shack

[Tom Hoen]

Backstory:
Very first map I've done for tf2 or any fps game. It's still b1 stage because layout haven't been tested yet. Map is fully functional from respawns to control point. CP has one opening door when 60seconds have passed and it becomes available.

I wanted get this map out for feedback and testing.

Side note:
I worked long with this map and learned much from this forum. You guys have helped me to take my first step. And as a my first map, I don't believe this will be rocking much but hey, constructive criticism is always welcome.

Most fun part was compiling:
Day 1. 18hours compiled... Ctrl+Alt+Del as I thought hammer crashed
Day 2. 13hours compiled... Crashed again?! (tho hammer just seems to crash but really doesn't)
Day 3. New program because hammer took too much ram. 13hours compiled... I realize I don't have enough 'brush_detail'. Rage starts.
Day 4. Final day. If it won't work now, it never will and I'll start do something else than hammering. 4hours compile and it finish. I'm D:. One wall seems to been disappeared and had to reset it.
Day 4. part 2 4hours compile time and I'm done. So here I am.
Day *lost count*. Screwing around and fixing things. Compile time goes down by 2hours. Now I am happy with my compile time.

Known issues so far:
-Not all have been covered with 'player clip'
-blue have 2 disappearing entitys in their shack, fence and metal plate
-Some fps dropping in spawn
-Water could be better
-Need of redoing the 3d skybox
FPS PROBLEM WILL BE FIXED IN b3:

Fixed in b1:
-Problem of getting on the point without jumping if walking from behind (was fixed proper way in b2)
-Displasements

Fixed in b2:
-Some displasements fixed
-now you can easily walk to the CP from behind without jumping
-few overlays deleted
-few other adjustments

 

[zpqrei]

Dude, what sort of CPU do you have? It takes me <5 mins to compile cp_smokyhill (un-optimised) on my Quad Core (4GB RAM). Hit me up on steam/ PM if you want me to compile for you, it seems like it'd save you quite a bit of time!

Other than that, looks beautiful!

 

[Tom Hoen]

Dude, what sort of CPU do you have? It takes me <5 mins to compile cp_smokyhill (un-optimised) on my Quad Core (4GB RAM). Hit me up on steam/ PM if you want me to compile for you, it seems like it'd save you quite a bit of time!

Thanks for your offering but I think I just need to do some more adjusting for my map. (And my computer is Quad Core with 2GB RAM). Hopefully I can partisipate one of those gamedays someday, but at the moment I'm too busy to work with this map. Cheers mate

 

[Loc_n_lol]

Is vvis the part taking most of the time or is it vrad ?

 

[Tom Hoen]

Is vvis the part taking most of the time or is it vrad ?

It is vvis and as nipet said "your problem is bad pre-compile optimisation." Maybe now I can came out of the closet of shame and reveal that I indeed have used hollow 2d skybox.:blushing: Big mistake, am I right? Using it makes my map bigger than it should be and leaves lots of useless space. Last time when I tried fixing my 2d skybox whole skybox started bugging etc. I will fix this in b3 if this is the case.

 

[Hellfire]

about compile time:
my compile takes up to 8 minutes on my PC (core i7 3.4Ghz-3Gb ram) and about 20 minutes on my co-mappers pc (dore2duo-4GB ram) ,with all set to normal and -final tag,and my map is bigger that yours,so your problem is bad pre-compile optimisation.
about map:
its way too big for ARENA,try 3-point CP. even CTF will be better than arena on this map
anyway it looks great)
about optimisation:
it VERY slow,i already know when i look at fps testing alonw,i need to divide this number by 3 to be sure map will be played ok with players on it and on less-powerful PCs. so optimal MINIMUM for fps when u test it alone is 120+,better 150+,but on your map i got the minimum of 60, and lots of time it was in 70-90 rangemand thats low,too low

 

[Hellfire]

It is vvis and as nipet said "your problem is bad pre-compile optimisation." Maybe now I can came out of the closet of shame and reveal that I indeed have used hollow 2d skybox.:blushing: Big mistake, am I right? Using it makes my map bigger than it should be and leaves lots of useless space. Last time when I tried fixing my 2d skybox whole skybox started bugging etc. I will fix this in b3 if this is the case.

i doubt that problem is this. 3d skybox just allows to make yor map visually bigger,nothing more. and 3d sky do not increase perfomance,as u need to render even more with it. so skybox is less perfomance-hungry. ypur problem that causes low perfomance is lack of areabortals and skip\hint brushes

and to reduce compile time u need to use func_details,4 ex:
(red arrows indicates what should be converted to func_detail)