Hi,
I want to do a full compile on my first map but I?m having some problems.
The last time I compiled I had a leak to speed it up and it took about 7 minutes to compile the map (I?ts sort of a remake of the bridge, just to let you know how big or small it is)
I compiled with Mbuilder and used the standard settings.
When it was done everything looked great.
After that, I closed the leak in the skybox and didn?t change any settings in Mbuilder and started the compile. After 7 hours I came home from work and 23 % was done and it would take another 32 hours just for the vis stage (time was still counting up). I tought this wasn?t right and stopped it.
I then set vis to ?fast and after about 20 minutes it was done and the fps was better and everything looked great except for some brushes I could see tru from one side. And also there was one brush witch I could see tru from a certain place and when I moved it looked normal again. (sort of like a wall of the first house from axis side in the street of ?The Hunt?? wich disapears when you look at it from a certain place. hope you know what I mean)
Is this just bad luck and do I just have to replace the (bad?) brushes and compile it again (as I said , these brushes looked fine after the compile with the leak and I didn?t change anything after that except for closing the skybox ofcourse) or am I doing it the wrong way?
Can someone plz tell me how to compile my map with Mbuilder the right way? Do i need to leave everything blank or do i need to set final or fast ore something?
I didn?t use any manual vis and I made as much as possible detail.
bad brushes or bad compile ?
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omniscient
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Hi
Thanks for responding.
The problem is not that i cant see some brushes when I am looking at them from far away.
What happens with one brush is when i'm standing very close to it and i'm looking at it from a certain angle (when i look up a bit) it disapears. and when i move a bit (look down again or to the right or the left) its back again. when i move away from the brush and look at it there's no problem at all. Also there are some other brushes witch i can see tru from one side no matter if i'm close to them or far away.
After the last compile with a leak in the sky box it all looked fine when i tested the map i didnt change anything to it after that. The problem started when i tried to do a full compile. Since i dont know how to do that i tried it with -fast vis only, since i didnt use any manual vis. the rest of the settings i didnt change. After about 20 minutes it was done and when i tested it the problem was there
As i said the rest looks good and the fps was a bit better to.
So all i really want to know is witch settings i must apply in Mbuilder to do a good full compile.
I've looked at the advanced compile tutorial but i didnt understand how i could use this with mbuilder.
Thanks for responding.
The problem is not that i cant see some brushes when I am looking at them from far away.
What happens with one brush is when i'm standing very close to it and i'm looking at it from a certain angle (when i look up a bit) it disapears. and when i move a bit (look down again or to the right or the left) its back again. when i move away from the brush and look at it there's no problem at all. Also there are some other brushes witch i can see tru from one side no matter if i'm close to them or far away.
After the last compile with a leak in the sky box it all looked fine when i tested the map i didnt change anything to it after that. The problem started when i tried to do a full compile. Since i dont know how to do that i tried it with -fast vis only, since i didnt use any manual vis. the rest of the settings i didnt change. After about 20 minutes it was done and when i tested it the problem was there
As i said the rest looks good and the fps was a bit better to.So all i really want to know is witch settings i must apply in Mbuilder to do a good full compile.
I've looked at the advanced compile tutorial but i didnt understand how i could use this with mbuilder.
Maybe you could try your first effort again and let it take forever (at least once), I have heard of compile times in the days rather than hours. Then if that dont work, go from there. I dont know what fast vis does, but it sounds like the difference between running good gas in a motor and bad. you get what you pay for 
I once was lost, but now........... I'm still lost!
options
Compiling Options/settings by jv_maps
=============================================================
1. q3map (bsp phase)
Here are all the options and flags you can use during the bsp-phase. There are a few where I'm not sure about what they do, for these I've left out the explanation. All italic text has been quoted from the q3map help screen.
Basic Options
-gamedir [gamedir] : Make this point to the directory Mohaa.exe is in. You may as well use relative paths (e.g. ../..).
