hlrad compile option Created 20 years ago2004-01-31 19:13:27 UTC by esmajor

hlrad is taking mroe than 10 minutes to compile a map, which at that point it "stops responding" and I have to C-A-D out of it (Ctrl Alt Delete)

I'm using the following param's...

$light_exe -bounce 10 -extra -sparse -high $path$file (in expert mode)

is it possible to MANUALLY go into dos and run hlrad? Would that speed up the process?

batch compile. i dunno how but its supposed 2 b better. no doubt an enlightened one shall see you in your hour of need and reveal the seacrets of this sacred compiling method...

10 Minutes... is that all.
It looks like it is not responding.... but it is. It just needs to finish.
This is perfectly normal for a map with complex objects or large open spaces.
I did some tests, Dos Batch Compiling vs Hammer Expert.
The time saving on a 1.5 hour compile was about 8 minutes less for Batch with all tools run. That of course will depend on what programs your machine is running in the background when you compile with Hammer.

Batch is good for flexibility. But I didn't get Massive time savings as suggested by some. depends on your machine and operating system

If you are compiling in Expert mode and you don't want RAD to run, I am guessing you are just testing entities? Then just uncheck the box next to it. Might as well do VIS while your at it. This is the perfect way to test entity setups without waiting.

However R_speed readings will not be correct unless you compile fully with all the tools.

the -sparse parameter also slows hlrad down. and if it only took it 10 minutes to compile, I doubt you're close enough to the light patch limit to need it.

Also, while using -bounce 10 doesn't really take any longer, after about 4 bounces you probably can't notice a difference, unless you have some mega-watt spot light or something.

And setting the priority to high, as I'm sure you've noticed, pretty much prevents you from using your computer at all. Giving rad high priority might speed it up a bit if you have a lot of background tasks running in Windows and are compiliing a large level. But then again, you should've shutdown most the background tasks before you started compiling Save high priority for when you start having to compile overnight.

My last map took 3 hours to compile. I must say it was the final-compile.
I use batch compiler.

Oh, one more thing...

If you're tweaking entities and such, but still want a rough preview of the lighting, try doubling or tripling the -chop and -texchop values, which will essentially cut rad time in half or more.

Well, once it stops responding I have to CAD out - it won;t run the rest of hlrad - or is it THAT slow usually?

I'm an impatient person LOL

It's that slow.

Sometimes it does lock-up/not respond etc., is this when it stops on VIS or RAD and then the mouse arrow changes to an hourglass? It's annoying, 'cos you can't see the compile progress, but it is compiling.

use batch compiles

don't use hammer to compile! It's more trouble than its worth and it's little dos window won't display values correctly.

get HLCC1.4, the simplest batch compiler to use thats out there. Theres a few missing options for anything added to zoner within the last year or so, but these can easily be added manually.

For a normal RAD, use - bounce 0 and don't bother with sparse, if you don't NEED sparse (meaning you don't get MAX_MAP_PATCHES without it) then don't use it! It just lengthens the compile time. - chop 128 also decreases lighting time further for non-important compiles, it just makes the lighting a lot less accurate.

-extra increases the RAD time by a factor of FOUR as it increases the accuracy of it's lighting matrix, for a normal RAD, forget it!

my normal rad string is:
hlrad.exe -bounce 0 -chop 128 -lights "somerad.rad" -chart -estimate "mapname.map"

The last 2 options (assuming you are using zoners tools! If not USE THEM), chart and estimate, will allieviate your problem of RAD seeming 'stuck'. -estimate will show a much more accurate analysis of what RAD is doing, down to individual faces, so no more %age based nonsense.
Chart simply displays a detailed look at the compile, useful for debugging.

My full rad string is (for a full compile of a large map):
hlrad.exe -sparse -bounce 4 -chop 64 -coring 0.2 -smooth 80 -lights "somerad.rad" -chart -estimate -extra "mapname.map"

I try to get chop as low as possible (before the compile takes forever/the tools crash), don't worry about coring and smooth, they just give a better effect. I've used sparse here as all my final compiles end up needing it.

Hopefully my knowledge of compilers will help thee.

Jobabob, it seems my compiler has been doing better since illeviating the bounce ans sparse options... 5 minutes max...

I WILL however check out that tool you linked to...