Hint Brushes

M&M · Post by **M&M** » Fri Feb 20, 2004 8:28 am

i guess ill have 2 read it all over again like the author said

crunch · Post by **crunch** » Fri Feb 20, 2004 10:17 am

M&M wrote:y does it have 2 be triangular shaped?y is the smaller hint not needed?

Hint brushes are not like vis in that they do not create an actual "space."
Rather, they create portals which absolutely cannot see each other.
If 2 adjacent portals cannot see each other, then also any portals past tha original portal cannot be seen either.

With that in mind, concentrate on the angled side of the large hint brush.
That side is contacted by the structural corner of the wall (for reference, Wacko's pic, point B)
That contact creates 2 portals on that angled hint face. One at the midpoint of the angled side below the wall corner, and one also on the angled side above the wall corner.
Those 2 portals cannot see each other, therefore you have effectively cut off the portal chains.
The reason the rest of the hint must fill the area is to avoid extra view portals created along the straight parts of the hint brush. Since it abuts the wall, the hint makes no portals on the parallel edges, the wall portal is all that is drawn.
Any gap between those sides would render the hint ineffective since extra portals that can see each other would be created.

The smaller hint is not needed because the larger hint seals the 2 areas.
All that small hint does is create 2 more unneeded view portals.

Axion · Post by **Axion** » Fri Feb 20, 2004 7:27 pm

Excellent responses, Crunch and Wacko. You've both helped me out a lot. Maybe one of you can transcribe this thread into a tutorial...

wacko · Post by **wacko** » Sat Feb 21, 2004 1:28 am

crunch wrote:Hint brushes are not like vis in that they do not create an actual "space."
Rather, they create portals which absolutely cannot see each other.
If 2 adjacent portals cannot see each other, then also any portals past tha original portal cannot be seen either.

So I am wrong telling that the rectangular hint brush in the sketch would work?

crunch · Post by **crunch** » Sat Feb 21, 2004 2:13 pm

The rectangular hint brush won't work.
It does not create any portals that cannot see each other.
I took the liberty of editing your pic to show what I mean:

The only portal the hint brush adds in this situation is face EB.
EB can see all it's neighboring portals, does not break the view-chain, and therefore won't work.

Here is that hallway ingame with the rectangle hint:

and here, the same view, but with the triangle hint. (Notice the room at the end of the hall is not drawn.)

And, here is what it looks like when I added that small hint triangle again:

The reason that I put it there now becomes obvious. Yes. I have created a new portal in the hallway, but it can't see the inner corner of the hallway drawn in the middle image. So by adding 2 portals there, I have effectively reduced the portals drawn by 6 with that hint, and note the FPS gain.

ziptie2k2 · Post by **ziptie2k2** » Sat Feb 21, 2004 4:29 pm

OK how did you get your fps to show more than 98? mine just sets there at 98 until it goes down for some reason.

M&M · Post by **M&M** » Sat Feb 21, 2004 6:45 pm

well,it appears that he has a super duper graphics card .i never saw fps like this b4.4 him he could make a map with no vis ,area portals and hint brushes and still be able 2 run it fast enough.(i need an emoticon 4 envy,where is it

)

chris_in_cali · Post by **chris_in_cali** » Mon Feb 23, 2004 6:00 pm

Wow!

Fantastic!
Nice a clear explanation AND you actually know what you're talking about. How'd you get so smart?

wacko · Post by **wacko** » Mon Feb 23, 2004 6:12 pm

ziptie2k2 wrote:OK how did you get your fps to show more than 98? mine just sets there at 98 until it goes down for some reason.

M&M wrote:well,it appears that he has a super duper graphics card

there seems to be something else, because I have GF FX5900 and my FPS stay under 100 as well, in any map, with any settings... E.g. I did a simple box, just a light and an info_playerstart. All settings minimum and 640x480 and I get FPS 96,4 (with MTex 0.46). Where is the checkbox to swith off that limitation??

Post by **jv_map** » Mon Feb 23, 2004 8:42 pm

Set com_maxfps to 1000 or something. It however has no other than analytical purpose (like crunch did) since your monitor probably can't draw a lot more than 120 fps (vertical refresh rate).

btw with 0.82 Mtex even my voodoo 3 card can crank out 80 fps

ziptie2k2 · Post by **ziptie2k2** » Mon Feb 23, 2004 8:54 pm

Thanks JV_Map, I knew it wasn't graphics card, as this machine has the radeon 9800 xt, which should keep up.

(it better for the price)

And could you fill me in on the mtex deal, I'm lost

wacko · Post by **wacko** » Mon Feb 23, 2004 11:06 pm

jv_map wrote:Set com_maxfps to 1000 or something. It however has no other than analytical purpose (like crunch did) since your monitor probably can't draw a lot more than 120 fps (vertical refresh rate).

cheers, jv.
this leads more or less directly to this topic: 60Hz refresh rate in MOHAA

M&M · Post by **M&M** » Tue Feb 24, 2004 2:55 pm

i still need an emoticon 4 envy 4 all those high grafix cards

.if a map didnt have "very nice" vis design and has bad fps would setting the com_maxfps 1000 make it better?

crunch · Post by **crunch** » Tue Feb 24, 2004 5:43 pm

To be honest, as jv_map said, it is really for analytical purposes.

It won;t increase the true FPS that you are getting. Rather, it is more a ratio.

Instead of a scale of 0-100, you will acheive a scale of 0-300.

It just makes it easier to see the FPS difference in small increments.

What you see as 260 in that screen is really about 80 FPS.

ziptie2k2 · Post by **ziptie2k2** » Tue Feb 24, 2004 6:03 pm

AAAAHHHHHHHH I see, here's another one for ya. Is there a way to set something so you can see the fps of a crappier machine, card etc? I am currently using a pretty stout machine, and when I go into maps I had on the old one, the fps never goes bellow 80, but I know it was about 40 on the old one. I want to see what it can be on a lower machine so I dont get carried away

BTW I have all settings that I know of set as high as they will go, will that do it in itself? cause it still shows at least a fps of 80.