Using third party assets in assets store, can save lots of time, but you have to keep in mind they are not specifically built for your project, so you need to test and try them for the scenarios you want, there is the option to contact the asset developer for in depth help or a custom art asset but they will ask for additional cost, so keep that in mind

Third-party assets can be both a blessing and a challenge. While they speed up development, they often come with performance trade-offs. In my experience, the key to optimizing these assets is to treat them like any custom-built component. Auditing and refining them based on the game’s specific needs ensures smoother performance. Compression techniques and regular updates are critical, but don’t overlook the importance of selectively using only the assets that truly fit your game’s goals. Less is often more when it comes to optimization!

Using third-party assets could be challenging as well as a blessing. Before using it audit it and always use the competitive versions to achieve the requirement more smoothly.

It's always good to audit 3rd party assets. First thing you can do is reach out to the asset creator and raise concerns. Proactively you can check the issue yourself and find out the problem areas. Asset Cleanup: Remove unused scripts, models, textures, and materials. Texture & Mesh Optimization: Compress textures, lower resolutions, and use LOD models. Memory Management: Profile memory, use object pooling for frequent objects. Script Optimization: Refactor inefficient scripts, reduce Update loops. Check the source if available for inefficiencies. Shader Optimization: Replace expensive shaders, use Shader Graph for tweaking. Plugin Optimization: Update plugins and profile for performance improvements.

To optimize game performance with third-party assets, focus on the following strategies: Compress Textures: Use formats like ASTC or DDS and utilize Texture Atlases to reduce draw calls, improving memory usage. Simplify 3D Models: Reduce polygon counts and apply Level of Detail (LOD) techniques to ensure lower-poly models render at a distance. Additionally, remove unseen polygons to lighten the processing load. Manage Audio: Compress and stream audio files to minimize memory usage. Optimize Shaders: Simplify shaders and implement Shader LOD for efficient rendering.

Find another Chinese subcontractor. They basically work for loaf of bread per day and they all do mediocre job, so you might get lucky on the other day.

Always always always bring 3rd party materials into your own master material system. I pretty much only take textures from asset packs and rebuild the materials from scratch to the specifications of the project. There are some amazing technical artists and modellers working in marketplaces today, but they cannot guess what your project needs and how to optimise for it - so you must!

If third-party assets are dragging down your game's performance, it's time to streamline and optimize. Start by auditing asset sources to verify their quality and compatibility with your game engine. Next, optimize file sizes by compressing textures and meshes without sacrificing visual fidelity. Additionally, regularly update your assets, keeping track of vendor updates to ensure you're using the most efficient versions available. What strategies have helped you improve your game's performance when using third-party assets? Share your experience!

honestly, modern hardware is pretty powerful. i really wouldn't care about performance from any assets, until you actually hit a bottleneck, because as long as you follow good/proper practices then you really wouldn't face any problems. Obviously, this is from an indie perspective where you have to compromise a lot of things, including the time you'd spend. But in a large company/large scale type of games, its probably best if all assets are optimized, and in that scale you probably have an art department that can handle that.