Commented 20 years ago2004-11-02 02:56:01 UTCComment #4885
I've touched it up a bit so you could see about boxing things in... the layout isn't really great for what you're trying. I added skyboxes, though it's still quite a bit much. The long road area is too long for vis to function correctly. I placed a BIG block, but it would take more than that to effectively block vis. Gotta block it from top to bottom as well as side to side. I changed a door from a func_door back to a solid, just for compiling purposes. I also added some details to help close a player off to the areas you want them. And I added a few lights, since there weren't any. They are just so you'll be able to see your way around. I chose "night" for a sky, as I needed to put a light_environment in it for the sky textures to work.
Commented 20 years ago2004-11-02 18:37:18 UTCComment #4897
Ok I got rid of 80 percent of the skyboxes, i put in some REALLY generic storefronts/buildings and i extended the road so that it looks its off the street (you cant get in there) Lag is down a lot but its still is noticble. Maybe its my computer , i dont know.
Commented 20 years ago2004-11-03 03:11:54 UTCComment #4900
1. You only need one info_player_start for a multiplayer game. All the other spawns are info_player_deathmatch. Not sure what CS calls them as I've never mapped for CS.
2. Anywhere you have a texture who's name starts with a brace "{", you need to make that an entity. A func_wall or similar and set the rendermode "solid"/ FX amount 255. That will tell the game to make the blue invisible.
3. All of your func_ladders need to be textured with AAATrigger. The texture of the ladder (and the netting) need to be func_wall/ rendermode "solid"/ FX amount 255. So in front of your climbable textures, place a second brush with AAATrigger on it and make THAT the func_ladder.
4. In the Map dropdown menu, go to Map Properties and change the "Max viewable distance" setting from 4096 to, say, 8192. This will help the lag a bit. It'll help stop the "Hall of Mirrors" effect you get when things are too far away. Also in this Map Properties pallet, add the name of a sky texture... look in your Mod/gfx/env for choices or look in the sky tutorial for the stock names.
5. Stay away from making brushes 1 pixel wide. Don't hesitate to make them 32 or even 64 wide. Look down on the bottom of Hammer and you'll see the size for any selected brush shown as w x l x h. And don't interlock the corners of brushes. This creates "fractures" in the vis compile. Lap the corners as if they were actual 2"x4" boards. Picture a square made with four boards... two opposing sides are longer than the two other sides.
6. You are able to view across 6391 units, if you run from an upper corner to a lower, opposite corner. WAY too much. Try to block your large area off in such ways that you cannot see straight across. Even leaving a 1 unit space between the ground and an object makes the game engine calculate the entire distance across. And VIS does not see entities... For you, that means that func_ANYTHING doesn't stop the engine.
Instead of running around the entire building, you could have four separate "rooms" for each side of the building. The roof could be included in one of those sides.z
7. The large textures on the border "walls" are set 1:1 ratio, meaning they are not scaled different than the original size. You can bump them up to 2:1 with the texture application tool (shift+A). This takes some of the burden off the game engine because it doesn't need to draw that texture as much. If it takes 8 napkins to cover a picnic table (2 x 4), and you get napkins twice as big, it only takes TWO (!!!) to cover it the same amount. Since it's twice as big BOTH directions.
In the example map I've uploaded, notice how I made the ladder, notice how I blocked the veiw "Up" from above the ladder, and notice the texture on the floor. Inside the green border, the texture is 1:1. Outside, the same texture is 2:1. It doesn't look much different, but it's much easier on the engine.
Commented 20 years ago2004-11-04 22:55:54 UTCComment #4938
I see. Now.. to block vis acrossa a map, does can the block have a break in it? Er.. i see what u mean by the 2:1 scale. I applied that to my map. i dont see what the up view on the ladder does though...
Commented 20 years ago2004-11-05 01:48:56 UTCComment #4943
The "up" view from the bottom of the ladder does not actually reach the very top of the map because of the block on the wall above the ladder. Instead of seeing from bottom to top, VIS looks up until it hits that block, and then it starts calculating. It can't handle looking from the bottom to the top of the entire map. That distance is too big... and you must consider that VIS sees in 360 degrees. If the block had a break in it, then VIS could see up to the top, through the break, and it'd be too much math for its tiny little brain.
This was just an example map. There are many tutorials about breaking up VIS. Think of the Halflife map Gasworks. It has those corridors that seems to turn right, turn left, turn left, turn right... why not just make a straight hallway? To break up VIS...
Good luck!
2. Anywhere you have a texture who's name starts with a brace "{", you need to make that an entity. A func_wall or similar and set the rendermode "solid"/ FX amount 255. That will tell the game to make the blue invisible.
3. All of your func_ladders need to be textured with AAATrigger. The texture of the ladder (and the netting) need to be func_wall/ rendermode "solid"/ FX amount 255. So in front of your climbable textures, place a second brush with AAATrigger on it and make THAT the func_ladder.
4. In the Map dropdown menu, go to Map Properties and change the "Max viewable distance" setting from 4096 to, say, 8192. This will help the lag a bit. It'll help stop the "Hall of Mirrors" effect you get when things are too far away. Also in this Map Properties pallet, add the name of a sky texture... look in your Mod/gfx/env for choices or look in the sky tutorial for the stock names.
5. Stay away from making brushes 1 pixel wide. Don't hesitate to make them 32 or even 64 wide. Look down on the bottom of Hammer and you'll see the size for any selected brush shown as w x l x h. And don't interlock the corners of brushes. This creates "fractures" in the vis compile. Lap the corners as if they were actual 2"x4" boards. Picture a square made with four boards... two opposing sides are longer than the two other sides.
6. You are able to view across 6391 units, if you run from an upper corner to a lower, opposite corner. WAY too much. Try to block your large area off in such ways that you cannot see straight across. Even leaving a 1 unit space between the ground and an object makes the game engine calculate the entire distance across. And VIS does not see entities... For you, that means that func_ANYTHING doesn't stop the engine.
Instead of running around the entire building, you could have four separate "rooms" for each side of the building. The roof could be included in one of those sides.z
7. The large textures on the border "walls" are set 1:1 ratio, meaning they are not scaled different than the original size. You can bump them up to 2:1 with the texture application tool (shift+A). This takes some of the burden off the game engine because it doesn't need to draw that texture as much. If it takes 8 napkins to cover a picnic table (2 x 4), and you get napkins twice as big, it only takes TWO (!!!) to cover it the same amount. Since it's twice as big BOTH directions.
In the example map I've uploaded, notice how I made the ladder, notice how I blocked the veiw "Up" from above the ladder, and notice the texture on the floor. Inside the green border, the texture is 1:1. Outside, the same texture is 2:1. It doesn't look much different, but it's much easier on the engine.
This was just an example map. There are many tutorials about breaking up VIS. Think of the Halflife map Gasworks. It has those corridors that seems to turn right, turn left, turn left, turn right... why not just make a straight hallway? To break up VIS...