About fast vis?

[504th]Arens · **About fast vis? -** 12-06-2002, 11:29 AM

I understand fast vis does not make a PVS (or sumthing like that)... What DOES fast vis do then? And how does that help decreasing framerates? I mean, full vis for my lates map will prob take like 2 weeks, fast vis about an hour... So what I mean is why not do a fast vis only?

thx.

Arens.

jv_map · 12-06-2002, 11:43 AM

A vis fast compile renders all view portals visible from all locations. This means, you can see the entire map regardless of your position. With full vis, some locations will be hidden when you can't see them. That's why a full vis will increase your framerates. I don't see any use for a -fast vis compile myself.

The effectiveness of a full vis compile and the time it takes depends on the layout of structural brushes on a map. A full vis doesn't necessarily take hours, if you make a very good combination of detailed and structural brushes combined with hint brushes and optionally areaportals, you can get very good fps with a vis compile that doesn't take more than a couple of minutes.

jv_map · **Hello? -** 12-09-2002, 02:38 AM

Anyone interested anyway?

Slyk · 12-09-2002, 08:37 AM

YEAH! I'm very interested. I have never understood the HINT brush thing nor complete rules for AREA PORTALS. I thought that area portals worked only with non-windowed rooms with auto-closing doors. Hint brushes, from what I have gatherd could help with large outdoor maps...of which I am a huge fan and have spent A LOT of time trying to design. So, I would love to hear the details on using them better.

[504th]Arens · 12-09-2002, 12:49 PM

Thanks mate...

So what your're basically saying is fast vis equals no vis at all??

Then to decrease vis time, could someone tell me how to do some of those nice tricks or where to find them. I've allready followed the links and stuff on it on TMT and read like tons of tuts, but still I'm like: HUH? what do HINT brushes do? (I think i have an idea but never exactly heard how they worked and how to do it)

My map (outdoors, indeed) allready has lots of detailed brushes (all kinds of debris, roofs, the 4 pieces of wood around windows, anything... Only the basic brushes that form buildings and stuff are left over... and all the patch messes I used for the terrain... could they cause long vis calculation time? Any way to decrease that?

I mean I dont mind compiling for 3 hours, but 2 weeks is a little bit too much for me, if you know what I mean?

One more thing: what is a leaking light? Could it be anything else besides a skybox problem?

...Arens...
swordfight:
...fighting his own dark side...

jv_map · **The more questions the more answers -** 12-09-2002, 04:39 PM

[url=http://www.modtheater.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1808:a4fa8]Hint brushes[/url:a4fa8]

There's no way LOD terrain could increase your vis compile time. All LOD terrain patches are automatically and necessarily detailed.

I've been told that leaking lights are caused by cloning. So just delete the lights that produce the error and create new ones. It shouldn't trouble much though.

When your vis compile takes way to long, and more than a couple of hours is pretty long, you need to take a close look at the layout of structural brushes. Bear in mind especially small structural brushes can have an enormous impact on the amount of vis leaf nodes. Also, efficient use of areaportals should speed up your vis compile.

Slyk · 12-09-2002, 10:19 PM

I think what we need is a good explanation for 'area portal'. And how and where to use a hint brush.

[504th]Arens · 12-10-2002, 05:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Slyk

I think what we need is a good explanation for 'area portal'. And how and where to use a hint brush.

Exactly dude! It's not the theory that I'm (and probably more people are) not getting or stuff like that: it is the way it should be worked out in practice...

This, for instance, is a nice, mapper-friendly tutorial on area portal use:
http://www.modtheater.com/forum/showthr ... eadid=1039

Anyways, I will look at my map for (weird) structural brushes... try whatever I can.

Still... most of the info is there, but no one really has put all these pieces together: area portals, vis brushes (the targeting vis/leafnode thingies), hint brushes: when should a mapper use these things? And how? How do you people get your short compile times? Maybe post some example .map files wich give clearer insight into this?

[504th]Arens · **Re: The more questions the more answers -** 12-10-2002, 05:44 AM

[quote="jv_map"][url=http://www.modtheater.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1808:feaec]Hint brushes[/url:feaec]

There's no way LOD terrain could increase your vis compile time. All LOD terrain patches are automatically and necessarily detailed.

I've been told that leaking lights are caused by cloning. So just delete the lights that produce the error and create new ones. It shouldn't trouble much though.quote]

I meant patch messes, not LOD terrain. You know what I mean? I think they're called patch mess or sumthin...

Thanks 4 the light help, I'll delete the leaking lights

bye.

Rakavolver · 12-10-2002, 01:15 PM

yo,

I am still wondering how to select -fullVIS. Does -verbose mean the same thing as -full in my MBuilder options??? And how about tha damn HINT brushes...nobody has given a proper answer

Greetz,

Rakavolver

jv_map · 12-10-2002, 04:48 PM

I'm not sure whether you noticed it, but that bold 'hint brushes' in my previous post is actually a link. I think the thread referred explains the usage of hint brushes pretty well.

Patch meshes are always detailed.

For fullvis just don't select any of the vis options. Never hit -full as it turns all detailed brushes into structural ones. -verbose increases the text output when compiling, it doesn't affect the end result.

Rakavolver · 12-10-2002, 05:32 PM

yo i didnt notice that being a link. I just checked it out.... Good tut indeed. I might as well use it before I release my map (Rakastadt)

TNX!

Greetz,

Rakavolver