compile time

[sailfin]

Hey, i need some help here. My map isnt that big but ive been having some probs compiling. Last night i left my map compile and when i wook up i checked my computer and it was still compiling. It shouldnt take that long. It freezes up my comp too. It seems to get stuck on portal flow. Any suggestions? I cant really post a compile log.

 

[DJive]

your biggest responses are going to be about optimization. Links are in my signature to the guides and techniques to correct your problem =)

 

[Armadillo of Doom]

Portal flow is and vvis are all about optimizing. I'd say load the portalfile, but the map needs to be compiled to do that :S Same w/ the console command mat_leafvis. If you put up a few screens, we can point out optimization candidates.

 

[Hawk]

I'd just about recommend a sticky topic to answer this common question.

 

[MangyCarface]

If your vvis is going to take a long time, make sure you turn off all power settings (i.e. going to sleep, turn off monitor, screensaver) and anything that might interrupt the compile. Don't click anywhere after starting the compile. Even that is enough to interrupt the process and potentially hold it up forever. Compiles CAN take long- my latest was 6 hrs : / but optimization will definitely help so look up the links the guys suggested.

 

[phatal]

I had a major issue with a map I was editting that would not finish compiling because of a set of 3 pipes (prop) that had nodraw and blockbullets textures surrounding it (unneeded I know now ). Once I removed the set of brushes, forming a cylinder around each of the 3 pipes, the portal flow problem went away and I was able to compile in minutes. I only looked at this because when searching google the only informative hit I got mentioned where the person had a portal flow issue and after removing a cylinder like custom brush fixed the issue. I went through my level and at the time there was only this one set of cylinder type brushes. This was not a brush made by the brush creation tool. It was a cylinder created by hand with rectangles to just cover the parts of the pipe that should be solid.

BTW... My current level has 214 direct lights and the vmf is almost 4 megs in size. Takes about 10 minutes to do a full HDR -slow compile.

 

[l3eeron]

I had a problem like this once. Messy brush work was the culprit...
Any time you rotate/scretch/skew or otherwise transform a brush, make sure it's still landing on grid (even if it's grid-1) Easiest way for me to stay on grid is stay 4 or higher grid size, specially when making buildings. Also, I think it was already mentioned, but round brushes (like cylinders and high side-count arches) turn the vis leaves into spaghetti.


@ phatal (lookin at your sig) - Hey I just built a nice rig built last week...

Q6600, 780i tri-sli mobo, BFG 8800GTS 512mb (670mhz/1940mhz), 2x2gb 800mhz corsair DDR2, XP, Tuniq air cooler... yada yada yada

But I also have the $1400 30" monitor doesnt get any better than 2560x1600 and full details


Not tryin to brag here. Just in case anyone was wondering, getting a better pc wont help compile times very significantly. At least, it's been my experience... it shaved off a minute or two, but nothing drastic. And, I went from single core slow poke to kick butt quad core.

 

[Koei]

At those resolutions a GTX wil still be faster . But the 8800GTS is the more bang for buck.

 

[phatal]

At those resolutions a GTX wil still be faster . But the 8800GTS is the more bang for buck.

Depends... the old 8800 gts were a waste of money. With the money this guy obviously has then I'm sure it's the newer and better gts versions of the gts. I mean.. how many people can spend 1400 bucks on a monitor?

@ phatal (lookin at your sig) - Hey I just built a nice rig built last week...

Q6600, 780i tri-sli mobo, BFG 8800GTS 512mb (670mhz/1940mhz), 2x2gb 800mhz corsair DDR2, XP, Tuniq air cooler... yada yada yada

But I also have the $1400 30" monitor doesnt get any better than 2560x1600 and full details


Not tryin to brag here. Just in case anyone was wondering, getting a better pc wont help compile times very significantly. At least, it's been my experience... it shaved off a minute or two, but nothing drastic. And, I went from single core slow poke to kick butt quad core.

Nice setup. Do you run a 64bit OS? Did you overclock your quad? I have mine at a 50% overclock 3.6ghz. My 4gigs of ram are at 1028DDR You say it doesn't help you much in compile times but it's helped me drastically. You're going from 1 thread to 4 threads. Could also be that quads like P35 chipsets better. From the pc I had before to the one I have now I went from around 5 hour compile time down to 5 minutes. You might have the right hardware but maybe not setup properly. :001_rolleyes: