New vis_leafgroup tutorial!

Post by **Bjarne BZR** » Fri Apr 11, 2003 2:00 pm

Hi! I made a tutorial based on how I optimized FPS in the worst spot on Vemork factory

Here it is:
http://www.planetmedalofhonor.com/rjuka ... orial.html

Contains a very complex example map file that shows the vis optimizing.

I just threw the tutorial together in a really short time, so point out its flaws and I'll fix it at once... got to go now... in a hurry...

Post by **jv_map** » Fri Apr 11, 2003 2:34 pm

Looks pretty good 8)

mohaa_rox · Post by **mohaa_rox** » Fri Apr 11, 2003 2:40 pm

Looks gr8! Now i understand vis better! With the SDK vis tut and ur tut, I can now use vis in my DM map, and will include vis leaves in v2.0.

But i found an error, "Congratulations" is spelt wrongly.

solar · Post by **solar** » Fri Apr 11, 2003 5:34 pm

of course Rox, there's no such word as "spelt" either.

Thx Bjarne, I've spent close to two weeks now trying to optimize the FPS in my map with some success, but not to my standards. And, just like with your map, my main problems are inside and not outside. I have one FPS problem outside that gets down to the high teens and mtex of 45+, but it's only at the spawn area so I'm not to worried about it, though I'm still working on it. Inside problem is in a room with a lot of detailed brushes and patches, so I've been trying a number of different things.

Let me ask this question. Should we not intersect leafgroups or make multiple leafgroups with the same targetname?? Did you do that in your map?

Post by **Bjarne BZR** » Fri Apr 11, 2003 6:11 pm

Good that you mentioned the targetnames, I must add a note on that in my tutorial:

I found that you should always name the targetnames yourself. As an exampe "distiller_hall_southwest" is a better name than the name given by Radiant when using the CTRL+k method to target brushes ( then they get crappy names like "mv1" & "mv5" ).

I see no problem in using intersecting vis_leafgroups.
As for using multiple vis_leafgroups with the same targetname, I dont think you CAN set the same name on multiple vis_leafgroups... so dont do that...

tuffstuff7 · Post by **tuffstuff7** » Fri Apr 11, 2003 6:11 pm

great job this will help me i am sure on learning this thanks

Post by **Bjarne BZR** » Fri Apr 11, 2003 6:37 pm

I re-made the tutotial again to make it easier to understand, and I added some nice pictures for those of you that cant read

http://www.planetmedalofhonor.com/rjuka ... orial.html

solar · Post by **solar** » Fri Apr 11, 2003 8:31 pm

You may be right Bjarne, what I did was make two brushes with the VIS tex, selected both of them, went to the entity window and entered a targetname of like "vis1". Then I made the opposing leafgroup and gave it a tagetname of "vis2". I then targeted it to vis1 and it drew a line to both leafgroups, but their targetnames were then different such as you stated above, like "mv1" and "mv2". I was wondering how that happened. Thx.

-Gandalf- · Post by **-Gandalf-** » Fri Apr 11, 2003 9:00 pm

Bjarne BZR wrote: I found that you should always name the targetnames yourself. As an exampe "distiller_hall_southwest" is a better name than the name given by Radiant when using the CTRL+k method to target brushes ( then they get crappy names like "mv1" & "mv5" )

yep you can put all the leafs you want, name them each with own targetname ... (i have it as b1, b2 bla bla but some i use names)

then if you try to use CTRL+K radiant will keep your names in the targeting so ... b1 will target b2, b3 bla bla ...

Hunter · Post by **Hunter** » Mon Apr 14, 2003 11:36 am

Looks good, but can anyone explain me what to use this vis_leadfgroup for??

solar · Post by **solar** » Mon Apr 14, 2003 12:41 pm

Not to be rude Hunter, but doing a search will yield a ton of results. The quick answer is that it optimizes frame rates (FPS).

Post by **Bjarne BZR** » Mon Apr 14, 2003 12:46 pm

Thanx Hunter for pointing that out! I explain How to do it but not Why in my tutorial

Added a section explaining why to the "Basics" section of the tutorial:

Vis tutorial wrote:So why would you waste your precious time with this? Well: sometimes the map compiler will have a rather different opinion on what can be seen from a specific place in the map than you... If you take a look at the pictures in step 5 in the How to do it section, you will see that a lot more than you think is drawn by the game engine. This does not have to be a problem if it does not drop the FPS a lot, but if it does: you will want to learn about the magic of vis_leafgroup.

Thanx