Need help Optimizing map

[timech187]

I am finally coming close to creating a CSS map that I like and that I think my buds will like. It's about my fourth map and I have taken all that I have learned (not near enough) and created something I am actually happy with.

It's a map based on the "Evil Genious" idea. It will be the start of a series of maps in which the CT's must defeat the T's in order to progress...or at least in story content.

This first map takes place in an underwater lab. It's like any other CSS map, but with my own minded story line.

I am nearing completion of the map structure. I have begun adding SOME props and whatnot.

However, I don't want to continue until I understand how to optimize a map. I have uploaded onto my website two files.

1) http://www.boredskm.com/bored.ace
This file contains a .BSP (fast vis) and a .VMF. I would love it if someone could take a look at it for me. Either help me by adding in some example area portals or just plain giving me advice on how to implement them.

2) http://www.boredskm.com/images.ace
A series of 16 images of my map compiled with fast vis. For those that want to see more of the map before you download.

Now here are a few screens to show. I have one large open area that seems to be the main focus of my bad frames per second. Most of it is world rendering and some dynamic lighting.

Anyway, I appreciate any and all help on the matter! Thanks and happy mapping!

Timech

 

[Dead-Inside]

www.hl 2 world.com has some great optimizing tutorials. One of the explains how VIS works in detail (Well, enough detail ).

 

[timech187]

I've checked out that tutorial, as well as the others on that site, the Snarkpit.com site and the VERC documentation. I can add the area portals, but I get errors or my fps doesn't get better. I should have posted that so folks wouldn't think I at least didn't try.

I printed all the tutorials out last night as well as downloaded an example map for areaportals and areaportalswindows. Thought it was going to work then kept getting this error when the game would try to run:

areaportal>numareaportals (or something similar)

Anyway, thanks .

For those that want to send email, here is my address:

[email protected]

Thanks

Timech

 

[Bluestrike]

Did you do a full compile (settings on normal) and no leak
(you see a messeage ***leaked*** in the vbsp part of the compile log)

Because the map doesn't look that heavy on the budget and there is barely any detail.

For optimizing, you need to learn about hint (hint texture) and func_detais.

Any hints tutorial regarding a Quake based engine will do the best one I saw was a quake 2 one about the subject.

 

[timech187]

If you could point me to a good hint tutorial, that would be great . I found several on area portals, but still can't get them to work...so I would love to see some stuff about hints!

Thanks,

Timech

 

[Icke]

Running VIS on FAST isnt good for performance.

 

[timech187]

So running on Normal will give me better results? If that's right, then I will give it a try...I was not aware that it had a difference. Will give it a go when I get home, thanks!!

Timech

 

[Icke]

So running on Normal will give me better results? If that's right, then I will give it a try...I was not aware that it had a difference. Will give it a go when I get home, thanks!!

Timech

Yep, it gives a more accurate VIS, so the stuff you dont see isnt rendered. when VIS is on fast, it doesnt calculate this as accurate as possible, so a lot more is rendered than you actually see.

 

[timech187]

I am getting a leak when I compile on any setting. I have removed my entities and lights cause it kept saying they were leaking. I fixed all the leaks that the Load Point File would find. Now I am getting this....

-------------------------------------
** Executing...
** Command: "c:\program files\valve\steam\steamapps\timech187\sourcesdk\bin\vbsp.exe"
** Parameters: -game "c:\program files\valve\steam\steamapps\timech187\counter-strike source\cstrike" "C:\Documents and Settings\skmyers\My Documents\Websites\bored\test"

Valve Software - vbsp.exe (Dec 15 2004)
1 threads
materialPath: c:\program files\valve\steam\steamapps\timech187\counter-strike source\cstrike\materials
Loading C:\Documents and Settings\skmyers\My Documents\Websites\bored\test.vmf
fixing up env_cubemap materials on brush sides...
ProcessBlock_Thread: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (0)
**** leaked ****

