Flowgrove

looks cool but 3fps isn't enough even for walking around

I really like the whimsical setting of this map! It's like falling down a rabbit hole and ending up in the underground botanical gardens of a mad scientist. Speaking about rabbits, it reminded me of the 'Fanolint' levels in the first Jazz Jackrabbit game.

I agree that, in its current form, it's not really suitable for DM. The layout is too linear and the doors, narrow doorways and various protrusions hinder fast movement. If you want to make a 'proper' DM map, I'd suggest creating a 'blockout' level that focuses entirely on layout and gameplay. Keeping it visually simple allows you to make gameplay tweaks more easily. Once you're satisfied with the gameplay, start decorating it, using this map as a style guide.

As for optimizations, maybe you know some (or all) of this already, but just in case, here are some of the things that you can do:

• reduce texture scales on large, far-away surfaces (faces are split every 240 texture units)
• use func_detail instead of func_wall (entities are drawn entirely even if only a small part is in the visible area, whereas func_details become world geometry)
• replace certain details like plants and stones with models (model rendering is more efficient and allows for finer details)
• use the gl_wireframe 1 console command to look for areas with lots of face splitting (typically near rounded shapes), and see if you can reduce that with a func_detail or some other trick
• use less faces on rounded shapes, especially ones that are never seen up-close (such as the blue overhead pipes)
• if you start a 'blockout' map, use gl_wireframe 2 to see which areas are visible at any given moment, and adjust the layout to ensure that not too much it visible from any given position (maps often use U-bends in corridors to block visibility between areas)

Thank you for the feedback! Captain P, thank you for the optimization tips, I'll try to make this map more optimized. It's interesting that you found this map whimsical, another person that tried this map found it oppressing and depressing. Well, except for the circular pool area. I did intend for it to have this clash of tones, where the areas outside the circular pool feel strange, lonely and oppressing, and the circular pool feels normal and comfortable.