-blocksize [blocksize] : Sets the size of block portals. These are automatically generated portals and are usually not beneficial for the -vis compile speed nor for the frame rates when playing your map. This setting defaults to 1024 but can be set to 0 to disable blocksize portal splits, which I would strongly recommend.
-onlyents : only updates the entities in your map without changing the architecture. Very useful when you only changed some entities and don't want to wait a long time for your compile. Doesn't work with lights though.
-nohint : all hint brushes are ignored, no additional portal splits are created.
-snapdistance [distance] : This option snaps vertices to the grid that are within [distance] units away from the grid. Defaults to 0.1 unit.
-nostatic : Disables the addition of Static Collision Masks to the scene. These are .map files in the same directory as static tikis in pak0.pk3. These masks consist of different material type clip brushes which tell the game what kind of debris has to be spawned when the player shoots at them. Compiling with the -nostatic option will cause all static models to go non-solid.
-visiblestatic: Makes the Static Collision Masks use a visible shader. This is useful for when you're creating your own collision masks. When testing your map, you might have to type 'r_drawstaticmodelpoly 0' in the console to see the masks.
Additional Options (not tested)
-v[erbose] : increase the text output when compiling to get additional information on what's currently happening, but slows down the compile.
-threads : Sets the number of CPU threads to use. If not specified, all CPUs in the computer are used. I'm not sure if this makes any difference, because I only have processor.
-fulldetail : all detail brushes are considered structural. Never use this option, unless you'd want to wait hours for your vis-compile.
-nodetail : detail brushes are ignored, so you'll get a result that looks like your map in Radiant with the detail filter on.
-detailterrainborders : force terrain mesh boundaries to be flagged max detail.
-notjunc : disables automatic t-junction fixing. T-junctions are very small 'sparkles' that you can sometimes see when brushes don't exactly fit. If you run q3map with -notjunc, you have a larger chance of seeing these sparkles.
-moddir [moddir] : mod subdirectory of gamedir
-chopblocklast : do blocksize chops after other chops.
-nowater : water brushes (top or bottom texture has surfaceparm water) are ignored.
-nocurves : all curves and patches are ignored, they will not show up in game so to say.
-nosubdivide
-nomerge
-expand
-tmpout
-fakemap
-all
=================================================================
2. q3map (vis phase)
Basic Options
-vis : just don't forget this one, otherwise you're running a BSP process.
-gamedir [gamedir] : Make this point to the directory Mohaa.exe is in. You may as well use relative paths (e.g. ../..).
-nomanvis : Disable manual vis, such as vis leaf groups. I must admit I don't know much about manual vis, because I always use automatic vis, but if you have anything to add just tell. (This option is not tested)
Additional Options (not tested)
-threads : Sets the number of CPU threads to use. If not specified, all CPUs in the computer are used.
-v[erbose] : increases text output, slows down the compile.
-fast : all view portals are visible, very fast but may have severe performance impact.
-moddir [moddir] : mod subdirectory of gamedir
==================================================================
3. Mohlight (lighting phase)
Basic options
-gamedir [gamedir] : Make this point to the directory Mohaa.exe is in. You may as well use relative paths (e.g. ../..).
-bounce [num] : Sets the number of radiosity bounces to do. Defaults to 8. Radiosity means that every texture emits light if it's lighted, for example, a red curtain will color the surrounding walls slightly red. This light red will bounce off the wall to other brushes, until the number of bounces is reached.
-final : Sets all lighting options to full detail except -chop.
-fast : Loses some lighting quality for a faster compile.
-staticshadows : Makes static models cast shadows. This can make your map look a lot more realistic, but will add unbelievably to the compile time. With -staticshadows, you can expect your compile to take about 4 times as long.
Additional Options (not tested)
-moddir [moddir] : mod subdirectory of gamedir
-threads : Sets the number of CPU threads to use. If not specified, all CPUs in the computer are used.
