// benchmark
Meld vs Arnis
Same PC, same exact region, same 24576 × 24576 block area. A single Arnis run (even with stream to disk turned on) takes about 12 to 15 minutes. Meld does the same area in about 5 to 6 minutes, so Meld is about 2 times faster on the same region (sometimes a bit more).
Your numbers depend on your CPU, RAM, and disk. Other machines may see different times.
// test rig
CPU Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX
RAM 32 GB
Disk NVMe SSD
Area Bucharest, Romania
Same region, side by side
Both runs cover the same exact region and the same 24576 × 24576 block area (2304 regions, 48 × 48), on the same machine.
Arnis, one run
12 to 15 min
24576 × 24576 blocks · 2304 regions
- About 12 to 15 minutes on this PC, even with stream to disk turned on.
- One process builds the whole area step by step, on a single worker.
- Stream to disk keeps memory in check, but the work is still serial.
- One long build, bounded by how fast that single process can run and save.
Meld
5 to 6 min
24576 × 24576 blocks · 2304 regions
- About 5 to 6 minutes on the same PC for the same area.
- Split into region aligned cells, built by many Arnis instances in parallel.
- OSM fetched once and shared, so no Overpass rate limit.
- Melded into one seamless world, no height cliffs, no seams.
Same hardware, same region, same output area. A single Arnis run takes about 12 to 15 minutes, while Meld does the same area in about 5 to 6 minutes, so Meld is about 2 times faster on the same region (sometimes a bit more), because it builds tiles in parallel instead of one step at a time. Beyond speed, the real headline is scale: Meld also lets you go far bigger, up to whole countries and continents, as one seamless world. Your numbers depend on your CPU, RAM, and disk.
The measured runs
| Run | Region | Output | Regions | Stream to disk | Time |
|---|
| Arnis, one run | same | 24576 × 24576 | 2304 | on | ~12 to 15 min |
| Meld | same | 24576 × 24576 | 2304 | n/a (parallel) | ~5 to 6 min |
Same machine, same exact region, same 24576 × 24576 block area. Meld is about 2 times faster on the same region (sometimes a bit more). Ranges, not exact times, because results vary by CPU, RAM, and disk.
Beyond speed, Meld goes far bigger
Speed on the same region is about 2 times. The bigger headline is scale: Meld can build areas a single Arnis run cannot reach in practice, up to whole countries and continents, all melded into one seamless world with no height cliffs and no seams. The same-region test above just keeps the speed claim honest and apples to apples.
Method, honestly
- This is a same machine, same exact region, same 24576 × 24576 block area test. Both sides build the identical area.
- The Arnis side is a single run with stream to disk turned on, which takes about 12 to 15 minutes. Meld does the same area in about 5 to 6 minutes, so Meld is about 2 times faster (sometimes a bit more).
- Meld uses Arnis to build every cell. The win is orchestration: many Arnis runs in parallel, one shared OSM fetch, and a region perfect merge.
- The merge melds tiles with no seams and no height cliffs, about 99 percent seamless. Version 1.1.0 also fixes real generation problems: elevation no-data holes that showed as dark bands and in game dips, staircase seams, water and shore artifacts, duplicate signs and banners, and parallel crashes.
- Results vary by CPU, RAM, and disk. Other machines may see different numbers. We quote ranges (5 to 6 min, 12 to 15 min, about 2x) on purpose.
- Beyond speed, the real headline is scale: Meld can build whole countries and continents as one seamless world, which a single Arnis run cannot reach in practice.