building a (too) large map Created 19 years ago2004-09-14 10:33:46 UTC by quark

hi all, first post, and hoping to find a solution for my problem.
ill try to bee short...

i posted my problemmap in the vault, so you can see what im trying to accomplish. (develop_nuytsstraat_too_much)

i need to know what the maximum amount of brushes and entitys are in a map so i can try to build a map as big as possible without exeeding the maximums..... my problem is that i dont know what the maximum is....

so. anyone who knows...please post a reply...

thanx..
quark
(quark@chello.nl)

I don't know them off hand, but try in ZHLTs (or rather the HTML files with it). Specifically the problems.html; but you really shouldnt max out halflife. It depends on the sizes of the brushes, how many are being rendered at once etc on how fast things will run. Having a ridiculously big map GENERALLY ends up with large pointless bland areas.

You can get that on the VERC.

ok ill try the docs with zhlts, and i assume the "verc" is an internetsite?
anyway, thanks for thinking along.

it not my intention to max out hallife, i just want to see how far u can press the engine without getting very poor framerates.... i know large open spaces result in very high r_speeds
but i was modelling my place and i got carried away.
and now i just wanted to make this thing work.

i am having thoughts on making textures to replace all those brushes used for the windowframes and windows on my 12 story high building.
bet that would reduce a lot.

but.... is it possible to have a texture that only partially emits light?
or looks like its emitting light....??

To check you map limitations, like maximum amount of models, brushes, faces, patches, etc, use the -chart parameter on all 4 compile tools. After your compile, you can check out the log and see what the limits are and how far/many you have od certain things, like models and brushes, etc.

To make it appear as if it 'patially' emits light, just put an invisible func_illusionary where you want the light to come from and put a light emmiting texture on the desired face.
You can can remove it with ripent after the final compile, since it's not required anymore.

Oh MuzzleFlash, please use your old avatar! The new always makes me think this guy is a noob. The old one (J'en ai marre) was better IMO.

Lol, but its the fish from the game Insaniquarium (www.popcap.com). awesome game.

I can't change now, i'll do that when im home.

(Sorry for going OT)

http://www.slackiller.com/tommy14/errors.htm#maxlim

Bookmark Tommy14's site, it covers a wide variety of errors you may encounter in the future.

amazing how fast u guys react with some good info.
tnx

btw im really busy downscaling my ridiculous big map, to a size more apropriate..
and at this moment its compilingh.... not too many brushes anymore...and it still "looks" huge....
probably a lot more to do on the map but at least it should be running tonight...
tnx in advance...

Also if you're trying to make a large maps with high speeds read the HINT BRUSH tutorial quark.

so, what i make out of the hint tutorail is that you devide youre map into different section depending on what you can see from any give point..

Kinda. That's what HLVIS is for, doing it automatically, but you can give it a helping hand sometimes.

HINT brushes are no magical weapons.
They cannot automatically make your map faster, smaller, or better.
You understand how BSP trees work, you must know how HLBSP splitts the world etc.
HINT brushes can be used to reduce the size of the rendered area, especially on angled maps.

http://www.gamedesign.net/book/view/266

Read that and you'll know where to apply hint brushes. They work best in 'inside' levels (hallways, rooms) although 'outside' levels (open spaces, terrain) could benefit from it too, in some occasions. But yeah, as hazardous! said, it's often not necessary.