-v[erbose] : Enables verbose message output (you get more info)
-area [num] : Sets the scale of surface lights. Default is 1.0 Surface lights are all light emitting textures.
-point [num] : Sets the scale of point lights. Default is 1.0 Entity lights are also known as point lights.
-notrace : Don't do any occlusion testing at all (no shadows)
-nosurfshadows : Brush surfaces don't cast shadows
-nocurveshadows : Curved surfaces don't cast shadows.
-nopatchshadows : Terrain patches don't cast shadows.
-nocurvelight : Don't light curved surfaces
-nopatchlight : Don't light terrain patches
-nodiffusesun : Don't do the diffuse sunlight calculations Sun diffuse can be set in the worldspawn.
-nogrid : Don't calculate the entity lighting grid The lighting grid is used to adjust the brightness of entities, even when they move around, such as the player's gun getting darker in shadowed areas.
-radgrid : Calcule Radiosity into the Light Grid
-vertex : Enable vertex lighting of the map
-randomdir [dir] : Sets the amount of random lighting direction. Default is 0
-chop : Sets the amount to chop up radiosity patches.
Default value is 64.
-minchop : Sets the smallest size to chop a radiosity patch to. Default value is 64.
-smoothangle : Sets the maximum angle to smooth across. Default is 45.
-extra : Does high detail light sampling. NOTE: Currently only increases sunlighting quality Don't use this, use final.
-extragrid : Does a full detail calculation of the entity lighting grid.
-border : Add debugging borders to the lightmaps
-raddebug [num] : Different debug options when in range 1-4. Never tried any of these, but they may be useful.
-radscale [num] : Radiosity scale factor. Default is 0.95, 0 is no radiosity. Don't set it too high, it will cause a 'fun fair' look.
-attenuate [num] : Sets atmospheric attenuation over distance in percent. Attenuation A means radiosity reduces by A% every 16 units, in addition to the 1 / distance squared falloff. Default is 4. If you have a lot of fog in your map, set this value higher, in a clear atmosphere, set it a bit lower.
-onlygrid : Only calculates the lighting grid.
-ambient [RGB] : Sets the RGB ambient light on a 0 - 255 scale. Crashes Mohlight on my system, but you can set it in the worldspawn with 'ambientlight'.
Well, this is all you can do with the compiling programs, I think. If you have any questions about particular options, just ask. There's always a chance I or anyone else can help you. Do never forget that the compiler makes your map look like the way it does.
Last edited by jv_map on 10-12-2002 at 11:00 PM
==================================================================
For MBuilder:
You can make seperate logs for all steps, or just the one you need. Click on "change" and put the code after your compile options. The text file can have any name you wish.
-v > c:\WINDOWS\desktop\log_bsp.txt
-v > c:\WINDOWS\desktop\log_vis.txt
-final > c:\WINDOWS\desktop\log_light.txt
I have them going to my desktop, so they can be trashed easily after looking them over. But, your path to the desktop may be different. Also, using these logs, nothing will be printed to the DOS window during the compile.
Last edited by tltrude on 29-11-2003.
=============================================================
1. q3map (bsp phase)
Here are all the options and flags you can use during the bsp-phase. There are a few where I'm not sure about what they do, for these I've left out the explanation. All italic text has been quoted from the q3map help screen.
Basic Options
-gamedir [gamedir] : Make this point to the directory Mohaa.exe is in. You may as well use relative paths (e.g. ../..).
-blocksize [blocksize] : Sets the size of block portals. These are automatically generated portals and are usually not beneficial for the -vis compile speed nor for the frame rates when playing your map. This setting defaults to 1024 but can be set to 0 to disable blocksize portal splits, which I would strongly recommend.
-onlyents : only updates the entities in your map without changing the architecture. Very useful when you only changed some entities and don't want to wait a long time for your compile. Doesn't work with lights though.
