Compile times, insane.

[Nuk3m]

No Leaks. Only Solids. No RRAD.

I still have ridiculous compile times, and im not even outside of doing one base. suggestions?

[-=Roland=-]

Start by reading here



If you figure all that out let me know, you can explain it all to me

[Sidd]

post a compile log, or bsp or vmf or something
need more info!

[own3r]

Usually Vis takes ages if you have not converted enough to func_detail. Usually 90% of my maps are func_detail only the map's boundries and parts essential to block visibility are not func_detail. Take a church like this for example:
http://www.michaeltyler.co.uk/upload...de2-795687.jpg

The pillars, stairs, candles and holders, wall detail etc all would be made func_detail in a map, of course its not a map its an example to illustrate the point...

[Sh4x]

owner probably guessed right on the cause of your problem... let us know!

[squeek.]

I think I got him sorted over AIM.

[Nuk3m]

yeah, it was the func details that killed the map, i didnt know about that :X

thanks guys!

[greenday5494]

wait. you need func_details instead of world geotrmetry? ill do that. too bad they are counted as entites and not world so they cause leaks...

[trepid_jon]

Yeah, you pretty much only want to have simple, flat brushwork as world/bsp brushes, so almost anything that's not flat should be an entity or displacement. In most cases, it should sorta end up like layers. You'd have the core bsp brushwork that might be a lot of nodraw, and then you might have the detail artwork on top of that bsp brushwork...most of the time.

cz2 is pretty much all func_details, props, or displacements with nodraw world brushes inside them, and cz2's vis compile only takes about a minute.

glview is your friend for seeing all this stuff.

Which reminds me, another great tip is surrounding your bsp brushwork with hint brushes so leaf splits don't stretch out too far. Basically, if you have walls with doorways and windows all made of world/bsp brushwork, those holes will break up vis leafs all the way out almost as far as possible. The more leaf splits, the longer compile times take...especially for bigger maps. So you gotta kinda encase those leaf splitting sections with hints. Hunted, for example...all its buildings are encased in hint brushes to kind of trap the splits caused by all the doors and windows. This is hard to explain without visuals (especially glview screenshots), so I don't know if what I'm saying is making any sense.

[greenday5494]

if you don't mind, could i use CZ2 and Hunted as refrence? not taking anything from it at all, just looking at the techniques. i would like to see how you make vvis.exe compile quickly. i wont take ANYTHING from it, except the ideas/prinicples behind making vvis.exe go faster. oh, and is it only the compile time that's affected? i mean, does it make the map perform and look worse?

[trepid_jon]

I'd actually like to put some source files in FF. Meant to get that done for 2.0, but forgot.

Basically, a source folder matching the main folder...

FortressForever\maps\ff_cz2.bsp
FortressForever\source\maps\ff_cz2.zip

FortressForever\materials\vgui\loadingscreens\ff_w aterpolo.vtf
FortressForever\source\materials\vgui\loadingscree ns\ff_waterpolo.psd

etc.

Oh, and as for performance vs visuals, it depends on how you do some things. For instance, lighting can get weird with func_details, so you sometimes have to do some things to work around that weird lighting...like break up the face a func_detail touches or lower the lightmap scale. If that makes sense...

[greenday5494]

i mean, i can handle long compile times, i have a 5600+X2, 8800GT, it gets done pretty fast no matter what. if it doesnt affect the FINAL map, i dont really care :P.


oh, and if i increase the lightmap scale on regular world brushes, i would get less blocky looking stuff, similar to the BM:S screenshots?

[-=Roland=-]

I found another optimization tutorial. http://www.student.ru.nl/rvanhoorn/optimization.php

It's pretty good, I at least feel I picked up a few things from this. Check it out if you haven't already seen it.

[Elmo]

Optimisation took me a little while to get to grips with. But it's well worth doing, saving yourself alot of time compiling when all you want to do is check the smallest of changes to your map!

These may help, this is my map that I have sitting doing nothing. You can see how much i've turned into func_detail and how I seal my map.. dunno if it's 100% right as i've taught myself everything I know but it's certainly not too far off. It only takes 1min 50sec for the full compile.

vis groups are amasingly helpful for finding leaks and determining what needs to be turned into func_detail. I raised the skybox just so i could sit inside it and show you the whole thing.

hope this helps... trepid should be able to say if I'm close or not I dont have faith in myself

Everything, world geometry, func_details and displacements


Just world geometry andv func_details


Just world geometry


Just func_details


In-game Ramp Area
In-game Front Base
In-game Overview

[Dr.Satan]

um...why is it just sitting there? That's beautiful you should finish it!

[Elmo]

Cheers, I'm really happy with it, I want to beta test it but it doesnt want to load on the server.. dunno why but I haven't actually tried to fix it yet (it works fine hosting it myself and other people can join)

got loads of things I want help with, maybe i should put a post up with my map with the things i want help with and fixing.. been putting it off for months lol.

If u wanna see more detail for now, its here. An older version with less up2date textures.

anyway, on topic Optimisation = GOOD

[mixer]

im suffering from a compile-time-explosion as well now ... i started learning hammer a few days ago. I started doing basic-stuff and then, in the same file started the actual map. It all was fine until i added water. It just didnt look right, so i surrounded the map with large walls with the skybox-texture. The water still looked wrong. I then deleted the practise-stuff that was isolated in the other corner of the working-grid. After that the compile time jumped from 10sec to 15mins ... how long do your maps compile? the compiler here maxes out both cores on my x2-4400+ for >10mins when it works on the "Portal-Flow"

[greenday5494]

DO NOT SURROUND YOUR MAP WITH A BOX!!!!!!!!! IT MAKES VVIS CALCUCATE A BUNCH MORE CRAP AND IT DRAWS ALOT MORE STUFF YOU DONT EVEN SEE!!! compile times EXPLODE when you surround your map with a box! just fix the leaks by using your .lin files. press load pointfile. Tip: To quickly fine Leaks, compile without VVIS and VRAD so only VBSP, which checks leaks, runs. then, just click Load Pointfile, and if there isnt one there, you gots no leakz. VBSP takes less than 10 seconds