FindPortalSide: Couldn't find a good match for which brush to assign to a portal near (1024.0, 512.0, -327.5)
Leaf 0 contents: CONTENTS_SOLID
Leaf 1 contents:
viscontents (node 0 contents ^ node 1 contents): CONTENTS_SOLID
This means that none of the brushes in leaf 0 or 1 that touches the portal has CONTENTS_SOLID
Check for a huge brush enclosing the coordinates above that has contents CONTENTS_SOLID
Candidate brush IDs:


FindPortalSide: Couldn't find a good match for which brush to assign to a portal near (1024.0, 226.0, 40.0)
Leaf 0 contents: CONTENTS_SOLID
Leaf 1 contents:
viscontents (node 0 contents ^ node 1 contents): CONTENTS_SOLID
This means that none of the brushes in leaf 0 or 1 that touches the portal has CONTENTS_SOLID
Check for a huge brush enclosing the coordinates above that has contents CONTENTS_SOLID
Candidate brush IDs:


FindPortalSide: Couldn't find a good match for which brush to assign to a portal near (1024.0, 738.0, 40.0)
Leaf 0 contents: CONTENTS_SOLID
Leaf 1 contents:
viscontents (node 0 contents ^ node 1 contents): CONTENTS_SOLID
This means that none of the brushes in leaf 0 or 1 that touches the portal has CONTENTS_SOLID
Check for a huge brush enclosing the coordinates above that has contents CONTENTS_SOLID
Candidate brush IDs:


FindPortalSide: Couldn't find a good match for which brush to assign to a portal near (1024.0, 226.0, 172.0)
Leaf 0 contents: CONTENTS_SOLID
Leaf 1 contents:
viscontents (node 0 contents ^ node 1 contents): CONTENTS_SOLID
This means that none of the brushes in leaf 0 or 1 that touches the portal has CONTENTS_SOLID
Check for a huge brush enclosing the coordinates above that has contents CONTENTS_SOLID
Candidate brush IDs:


FindPortalSide: Couldn't find a good match for which brush to assign to a portal near (1024.0, 738.0, 172.0)
Leaf 0 contents: CONTENTS_SOLID
Leaf 1 contents:
viscontents (node 0 contents ^ node 1 contents): CONTENTS_SOLID
This means that none of the brushes in leaf 0 or 1 that touches the portal has CONTENTS_SOLID
Check for a huge brush enclosing the coordinates above that has contents CONTENTS_SOLID
Candidate brush IDs:


FindPortalSide: Couldn't find a good match for which brush to assign to a portal near (2048.0, 512.0, -195.5)
Leaf 0 contents:
Leaf 1 contents: CONTENTS_SOLID
viscontents (node 0 contents ^ node 1 contents): CONTENTS_SOLID
This means that none of the brushes in leaf 0 or 1 that touches the portal has CONTENTS_SOLID
Check for a huge brush enclosing the coordinates above that has contents CONTENTS_SOLID
Candidate brush IDs:


FindPortalSide: Couldn't find a good match for which brush to assign to a portal near (1536.0, 1024.0, -195.5)
Leaf 0 contents:
Leaf 1 contents: CONTENTS_SOLID
viscontents (node 0 contents ^ node 1 contents): CONTENTS_SOLID
This means that none of the brushes in leaf 0 or 1 that touches the portal has CONTENTS_SOLID
Check for a huge brush enclosing the coordinates above that has contents CONTENTS_SOLID
Candidate brush IDs:


FindPortalSide: Couldn't find a good match for which brush to assign to a portal near (1040.0, -1024.0, -295.0)
Leaf 0 contents: CONTENTS_SOLID
Leaf 1 contents:
viscontents (node 0 contents ^ node 1 contents): CONTENTS_SOLID
This means that none of the brushes in leaf 0 or 1 that touches the portal has CONTENTS_SOLID
Check for a huge brush enclosing the coordinates above that has contents CONTENTS_SOLID
Candidate brush IDs:

*** Suppressing further FindPortalSide errors.... ***
Processing areas...done (0)
Building Faces...done (0)
Chop Details...done (0)
Find Visible Detail Sides...
Merged 186 detail faces...done (0)
Merging details...done (0)
FixTjuncs...
PruneNodes...
WriteBSP...
done (0)
Creating default cubemaps for env_cubemap using skybox sky_wasteland02...
Run buildcubemaps in the engine to get the correct cube maps.
Finding displacement neighbors...
Finding lightmap sample positions...
Displacement Alpha : 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10
Building Physics collision data...
done (1) (380196 bytes)
Placing detail props : 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10
Water found with no water_lod_control entity, creating a default one.
Writing C:\Documents and Settings\skmyers\My Documents\Websites\bored\test.bsp
9 seconds elapsed
Memory leak: mempool blocks left in memory: 48
Memory leak: mempool blocks left in memory: 4

** Executing...
** Command: "c:\program files\valve\steam\steamapps\timech187\sourcesdk\bin\vvis.exe"
** Parameters: -game "c:\program files\valve\steam\steamapps\timech187\counter-strike source\cstrike" "C:\Documents and Settings\skmyers\My Documents\Websites\bored\test"

Valve Software - vvis.exe (Dec 15 2004)
1 threads
reading c:\documents and settings\skmyers\my documents\websites\bored\test.bsp
reading c:\documents and settings\skmyers\my documents\websites\bored\test.prt
LoadPortals: couldn't read c:\documents and settings\skmyers\my documents\websites\bored\test.prt


** Executing...
** Command: "c:\program files\valve\steam\steamapps\timech187\sourcesdk\bin\vrad.exe"
** Parameters: -game "c:\program files\valve\steam\steamapps\timech187\counter-strike source\cstrike" "C:\Documents and Settings\skmyers\My Documents\Websites\bored\test"

Valve Software - vrad.exe (Dec 15 2004)
----- Radiosity Simulator ----
1 threads
[Reading texlights from 'lights.rad']
[1 texlights parsed from 'lights.rad']

Loading c:\documents and settings\skmyers\my documents\websites\bored\test.bsp
No vis information, direct lighting only.
5269 faces
32 degenerate faces
297224 square feet [42800288.00 square inches]
0 displacements
0 square feet [0.00 square inches]
0 direct lights
BuildFacelights: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (1)
Build Patch/Sample Hash Table(s).....Done<0.0581 sec>
FinalLightFace: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (1)
FinalLightFace Done
Ready to Finish
0 of 0 (0% of) surface lights went in leaf ambient cubes.
ComputePerLeafAmbientLighting: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10

Object names Objects/Maxobjs Memory / Maxmem Fullness
------------ --------------- --------------- --------
models 1/1024 48/49152 ( 0.1%)
brushes 985/8192 11820/98304 (12.0%)
brushsides 7244/65536 57952/524288 (11.1%)
planes 4274/65536 85480/1310720 ( 6.5%)
vertexes 9294/65536 111528/786432 (14.2%)
nodes 3559/65536 113888/2097152 ( 5.4%)
texinfos 870/12288 62640/884736 ( 7.1%)
texdata 35/2048 1120/65536 ( 1.7%)
dispinfos 0/0 0/0 ( 0.0%)
disp_verts 0/0 0/0 ( 0.0%)
disp_tris 0/0 0/0 ( 0.0%)
disp_lmsamples 0/0 0/0 ( 0.0%)
faces 5269/65536 295064/3670016 ( 8.0%)
origfaces 3037/65536 170072/3670016 ( 4.6%)
leaves 3561/65536 199416/3670016 ( 5.4%)
leaffaces 7295/65536 14590/131072 (11.1%)
leafbrushes 2516/65536 5032/131072 ( 3.8%)
surfedges 38114/512000 152456/2048000 ( 7.4%)
edges 23582/256000 94328/1024000 ( 9.2%)
worldlights 0/8192 0/720896 ( 0.0%)
waterstrips 653/32768 6530/327680 ( 2.0%)
waterverts 0/65536 0/786432 ( 0.0%)
waterindices 11181/65536 22362/131072 (17.1%)
cubemapsamples 1/1024 16/16384 ( 0.1%)
overlays 0/512 0/180224 ( 0.0%)
lightdata [variable] 2075504/0 ( 0.0%)
visdata [variable] 0/16777216 ( 0.0%)
entdata [variable] 244/393216 ( 0.1%)
occluders 0/0 0/0 ( 0.0%)
occluder polygons 0/0 0/0 ( 0.0%)
occluder vert ind 0/0 0/0 ( 0.0%)
detail props [variable] 1/12 ( 8.3%)
static props [variable] 1/12 ( 8.3%)
pakfile [variable] 22072/0 ( 0.0%)

