About how long to compile?

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Aug 23, 2008
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I have a map I'm working on. Its only half finished in terms of textures (half the map is orange atm), and has no lighting sources. About how long should it take to compile? Ten minutes, ten hours, ten days? Any ball park estimates would be appreciated.

Also, how much does func_detail help in this process? If I func detail everything at the exterior of the map, rooftops, etc, does that speed up the process?
 

Ida

deer
aa
Jan 6, 2008
2,289
1,372
Yes, func_details should speed up the process. However, they can't be used to seal the map from leaks.

For my relatively small map with lots of func_details it takes 5-10 minutes to compile.
 

grazr

Old Man Mutant Ninja Turtle
aa
Mar 4, 2008
5,441
3,814
all your brushes "break up" your map into smaller and smaller (therefor more numerous and time consuming for the compile process) nodes (invisible cuboid bubbles if you will) that determine what should be rendered (from these "bubbles" specifically, as you will be running through these predetermined bubbles ingame). The more detail, the more sophisticated the leaf node shapes, the longer your compile will take. Tying smaller and more complex shapes to func_detail/brush/lod (or any solid entity really, but these are the most common solid world entities) will cause vis to ignore them and reduce compile time.

Compile time depends on size of your map, what can be seen from where, and your system capabilities. If you have no lights and do not wish to test your environment light yet you can remove RAD from your compile process temporarily to speed up your compile. I would estimate ten minutes on a good system, maybe a half hour compile process on an old one; due to the lack of lights and detail. But that's barely an educated guess as i have no idea what your map looks like or contains.

A fully completed map with details and lights etc may take between an hour and 3 hours.
 
Aug 23, 2008
404
380
My computer is up to date (dual core, etc), so that should be fine. Is it possible for me to avoid running rad and still compile it for play testing on a server? The main hang up in the compiling process seems to be the portal section, and it seems to hang there for a great deal of time. If I func-detail a great deal of the smaller items, will this alleviate some of the strain, allowing me to get through the portal section faster?

Another question: What kind of things to func-detail? I know you said smaller items, but how small? Also, is a rooftop that is inacessible but made of multiple brushes or vertexed brushes something I should func_detail? Should I avoid detailing cap points and the like?

Thanks for the help!
 

ArsenaL

L1: Registered
Jun 7, 2008
49
42
my map is at a 30-45 minute compile right now.. when i'm done it will be well over an hour =/.

i don't do a full compile that often.. i only do it when i make huge changes then i document all things that need to be fixed and go through and knock it out .. usually i do a "full" compile once a week.
 

Koei

L4: Comfortable Member
Feb 23, 2008
186
4
My computer is up to date (dual core, etc), so that should be fine. Is it possible for me to avoid running rad and still compile it for play testing on a server? The main hang up in the compiling process seems to be the portal section, and it seems to hang there for a great deal of time. If I func-detail a great deal of the smaller items, will this alleviate some of the strain, allowing me to get through the portal section faster?

Another question: What kind of things to func-detail? I know you said smaller items, but how small? Also, is a rooftop that is inacessible but made of multiple brushes or vertexed brushes something I should func_detail? Should I avoid detailing cap points and the like?

Thanks for the help!

Rad is lights iirc. I compile with Rad and without VVIS for solo testing the map.
 

FaTony

Banned
Mar 25, 2008
901
160
func_details are used to make brushes not split portals so vvis will run faster. But don't make floor, walls and ceiling func_detail because it'll result in a big lag ingame.

Rad without Vis - very bad lighting.
 

Earl

L6: Sharp Member
Dec 21, 2007
284
38
If vvis takes more than a couple minutes, not enough stuff is func_detail, or your map is fundamentally doomed to poor performance. My map is rather large, and vvis only takes 31 seconds.

Also, if im not mistaken, the visibility data from vvis, is also used in vrad. So if you do a full vis, vrad will go faster.
 

FaTony

Banned
Mar 25, 2008
901
160
Vvis takes seconds to compile a VERY big and complicated map IF it has only "block" brushes. Any angled brush (cylinder, sphere, spike etc.) will increase vvis time greatly. But some times u can't make this brushes func_detail (4 example I have diagonal building in my tc_street) so u'll have to choose to wait or redesign a map.

Yes, VRAD takes some info from VVIS, but if there no vis, rad will ingnore that part and will do a dirty lighting. If there is, it will do a normal ighting (which takes longer).
 

grazr

Old Man Mutant Ninja Turtle
aa
Mar 4, 2008
5,441
3,814
Not running rad just means your map will compile on full brightness. Fine if you only want to initially test performance and layout etc. (for full performance testing do run rad, however).

I'll get a comparison screen shot for you in a moment to show you what is a good idea, and not a good idea, to func_detail.

detail1.jpg


vs

detail2.jpg


It's hard to see with all the displacements, noclip and sky brushes, but for the most part, it's rooftops, trims, staircases and small objects that don't really serve a prupose in blocking a players line of site.
 
Last edited:
Aug 23, 2008
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Thanks for the help guys. I think the map was doomed from the beginning. The blocks I was making were all fully textured, and I tried to make numerous tunnels and pathways through the main block, creating a multitude of seperate shapes with all six sides textured. Gonna ditch that map and start over. Wasn't such a good one to begin with and probably had a ton of gameplay problems to boot.
 

YM

LVL100 YM
aa
Dec 5, 2007
7,135
6,056
Tell me about it... I spent almost a year mapping before I ever released anything, and then the thing I released was rubbish.
In that time I made many many maps trying out various entities and stuff, I almost had a full HL2DM level before I realised how terribly made it was (I remade that elvel from scratch 3 times and each time was hugely better than the last, but even the latest is appaling) I made half of a single player level, was almost good but again utterly terrible compared to anything made by valve.
 

bob+M|M+

L6: Sharp Member
Mar 31, 2008
346
394
The blocks I was making were all fully textured, and I tried to make numerous tunnels and pathways through the main block, creating a multitude of seperate shapes with all six sides textured.

if you decide to make more tunnels in the future, I suggest working in block shapes and use func_detail or displacements for diagonals and curves, since these things will not effect visibility and lessen compile time.