Extremely long compiles Created 16 years ago2008-03-16 23:52:26 UTC by zeeba-G

Im making my first map in source and its pretty detailed but im only a few days into it and it is only one area. When I hit f9 in hammer to check it out it takes 20 to 30 minutes to compile. This is freakin rediculous, does it take this long for anyone else to compile their maps? My computer isn't the problem. Is there a faster way to compile or might I be doing something wrong?

30 minutes isn't "extremely long". some maps have been known to take over 12 hours to compile.

For one area 30 minutes might be pushing it. Can you give us an idea how big the area is, and what you've done in the way of optimisation (lightmap scale, hint brushing, occluders, those sort of things)?

My computer isn't the problem.

What are your specs? I'm just curious because compiling can be pretty lengthy, even on speedy computers.

Also, give us a brush count.. heh

It helps to know just how detailed it is,

This room took me around 1 minute and 20 seconds to compile with a Quad Core 2,4 GHz. It's optimized but not very much.(if you see it too dark, don't know what's causing it because I see it dark but not too much)

Now you can compare with it.while compiling and after compiling.

Well it is pretty detailed so far because of some terrain and stairs and stuff. Solids-389, faces-2176.

my comps a dell dual core @ 2.00GHz

The room is a pretty big outside area with water and terrain surrounded by architecture. Theres a pretty simple bridge going over the water and theres a few staircases.

half an hour really isn't bad. I've done 13 hours myself, letting it compile overnight.

The solids shouldn't so much be a problem, I've had walkways that looked simple at a glance but were 140-something brushes, heh. (No they weren't pointless either,)

I'm guessing it's your "large outside area".

Cut down on some open space, lower the skyboxes maybe. That just seems like your biggest problem.

Optimise any doorways/windows between the inside and outside of the map and break the outside area into BSP leafs that are visible from the inside.

We can't really be too helpful without seeing the map, but large areas in general are always a pain to optimise in the Source engine.

Yea Thats probablly the major issue. Thx, I may go back to gold. But for now ill give source some more time.

Give source some time, it is an acquired taste, heh.

func_detail everything that isn't touching the void or is necessary to block vis. When you turn off func_detail group in visgroups, you should only see the block shell of your map.