Compiling getting stuck on Portalflow out of nowhere

JMRboosties

L2: Junior Member
Jun 3, 2009
98
2
Usually, my map compile has taken around 1 minute at average. After fixing an overlapping entity which was causing a leak, I added some basic water, but now my compile gets stuck on Portalflow. What exactly is portalflow and what can I do to solve it?
 

UKCS-Alias

Mann vs Machine... or... Mapper vs Meta?
aa
Sep 8, 2008
1,264
816
On older pcs it cant be avoided that it takes a long time to compile vvis at normal. Thats why there is a fast option which skips portalflow.

Also, portal flow is a process that gets slower the further it is. So 1-5 can be fast (<5 minutes). 6-8 usualy get quite a slowdown on large maps (10 minutes) and 9-10 often are a pain (20+ minutes). Still, super fast pcs or more RAM increase the speed alot, even on the later parts.

For any testing that doesnt have any optimizing related to it you should use the fast option. Same for lighting, if the light doesnt matter use the fast way. It saves alot of minutes.

Also note that hinting isnt allways the way to make it faster. As you often make more leaves you add more time. However, when vbsp messed the cutting of leaves up you are able to improve it massively. Just check the portal file in hammer sometimes, bad areas are easy to spot due to the massive line clusters. Optimize it there.
 

JMRboosties

L2: Junior Member
Jun 3, 2009
98
2
I know portalflow usually takes a while but when I added water the time went from 1 minute for total compiling to god knows how long with water included....

does water cause a load on visleaf loading?
 

shpladoink

L3: Member
Dec 19, 2007
108
6
Is it possible that your water volume isn't flush with other brushes? You may have caused a leak or other general error if the water brush goes outside of the regular geometry.
 

JMRboosties

L2: Junior Member
Jun 3, 2009
98
2
all of the water faces are at level heights. i suppose im just being impatient with portalflow loading, im just surprised it went from a one minute compile to slowing way down like this just from some dev_water textures
 

grazr

Old Man Mutant Ninja Turtle
aa
Mar 4, 2008
5,441
3,814
Water tends to cut your map up into more leaves in a similar manner to areaportals and hints (for reasons beyond me at present). Areaportals cannot cross water (atleast not as a single brush) and infact several solid entities are not allowed to cross func_water_analogue boundaries.

It's kinda strange, it's one of the few things about the source engine i'm not sure of the maths/physics/process behind it, to understand why (partly because i have simply accepted it and not researched it). But it just does. It's simply a complicated entity in much the same way women are, as well as when you deal with the materials to apply to this entity.

I could see the inclusion of Water increasing your compile times for a number of reasons, but certainly not by the amount that you have implied. But certain delays in your compile should be expected.
 

JMRboosties

L2: Junior Member
Jun 3, 2009
98
2
im letting it compile right now and seeing how long it will take. im just doing an orange version (well a little more complex than orange... i use basic textures to identify what the wall represents, such as brick for a manmade wall and rock for a natural one) so i havent even included lighting yet, i was hoping for quick compiles while making this version work but i guess the addition of water is going to hamper that.
 

UKCS-Alias

Mann vs Machine... or... Mapper vs Meta?
aa
Sep 8, 2008
1,264
816
I know portalflow usually takes a while but when I added water the time went from 1 minute for total compiling to god knows how long with water included....

does water cause a load on visleaf loading?

After fixing an overlapping entity which was causing a leak
Its not the water, its the leak fix that coused it. Water doesnt add alot of visleafs and so doesnt add alot of time to portalflow (it acts like a simple hint brush for it).
When you have a leak vvis is skipped so its like 1 second. fixing a leak will fully perform the vvis process and then youll notice the portalflow step which takes quite long. Still, to have a leak isnt good as it would give a major fps downside ingame.
Cameron:D said:
Textures wont change the compile time - the world geometry will.
Tool textures can. If you have a clip texture then it can couse a leak if you use that to seal the map. And if im right normal transparent textures also can. Those 2 'change' geometry after all.