[Tutorial] Optimization

Armadillo of Doom

Group Founder, Lover of Pie
aa
Oct 25, 2007
949
1,228
First off, this is not my guide. Full credit goes to the original author. This tutorial is by far the single best I have ever known. I've been using it since day 1, and feel it's well worth posting here. The tutorial is over 80,000 characters long, not counting pics, and would take a minimum of 9 posts to copy. So instead I'm simply gonna link it. Enjoy! http://rvanhoorn.ruhosting.nl/optimization.php?page=news
 
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Vilepickle

Banned
Oct 25, 2007
372
199
Ahh optimization, I'm glad it's actually quite universal from engine to engine. Coming from Q3 I had to relearn most of this the least, thankfully. :D
 

Snipergen

L13: Stunning Member
Nov 16, 2007
1,051
150
awesome but i still cant figure out where to place the areaportals in my map :(
 

Vilepickle

Banned
Oct 25, 2007
372
199
awesome but i still cant figure out where to place the areaportals in my map :(

Doorways. Any other semi-enclosed areas you can box off with areaportals... even a somewhat large area with a lot of models might be a good idea. I've used them much more in my updated Castle that I'll have to release for the new scoring system soon.
 
Oct 25, 2007
219
690
Doorways. Any other semi-enclosed areas you can box off with areaportals...

This is the key point with areaportals. You have to set it up so it seals a part of the map. So say you have a room with one door , a hall and a window, and you need an areaportal. You would setup a closed areaportal in the door, associated with the door. You would setup an open areaportal in the hall. Finally, setup and areaportalwindow inside the window brush as well.

The areaportal entities have to touch four sides (such as two side walls, the floor and ceiling), If they don't they will leak.
 

Vilepickle

Banned
Oct 25, 2007
372
199
This is the key point with areaportals. You have to set it up so it seals a part of the map. So say you have a room with one door , a hall and a window, and you need an areaportal. You would setup a closed areaportal in the door, associated with the door. You would setup an open areaportal in the hall. Finally, setup and areaportalwindow inside the window brush as well.

The areaportal entities have to touch four sides (such as two side walls, the floor and ceiling), If they don't they will leak.

Do Valve maps used closed portals in their doorways? Their wiki says open ones are almost always used in MP. I'll have to check I suppose.
 

DJive

Cake or Death?
aa
Dec 20, 2007
1,465
741
Ahh optimization, I'm glad it's actually quite universal from engine to engine. Coming from Q3 I had to relearn most of this the least, thankfully. :D

!? You came from Q3A GTKRadient? Another Q3A mapper? =)
 

Vilepickle

Banned
Oct 25, 2007
372
199
!? You came from Q3A GTKRadient? Another Q3A mapper? =)

Yessir. Actually, Quake 3 Fortress was my first mapping experience, so I've been in fortress mapping for a long time.
 

Scotland Tom

L6: Sharp Member
Jan 19, 2008
332
64
Absolutely excellent tutorial. It covers all the bases of optimization and has gotten me to change my approach to mapping as a result.
 

Armadillo of Doom

Group Founder, Lover of Pie
aa
Oct 25, 2007
949
1,228
Absolutely excellent tutorial. It covers all the bases of optimization and has gotten me to change my approach to mapping as a result.

Same here. Were it not for this tut, I wouldn't even be using nodraw, and think that cutting was a good idea lol.
 

Dox

L8: Fancy Shmancy Member
Oct 26, 2007
588
62
This probably should be a sticky. :)
 

Dr Forrester

L2: Junior Member
Aug 15, 2008
60
23
there is a 404 error when I click the link. That is all.
 

Icarus

aa
Sep 10, 2008
2,245
1,210
Awesome!

Preserve THE BEST optimization guide!

Could we save it somewhere else just in case it goes under again?
 
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Cinnamon Whirl

L1: Registered
May 9, 2008
34
6
Can't believe that site's still up; Zombie used to post on the old Verc mapping forums when HL2 was first released way back when....
 

Pianodan

L3: Member
Apr 11, 2009
108
16
Important Noob Tip: (All the regulars already know this, of course, but I was kicking myself HARD when I figured it out)

A lot of these optimization guides were made on the previous version of the editor which required you to launch the game and use console commands to view the visleafs. So they don't mention the key fact that the new version lets you display them in the editor.

Do the compile map command with just BSP and VVIS (no vrad, don't launch map), then select Tools->Load Portal File.

Holy COW! Big ugly blue lines everywhere! I felt like such an idiot a ) when I realized how to display them and b ) when I saw just how many there were. That moment did more for my compile times than the five or six optimization guides put together.

Of course, then the optimization guides made sense and started to be extremely useful.
 

Ravidge

Grand Vizier
aa
May 14, 2008
1,544
2,818
You actually only have to run vbsp to generate a portalfile (and pointfile).