Too many func_dustmotes?

[bamibal]

I noticed that when I render my map only several of my many func_dustmotes actually spawn particles. Some spawn 1 or 2, some spawn none at all. Could it be that I just have too many of them?

An example, left spawns all, right only 1 little piece of dust:

 

[Lampenpam]

Have you tried reducing the amount of particles of all entities? If there is a limit to their particles (there is a limit for particles in general but that's not that low) then this might balance the amount of dustmotes in each entity.

Also, is each dustmotes-brush an unique entity or are thry are joined together?

 

[bamibal]

They are all unique. The amount of particles/second is 20 now, I'll check if reducing it helps. Isn't there a way to check out if I'm over the total limit btw? (I really have a lot of entities, wouldn't be surprised)

 

[takabuschik]

Look at the end of your compile, it gives you data about the max (or recommended) amount of stuff, your amount, and the precentage you filled up. Try looking there for stuff that is over the limits. IDK for sure where the dustmotes would be included.
Can you specify how many dustmotes you have?

 

[bamibal]

At the end of my log nothing seems to exceed the memory limit. There are about 110 dustmotes.

 

[Lampenpam]

Particles are not mentioned at the compile log since they are spawned in game.

Anyway, you might wanna tone done on the dustmotes. It might be quite unoptimized anyway, having so many particles flying around.
I guess you should not only reduce the spawn rate and life time of the particles, but also delete some func_dustmotes at several spots. It sounds to me like you used them under every light source.

Personally I only use dustmodes in small rooms, there they stand out the most and have low performance impact since you usually have a small PVS in small rooms

 

[worMatty]

I've got a couple of Deathrun maps with particle problems. On one of them, I've got some env_sparks and on my computer I don't see them, but other people do. It's a very simple map, just a corridor. No special effects. Then in another map I have some env_steams. I set them to reasonable parameters, even ones which are actually better than the previous version of the map but the steam is really patchy when it comes out. In that map I do have other things in the map that use particles, but they aren't drawn at the same time and I even hid them and compiled without them, and I still have problems.

I've also noticed that I sometimes don't see a func_smokevolume in spawn, but sometimes I do. It might be to do with the fact Hammer launches its own little version of the game that has no anti-aliasing, and maybe some other graphical reductions, and I can't see it in that but I haven't checked.

With regards to dustmotes, if you use a render distance with them so only a handful of volumes are drawn at once it shouldn't matter how many you have, should it? Dustmotes don't strike me as expensive seeing as they're just dots going up or down.

 

[Lampenpam]

It might be to do with the fact Hammer launches its own little version of the game that has no anti-aliasing, and maybe some other graphical reductions

If you auto-launch the game after compiling it might launch in incorrect resolution, reseted gamma and disabled AA. You might want to add parameters to your compile options to avoid this or start the game manually

 

[worMatty]

I know that, I just said it, in the bit you quoted! My point is that the version that Hammer launches might have some less obvious graphical reductions that affect the visibility of particles, so it could explain why I saw the smoke volume intermittently. I mentioned it so we could further narrow down the causes of such problems.

 

[Pocket]

It wouldn't have anything like that. I'm pretty sure it just reverts to your machine's default settings, same as if you'd just installed the game from scratch. But if you want to be sure, just launch the game and start your map from there by typing "map <nameofmap>" in the console.