Win32 Specific Data:
physics [variable] 380196/4194304 ( 9.1%)
==== Total Win32 BSP file data space used: 3882360 bytes ====

Linux Specific Data:
physicssurface [variable] 0/6291456 ( 0.0%)
==== Total Linux BSP file data space used: 3502164 bytes ====

Total triangle count: 15261
Writing c:\documents and settings\skmyers\my documents\websites\bored\test.bsp
5 seconds elapsed

** Executing...
** Command: Copy File
** Parameters: "C:\Documents and Settings\skmyers\My Documents\Websites\bored\test.bsp" "c:\program files\valve\steam\steamapps\timech187\counter-strike source\cstrike\maps\test.bsp"
------------------------------------------------

Here is a link to my .VMF file if anyone wants to take a look at it.

http://www.boredskm.com/leaking.ace

I have some water and it is not coming out right, without using a large skybox, which I have been told not to do, for fps reasons.

Any ideas?

Timech

 

[Icke]

I am getting a leak when I compile on any setting. I have removed my entities and lights cause it kept saying they were leaking. I fixed all the leaks that the Load Point File would find. Now I am getting this....


------------------------------------------------

Here is a link to my .VMF file if anyone wants to take a look at it.

http://www.boredskm.com/leaking.ace

I have some water and it is not coming out right, without using a large skybox, which I have been told not to do, for fps reasons.

Any ideas?

Timech

Water never works when you have leaks.

 

[DvS]

Try unchecking the visgroup called "detail brushes".. You see some holes in your map yeah? That can't happen.

Entities NEVER seal the map from the void (IE they produce a leak when used as a sealant)

 

[Bluestrike]

I am getting a leak when I compile on any setting. I have removed my entities and lights cause it kept saying they were leaking.

Deleting the entities won't help, a leak is when the "inside" part of youre map is contected to the 'outside' part.
The inside part is considered places with entity's.
So if you have a leak somewhere, it will keep leaking until you fixed the leak or deleted all entities. What means with a full vvis compile, that room won't even exist.

Water never works when you have leaks.

Depends, if you make 2 cubes and put water in both of em, and make a leak in one of the cubes, the water in the cube what has a leak to the void won;t render, but the 2nd cube with no leak will display water

Noticed that with water in by 3d sky being rendered and the water in the map not being rendered

 

[poseyjmac]

ill look at it tonight

 

[timech187]

Thanks Posey. I am working on remaking the map, bit by bit. I guess my main question would be the optimization part. I am getting rid of the leaks, but was unaware of how many I had. Most of it has to do with me having func_details as outside walls, windows...that kind of thing.

I have read a ton of posts saying to turn all windows into func_detail...and so I did lol, they never said inside windows!

Now I know, and knowing is half the battle.

Again, thanks all for the responses..I promise I am a better mapper now because of it .

Timech

 

[timech187]

How do you uncheck the visgroups? What command or where in the options?

Thanks

 

[RedKetchup]

Just uncheck

 

[poseyjmac]

yeah leaks are priority 1. send a new vmf when you've taken care of leaks