Optimization Issue

Oct 6, 2008
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Ok, I will be the first to admit it but I don't get what's going on here - It's probably really effecting my FPS

6094986048_329d601557_b.jpg


I am looking from one side of my canyon to the other and yet - even though it's a solid wall (nodraw) with a displacement in front I can still see through it and stuff is being rendered on the other side even though the only opening that I could see through is 70,000 feet above me.

I have tried to seal it above with area portals and solid blocks and yet I can still "see" everything that's being rendered on the other side.

It's even worse if I'm on the other side looking back.

How do I fix this?
 

grazr

Old Man Mutant Ninja Turtle
aa
Mar 4, 2008
5,441
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I fail to see what's going on.

you have a lack of detail that warrants such an inappropritely acute level of attention.

Probable resolution: Lower your visleaf ceiling. If it's not at the top it wont potentially see over the top. Displacements can be so temporamental.
 
Oct 6, 2008
1,947
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Ok, how are these then? And to help me understand - the way I seem to understand it is Brushes block Vis, if I stand on one wall and there's a hallway left and a hallway right (both dead ends and there are no openings in my room) and these two hallways are separated by a wall then there are 3 vis leaves 1-2-3 - and they all get rendered because I can or Vis can see them - thus everything inside that leaf gets rendered - correct?

Screen shots mat and textured so you can see it - the diference - done under fast vis.

The Blue is a func_detail fairly far back and the yellow are things on the other side of the wall there - the gaps in the red part of the wadll are a nodraw brush.

6095392120_4a63253086_z.jpg


The blue in this one are models in the background - the yellow diplacements on the other side of the wall.

6094850335_c6eb1c4a4f_b.jpg


Here's what's showing up on the other side of the wall - correct me if I'm wrong but it a wide open space like this - 40 fps si good isn't it?

6094900831_5541558853_z.jpg


I'm kind of at a loss in terms of the optimizing - most examples you see are in hallways etc - and the general consensus from what I've read is that you can't do a lot with wide open spaces like this other than add fog.

Should I try to go hint brush happy all over the map and see if that makes a diffenece - I already have some in there.
 

Sebi

L2: Junior Member
Aug 13, 2011
65
13
I have only read through the start post, but did you try to use occluders?

As far as I know, the Nodraw Texture does not block visibility, because then it would obviously create... interesting effects when you look through ANY nowdraw brush ingame. So, if you dont wanna use an opaque texture because of performance issues, use an occluder instead, and put a hint texture horzizontal on top of it.
 

Sergis

L666: ])oo]v[
aa
Jul 22, 2009
1,874
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^nodraw does block visibility and it does create the interesting effects. thats why its not used where player can see it.

keep in mind that brushes block visibility between visleafs, not individual points in space.

as for 40 fps, it's only good if you get 40-50 in complex scenes of stock maps. if you never drop under 200 fps in dustbowl, 40 fps is terrible.

i doubt hintspam will do much good if you don't know exactly what you're doing

you should make your cliffs higher and put a skybrush on top of them, sealing individual parts of the area off
 
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gamemaster1996

L13: Stunning Member
Sep 30, 2009
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I'd honestly just put areaportals or hints there.
 
Oct 6, 2008
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Re:top slide there's skybrush there ontop of the cliff and red boxes separating the canyons.

Last night I rebuilt the red section (rough) - gave it the rock wall texture - made sure there were some 90 degree turns in it and tried to space them out to cut down leafs - sealed the gaps (doors) with area portals and added some fog - and it seems to have helped a bit but it's changing the look of what I had planned (still deciding if it's for the better or not in terms of game play)

First silde is up to about 45 fps form the 30 seen - 2nd slide is up from 37 to 54 and a lot of the rendered stuff on the left has disappeared but the fog really spoils the look of the map. These rates are after a full complie.

If at the wall, I made the area portals closed (activated by a touch trigger) would that really help things?

re: the occulars mentioned above - I've never used them because I hear they are very expensive and don't know how.

Are there any tips for large outdoor maps? Has anyone else run into this type of problem? How did you fix it?

update - ok just read up more on the occulars - if I understand it right - If I envelop the entire waterfall structure (see last picture right hand side circled in blue) in an occular - I could nodraw all sides (the ones not seen) and put the occular texture on the canyon side face < this then would stop them from being seen unless looking at it?
 
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Huckle

L3: Member
May 31, 2010
149
101
Screen shots mat and textured so you can see it - the diference - done under fast vis.

Have you only ever compiled with fast vis? As far as I know, fast vvis doesn't actually calculate visibility at all, just turns things into something that will run in-game for fast checking purposes. I definitely wouldn't recommend trying to optimize if you aren't doing it on full vvis (maybe fast vrad though).
 
Oct 6, 2008
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Yep - that's what I thought about fast vis too - so I ran a full compile last night (while sleeping) after I fixed the wall and added the fog (which ruins the look of my map) my fps seems to have gone up about 15 points - min rates seen are now about 45.

Will try the occular thing tonight but I don't want to overdo them because from what I've seen they are expensive.