Another little question (sealing the map with nodraw)

Ida

Ida

deer
aa
Jan 6, 2008
2,289
1,372
I've been trying to seal up my map with nodraw brushes (under displacements and such) to prevent leaks for a couple of hours now, and I just realised what a huge mess it is. I'm not even done yet, so naturally I want a faster solution. I'm wondering if just putting everything inside a huge nodraw-textured box will do the trick?

I never considered this before because I thought it would rape my map's performance, but then I read this on the Valve wiki...

Using a brush with the tools/toolsnodraw material will seal the map, but not add any additional rendering cost, so it's a great way to seal the map behind non-solid geometry.
Click to expand...

...Which means that I could put my map inside a nodraw box without any negative consequences.

I want to ask you guys first, because I think it sounds a bit suspicious...maybe I'm reading it wrong too. Anyway, the question is simple: Will this method of sealing my map actually work, or should I just take the punishment Hammer is treating me to?
 
S

Spacemonkeynz

L5: Dapper Member
Jan 31, 2008
234
52
No

nodraw itself has no additional rendering cost, but it you made a big box around the map, then the outside of your brushes (which the players never see) will be drawn and cause bad performance.

Plus hammer will create visportals for all that 'outside' area and perform vis calculations, which will increase your compile time by lots, and further decrease performance.


If the maps a mess for you, then it's even more of a mess for the vis calculations, which is not good.

I find the best way to work on sealing the map, if to disable fun_detail and displacements in the visgroups, everything apart from 'world geometry'. This will leave only the parts of your map the effect the visibility calculations. Then you can easily see what needs to be done.
 
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