laggy doors

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007

Banned
Sep 24, 2009
14
1
Whenever the spawn doors open, I lag. Not just me, but for everyone. Its just the spawn doors for some reason that whenever you walk out of them , you lagg. Do you guys have any idea whats causing the doors to lag everytime they open ?
 

l3eeron

L8: Fancy Shmancy Member
Jan 4, 2008
593
88
I suspect it has nothing to do with the doors themselves. More likely to be poor optimization right outside the doors...

You can see exactly what is being rendered if you turn on cheats and wireframe:

sv_cheats 1
mat_wireframe 1


Turn those on and take that same path through the doors, then you'll be able to see the trouble areas (look for things being rendered that are far away and/or behind structures that block the line of sight, that don't need to be rendered) etc...
 

007

Banned
Sep 24, 2009
14
1
No, the optimization is pretty good. I have area portals liked to the func_door so when the door opens, the map renders. I can grantee you, optimization has nothing to do with it.
 

l3eeron

L8: Fancy Shmancy Member
Jan 4, 2008
593
88
What he means is that the area outside of spawn is not optimized well. Thus when you open the doors (and portal) a huge area, or tons of detail comes into view in that instant, and that will cause lag.

:p thanks, said way better than I did.
 

007

Banned
Sep 24, 2009
14
1
Like I said, the map is fully optimized with hints/area portals/occluders. Optimizing is easy for me, I know thats not the problem here. I'll try to redo the door.
 

007

Banned
Sep 24, 2009
14
1
The doors are still lagging for some reason. Anyone has had this problem before ?
 

Ravidge

Grand Vizier
aa
May 14, 2008
1,544
2,818
Sounds odd. Does it happen if you cordon that section of the map? (like a 1024x1024 cordon area), if it still lags with that I don't know what to tell you.

Maybe you have a unsewn displacement somewhere near it that people get stuck on (for a brief moment) when walking though the door? Could feel like lag when it actually is a slight rubberbanding.
 

lana

Currently On: ?????
aa
Sep 28, 2009
3,075
2,778
Have you just tried looking at your map in wireframe, just to see if it's a rendering overload.
 

007

Banned
Sep 24, 2009
14
1
It only laggs when you come out of the spawn then after that it doesnt, for example after you leave the spawn and you get back in and get out, it doesnt lagg. It only happens in the begging. Its weird because it only happens at the doors in the first spawn because all the rest of the doors work fine. I tried the wireframe command and not alot renders, only the first section of the map.

EDIT: Im running fastvis fast, could that be it as well ?
 
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007

Banned
Sep 24, 2009
14
1
so I tried wireframe again and there is only one object that renders far away but everthing else is good, would that one object affect it ? its a door thats being rendered when I get out of the spawn doors.
 

Tapp

L10: Glamorous Member
Jan 26, 2009
776
215
Regardless of how well optimised your map is, when that areaportal opens the computer needs to load all sorts of textures and models into the program at once. I might even go to say that that areaportal is doing something bad, so maybe set it to stay open at the start, so the computers and precache everything, then link it back to the door.
 

007

Banned
Sep 24, 2009
14
1
Thanks Tapp, that sounds like it could cause it. Doesnt valve use this technique to optimize their maps with link portal to the func_door when it opens or no ?
 

megawac

L4: Comfortable Member
Oct 2, 2009
180
29
Actually none of the sdk valve maps Ive seen so far have any closed portals.
 

007

Banned
Sep 24, 2009
14
1
Yes, I was looking at the valve maps and none of them have closed portals like you said but in my case I left them open like Tapp said and it still lagged. Its pissing me off, I cant seem to fix it. I have two prop_physics_multiplayer outside the spawn, could that be it ? I have tried everything, I tested it with no doors, it lagged, I tested it with portals open/closed and it lagged, I redid the doors and it still lagged.
 

Terr

Cranky Coder
aa
Jul 31, 2009
1,590
410
Does showbudget give any clues?

I don't suppose you implemented the doors as some sort of moving physics object or anything... I did have bizarre across-map load once, and found it was because I had forgot to mark some brushes relating to a physics motor (driving purely-scenic skybox activity) as either non-solid or non-shadow-casting.
 

l3eeron

L8: Fancy Shmancy Member
Jan 4, 2008
593
88
Maybe some screen shots, or even zip up your .vmf and I could take a look at it...