override Material List:     (optional)

// Per-particle (more granular, slightly costlier)
  LOD Method:                 Per Particle

Component Bound is cheap and good for tight clusters. Per Particle for sparse fields where each instance can be at very different camera distances.

Verifying

Walk camera away. Distant particles drop to LOD2/LOD3. Stat Niagara shows triangle count plummeting. Tri count plot in Profiler matches.

“LOD method explicit. Per particle if scattered. Tris drop.”

Related Issues

For Niagara CPU readback, see readback stall. For Distance Field Collision, see DF collision.

LOD method explicit. Tris drop.