-nohint : all hint brushes are ignored, no additional portal splits are created.
-snapdistance [distance] : This option snaps vertices to the grid that are within [distance] units away from the grid. Defaults to 0.1 unit.
-nostatic : Disables the addition of Static Collision Masks to the scene. These are .map files in the same directory as static tikis in pak0.pk3. These masks consist of different material type clip brushes which tell the game what kind of debris has to be spawned when the player shoots at them. Compiling with the -nostatic option will cause all static models to go non-solid.
-visiblestatic: Makes the Static Collision Masks use a visible shader. This is useful for when you're creating your own collision masks. When testing your map, you might have to type 'r_drawstaticmodelpoly 0' in the console to see the masks.
Additional Options (not tested)
-v[erbose] : increase the text output when compiling to get additional information on what's currently happening, but slows down the compile.
-threads : Sets the number of CPU threads to use. If not specified, all CPUs in the computer are used. I'm not sure if this makes any difference, because I only have processor.
-fulldetail : all detail brushes are considered structural. Never use this option, unless you'd want to wait hours for your vis-compile.
-nodetail : detail brushes are ignored, so you'll get a result that looks like your map in Radiant with the detail filter on.
-detailterrainborders : force terrain mesh boundaries to be flagged max detail.
-notjunc : disables automatic t-junction fixing. T-junctions are very small 'sparkles' that you can sometimes see when brushes don't exactly fit. If you run q3map with -notjunc, you have a larger chance of seeing these sparkles.
-moddir [moddir] : mod subdirectory of gamedir
-chopblocklast : do blocksize chops after other chops.
-nowater : water brushes (top or bottom texture has surfaceparm water) are ignored.
-nocurves : all curves and patches are ignored, they will not show up in game so to say.
-nosubdivide
-nomerge
-expand
-tmpout
-fakemap
-all
=================================================================
2. q3map (vis phase)
Basic Options
-vis : just don't forget this one, otherwise you're running a BSP process.
-gamedir [gamedir] : Make this point to the directory Mohaa.exe is in. You may as well use relative paths (e.g. ../..).
-nomanvis : Disable manual vis, such as vis leaf groups. I must admit I don't know much about manual vis, because I always use automatic vis, but if you have anything to add just tell. (This option is not tested)
Additional Options (not tested)
-threads : Sets the number of CPU threads to use. If not specified, all CPUs in the computer are used.
-v[erbose] : increases text output, slows down the compile.
-fast : all view portals are visible, very fast but may have severe performance impact.
-moddir [moddir] : mod subdirectory of gamedir
==================================================================
3. Mohlight (lighting phase)
Basic options
-gamedir [gamedir] : Make this point to the directory Mohaa.exe is in. You may as well use relative paths (e.g. ../..).
-bounce [num] : Sets the number of radiosity bounces to do. Defaults to 8. Radiosity means that every texture emits light if it's lighted, for example, a red curtain will color the surrounding walls slightly red. This light red will bounce off the wall to other brushes, until the number of bounces is reached.
-final : Sets all lighting options to full detail except -chop.
-fast : Loses some lighting quality for a faster compile.
-staticshadows : Makes static models cast shadows. This can make your map look a lot more realistic, but will add unbelievably to the compile time. With -staticshadows, you can expect your compile to take about 4 times as long.
Additional Options (not tested)
-moddir [moddir] : mod subdirectory of gamedir
-threads : Sets the number of CPU threads to use. If not specified, all CPUs in the computer are used.
-v[erbose] : Enables verbose message output (you get more info)
-area [num] : Sets the scale of surface lights. Default is 1.0 Surface lights are all light emitting textures.
-point [num] : Sets the scale of point lights. Default is 1.0 Entity lights are also known as point lights.
-notrace : Don't do any occlusion testing at all (no shadows)
-nosurfshadows : Brush surfaces don't cast shadows
-nocurveshadows : Curved surfaces don't cast shadows.
