How good at optimizing would you say vvis is alone?

JMRboosties

L2: Junior Member
Jun 3, 2009
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I plan on using hints and area portals to the best of my ability, but from your experience how good of a job would vvis on full do in improving FPS?
 

Fearlezz

L10: Glamorous Member
May 4, 2008
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JMRboosties

L2: Junior Member
Jun 3, 2009
98
2
why im asking is i have an early build of a map im working on without any lighting or optimization in terms of hinting or area portals (though most nodraws are applies where necessary). i ran it on fast for a quick playtest but the framerate was horrible. if i want this to be tested in a full server the framerate must improve. so what im asking is can i run vvis on full and then play with area portals and hints after im sure the geography is sound, or will full vvis compiling not make that much of a difference from fast?
 

Psy

The Imp Queen
aa
Apr 9, 2008
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Full VIS is recommended. Fast VIS doesn't really do an awful lot.
 

Open Blade

L420: High Member
Nov 30, 2007
439
34
I would have to say if your frames are "awful" as you put it then you've done something wrong before you optimize with areaportals or hints, especially if you are the only player running through the map and taking into account that you have a good video card.

How well did you func_detail things? Is your skybox just a large open area or does it seal closely to walls and building tops when possible?

I'm about to release a new map and it's very detailed and I have no hints in it yet, only areaportals and we've tested it with 32 players and nobody had any problems with their frames at all, they were very happy. I'm going to add hints (grazr is helping me with that right now) just to get every last drop of optimizing I can but it probably won't do anything amazing to the frames. Even before I added my areaportals, when I would compile and just run through the map myself, frames were very high. And I have an average video card at best and only a single core CPU. So I would say you've got some fundamental problems with your brush work. Can you throw up some screenshots of some of the areas of your map where your frames are the lowest?
 
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JMRboosties

L2: Junior Member
Jun 3, 2009
98
2
I would have to say if your frames are "awful" as you put it then you've done something wrong before you optimize with areaportals or hints, especially if you are the only player running through the map and taking into account that you have a good video card.

How well did you func_detail things? Is your skybox just a large open area or does it seal closely to walls and building tops when possible?

I'm about to release a new map and it's very detailed and I have no hints in it yet, only areaportals and we've tested it with 32 players and nobody had any problems with their frames at all, they were very happy. I'm going to add hints (grazr is helping me with that right now) just to get every last drop of optimizing I can but it probably won't do anything amazing to the frames. Even before I added my areaportals, when I would compile and just run through the map myself, frames were very high. And I have an average video card at best and only a single core CPU. So I would say you've got some fundamental problems with your brush work. Can you throw up some screenshots of some of the areas of your map where your frames are the lowest?

oh for me running it alone it ran quite well, but in a server of roughly 24 of my friends the framerate dropped below 20 for me (i usually get around 30+) and it was overall sluggish. my skybox is pretty efficient id say, im still kind of learning when and when not to use func_detail but i used it on obvious stuff.

like i said the version i compiled had vvis on fast, im currently running it on normal right now but its been compiling since 1 PM PST and as of now is still not done. if it still hasnt finished by morning im gonna guess something is wrong. how long does full vvis compiling normally take?
 

Open Blade

L420: High Member
Nov 30, 2007
439
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oh for me running it alone it ran quite well, but in a server of roughly 24 of my friends the framerate dropped below 20 for me (i usually get around 30+) and it was overall sluggish. my skybox is pretty efficient id say, im still kind of learning when and when not to use func_detail but i used it on obvious stuff.

like i said the version i compiled had vvis on fast, im currently running it on normal right now but its been compiling since 1 PM PST and as of now is still not done. if it still hasnt finished by morning im gonna guess something is wrong. how long does full vvis compiling normally take?

VVIS should be pretty quick actually. Mine takes 20 minutes. VRAD is what should take much longer.
 

JMRboosties

L2: Junior Member
Jun 3, 2009
98
2
yea i just let it go overnight and it still hadnt finished so i just canceled it. im gonna put some area portals in and play with the skybox and see if i get better results
 

Psy

The Imp Queen
aa
Apr 9, 2008
1,706
1,491
Your VVIS should never be longer then 10 minutes in my opinion. I've never let mine get that big.