areaportals used in outdoor maps

bdbodger · Post by **bdbodger** » Sat Oct 04, 2003 2:51 am

What about some of the maps I have seen that are caves with no doors ? You say a hint brush will do the trick but in some cases where a line can be drawn from some where in the area to the vis group created by the hint bush the area will still draw . What I was realy thinking about is if the sky box is not just a simple box but is more like a donut with a hole in the middle and branches maybe . Then it would be easy to bock areas with a portal . If you target an area what is on the other side of the area draws if it is not inside the targeted area . It takes a lot of targeting to do it area 1 must target area 2,3,4,5 and area 2 must target area 1,3,4,5 and area 3 must target area 1,2,4,5 etc etc . It is one way just becaus area 1 targets area 2 dosen't mean area 2 also targets area 1 automatically .

tltrude · Post by **tltrude** » Sat Oct 04, 2003 3:55 am

Yes, the cave is structurally sound. I have tried blocking off the exploder hole (small hole near the corner), but areaportals on the two doors still didn't seal it off. The double doors are in that overhead tunnel which has a wall halfway down it. The big tunnel that bridges the cave area is sealed with doors at either end and is a portal area. The door with a red light is fake. The small door with a green light leads to a small staircase and another door and that is also a portal area.

The vents on the left lead into the hanger, which is open to the skybox--as does the exploder opening. There are three trianglular hint brushes in the vents and they seem to help when you are in the vents--between the vent openings. The door between the cave area and the vents has rounded corners. The frame is structural, but could the problem be that I cut the areaportal brush to fit the rounded opening?

Ps: The map is done, but I wish I could get the fps higher--its around 25-35 now--60 inside some areas.

bdbodger · Post by **bdbodger** » Sat Oct 04, 2003 7:05 am

Well I am wondering if hint brushes really do seal a map . I think maybe they just make cuts in the map . They make vis areas but do not seal it . what happens when you use r_showtris ?

Post by **jv_map** » Sat Oct 04, 2003 8:11 am

bdbodger wrote:Well I am wondering if hint brushes really do seal a map . I think maybe they just make cuts in the map . They make vis areas but do not seal it . what happens when you use r_showtris ?

Well I didn't read the whole thread but what you're stating here is obviously correct

Post by **Bjarne BZR** » Sat Oct 04, 2003 9:06 am

crunch wrote:Bjarne mentioned scripting the portal for the exploder.....I would not recommend this, because then the portal cannot be closed after the explosion. The hint brush will seal the portaled area and keep FPS up even when not in that area after the explosion takes place.

A hint brush wll not seal the area. But it will create a VIS break, and as such may affect FPS positively. It won't help sealing the area however.

But you are right in the areaportal loosing its effect after the exploder is activated. But its better than nothing I guess... combining it with other VIS tricks will probably be a good idea.

crunch wrote:I have also always filled the door opening with exactly the same size area brush as the door. (Overlapping actually generates extra portals.)

Extra portals? Hmm.. never noticed this... Not sure I understand you. Extra portals, you sure you don't mean extra VIS spaces?

crunch wrote:Just curious Bjarne, have you noticed any adverse effects doing this? Perhaps the difference is minor, and either way works just the same.

Well, as I've always overlapped: I havent been able to notice any differences.

Post by **jv_map** » Sat Oct 04, 2003 10:07 am

Hmm well overlapping is generally a bad idea, but I'm in doubt whether it'll generate additional portals or not. There can be no portals inside solid brushes, but maybe an overlapping areaportal affects nearby leaf nodes. I don't think this is the case though. However I once have read overlapping structural brushes (an areaportal is always structural) may cause an appreciable increase in compile time. That said I realize I never actually tested whether this is true

crunch · Post by **crunch** » Sat Oct 04, 2003 1:05 pm

Yes, indeed I stand corrected, a hint brush will not seal the area.

The only way to get the area to seal once the exploder is set off is to have another set of portaled door(s) beyond it, or at the tunnel entrance before the exploder.

If the cave is structurally sound, and you are certain of this, then the only cause of the "not touching 2 areas" error is the exploder in the tunnel.

I also made a quick testmap where I sealed the area with an auto-opening, portaled, no-draw door, similar to what bdbodger is trying in his outdoor maps. It worked, and sealed the area, but once closed, the no-draw caused the hallway behind it to be invisible.

So, I added an extra bend, with the no-draw door directly in the center of the bend, and voila! The area was sealed, and the player would never know there was a door there.

Kill Ya Later!