-nopatchshadows : Terrain patches don't cast shadows.
-nocurvelight : Don't light curved surfaces
-nopatchlight : Don't light terrain patches
-nodiffusesun : Don't do the diffuse sunlight calculations Sun diffuse can be set in the worldspawn.
-nogrid : Don't calculate the entity lighting grid The lighting grid is used to adjust the brightness of entities, even when they move around, such as the player's gun getting darker in shadowed areas.
-radgrid : Calcule Radiosity into the Light Grid
-vertex : Enable vertex lighting of the map
-randomdir [dir] : Sets the amount of random lighting direction. Default is 0
-chop : Sets the amount to chop up radiosity patches.
Default value is 64.
-minchop : Sets the smallest size to chop a radiosity patch to. Default value is 64.
-smoothangle : Sets the maximum angle to smooth across. Default is 45.
-extra : Does high detail light sampling. NOTE: Currently only increases sunlighting quality Don't use this, use final.
-extragrid : Does a full detail calculation of the entity lighting grid.
-border : Add debugging borders to the lightmaps
-raddebug [num] : Different debug options when in range 1-4. Never tried any of these, but they may be useful.
-radscale [num] : Radiosity scale factor. Default is 0.95, 0 is no radiosity. Don't set it too high, it will cause a 'fun fair' look.
-attenuate [num] : Sets atmospheric attenuation over distance in percent. Attenuation A means radiosity reduces by A% every 16 units, in addition to the 1 / distance squared falloff. Default is 4. If you have a lot of fog in your map, set this value higher, in a clear atmosphere, set it a bit lower.
-onlygrid : Only calculates the lighting grid.
-ambient [RGB] : Sets the RGB ambient light on a 0 - 255 scale. Crashes Mohlight on my system, but you can set it in the worldspawn with 'ambientlight'.
Well, this is all you can do with the compiling programs, I think. If you have any questions about particular options, just ask. There's always a chance I or anyone else can help you. Do never forget that the compiler makes your map look like the way it does.
Last edited by jv_map on 10-12-2002 at 11:00 PM
==================================================================
For MBuilder:
You can make seperate logs for all steps, or just the one you need. Click on "change" and put the code after your compile options. The text file can have any name you wish.
-v > c:\WINDOWS\desktop\log_bsp.txt
-v > c:\WINDOWS\desktop\log_vis.txt
-final > c:\WINDOWS\desktop\log_light.txt
I have them going to my desktop, so they can be trashed easily after looking them over. But, your path to the desktop may be different. Also, using these logs, nothing will be printed to the DOS window during the compile.
Last edited by tltrude on 29-11-2003.
Tom Trude,
I think I solved the problem of the brushes.
I textured the faces witch connect to each other with no draw.
I compiled the map again with standard settings except for the Vis option. I set vis at ?Fast as I did the last time. When I tested it the brushes were still invisible and I also noticed that there were now lots of strange black spots in the water. When I wanted to delete all the custom pk3 files, I noticed I had placed the map in the main folder and the mainta folder. When I deleted the one in the mainta folder and tested the map again everything looked fine
.
I don?t know if the problem was solved because I used the no draw or because I deleted another version of the map from the mainta folder but I do know now it wasn?t because of the way I compiled the map.
btw, tltrude thanks for the info on the compiling.
I textured the faces witch connect to each other with no draw.
I compiled the map again with standard settings except for the Vis option. I set vis at ?Fast as I did the last time. When I tested it the brushes were still invisible and I also noticed that there were now lots of strange black spots in the water. When I wanted to delete all the custom pk3 files, I noticed I had placed the map in the main folder and the mainta folder. When I deleted the one in the mainta folder and tested the map again everything looked fine
.I don?t know if the problem was solved because I used the no draw or because I deleted another version of the map from the mainta folder but I do know now it wasn?t because of the way I compiled the map.
btw, tltrude thanks for the info on the compiling.