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Level Design The map optimization thread

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#4
thanks I am taking a look at those now. I am obviously not sure what i need. My map has 3 "zones" ano outdoor zone , mine shafts, and a builtup area. from the outdoor you cannot see the builtup area so I want a way to put a divider between the two so that they are both not being drawn. Do I need a large antiportal behind the dividing hill? Or do I put the portal under the terrain of the hill only?
 
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#6
Rich_Zap said:
What you want to do is put an anti-portal beneath the hill, that will cull any meshes that are on the other side of the anti-portal from the player. Putting bsp beneath the hill in the same way will occlude network data and make the load on servers easier.
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this is what I think I was reading so I need to put both of those beneath the hill now How do I work around the BSP tunnels under the hill or can the APortal cut through all of these?
 
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#8
So what is the purpose of the AntiPortals in the doorways dont you have to cover the entire face of the building. or does BSP block Static meshes also. I got Slyks tip and and i am going to put a giant BSP and AntiP in the hill just in front of the trench works. I was also thinking about putting AntiPortals in the treesets (from Arad), do I also need to put BSP in those as well? Or I can put a giant Anti-P just behind the trees on the top of my hill. Thanks for the input.
 
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#9
Take a look at the links Lruce posted, they have pretty much everything you'll need to know for basic optimization. You should also refer to the official TW maps for optimization techniques and how they relate to a map. As for the treeline question: If you only place an anti-portal inside of it then players/bots/vehicles will still be rendered. You should always place BSP and APs together. So everything on the other side will be occluded. :)
 
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#10
I read all of those and other stuff on the net, though I have never seene where it says that BSP occludes net code. I have also never seen where it says that BSP will occlude Static meshes(can some one answer this? Which is why I asked why the APs only seem to be at doorways and why? if you do this is it basically the same as making a zone portal in that with all doors and windows are closed with APs and so making everything in the building occluded?
I see what you are saying here guppy I think but an AP and BSP brush together will occlude everything on the other side. I will look more at what TW has done I am just trying to understand. Thanks for the help.
 
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#11
On the official maps, I don't think I've ever seen anti-portals placed in doorways or windows. I have seen zone portal sheets, though. Have you gotten the two confused?

If you make your enterable buildings from BSP brushes, then any players inside will be occluded, however, any static meshes used for interior decoration (such as chairs, tables, posters, etc) will not be. This is why it is SO important to set low cull distances on any meshes placed inside of buildings so that the engine is not trying to render a plate on a table from 1 km away when it's absolutely not necessary.
 
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#12
Sorry I think this website does a better job of explaining zones.

http://www.angelmapper.com/tutorials/optimization1.htm

In short:

BSP occludes network relevant actors such as players/bots/vehicles.

Anti-Portals occlue pretty much everything else, mainly used to hide static meshes, BSP, and terrain.

Zone Portals or Zoning is for optimizing rooms enclosed in BSP. The website I linked does a pretty good job of explaining how it works. Basically you completely zone off a room that is enclosed in BSP by placing zone portal sheets on all the windows/doors/holes. Once this is done copy your main Zone Info actor from your map and place it inside the room. Now your room is zoned off.

Hope that helps. :)
 
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#13
Shurek said:
On the official maps, I don't think I've ever seen anti-portals placed in doorways or windows. I have seen zone portal sheets, though. Have you gotten the two confused?
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I am thinking that is what has happened see I read that zone portals are not good for outdoor maps. So I kind of wrote them off. I will look tonight at some stock maps. So AntiP and BSP you hide under terrain and in tree rings and you use zone portals in doorways and windows for BSP buildings? If all of those statements are true I think I am straight. Thanks Shurek.
 
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#14
DrGuppy said:
Sorry I think this website does a better job of explaining zones.

http://www.angelmapper.com/tutorials/optimization1.htm

In short:

BSP occludes network relevant actors such as players/bots/vehicles.

Anti-Portals occlue pretty much everything else, mainly used to hide static meshes, BSP, and terrain.

Zone Portals or Zoning is for optimizing rooms enclosed in BSP. The website I linked does a pretty good job of explaining how it works. Basically you completely zone off a room that is enclosed in BSP by placing zone portal sheets on all the windows/doors/holes. Once this is done copy your main Zone Info actor from your map and place it inside the room. Now your room is zoned off.

Hope that helps. :)
Click to expand...

Thanks it is becoming clear now, So like I have a warehouse and I want to put zoneportals on all of the doors and windows to the outside. Now I didnt know about the zone info part do you just copy the one you have, it does not need to have a seperate name or anything? Also likewise you could put the zone info in a room and make it really cold and you could have a meat locker Huh? thanks.
 
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#15
You actually don't need the Zone Info for the zone to work correctly. However, the Zone Info contains information like fog distance, ambient lighting, and a few other things that will effect the zone. If you zone off a house and forget the Zone Info when you walk outside of the house the fog will change instantly, and when inside the house there will be no fog so if you look out the windows it will probably be laggier and give that player a very long view distance. Personally I always just copy my main Zone Info and stick one into each zone to be safe. I also group all my Zone Infos together so if I need to make a change it will apply to all of them.

Pressing the Zone/Portal toggle above your viewport will show you if the area is zoned correctly (each zone is a different colour if done right). If two zones are beside eachother and are still the same colour then there is likey a hole connecting the two. Oh, and for your question; yes you can change the info on each zone (through the Zone Info actor) seperately per zone.
 
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#16
Divinehammer said:
So AntiP and BSP you hide under terrain and in tree rings and you use zone portals in doorways and windows for BSP buildings?
Click to expand...

That's correct. And you're welcome :)

And don't forget to set the cull distance (Under 'Display' in the Static Mesh's properties) on static meshes that are likely to be out of player view at long distances. Of course, DistanceFog also culls static mesh behind it's render 'curtain' so anything really far away will be taken care of that way. I'm mostly talking about short and intermediate distances. For instance, if you are hiding in one room of a 5 room building, then you don't want the table in the next room to be rendered through the wall (at least as far as the engine is concerned). The same thing goes for intermediate distances. For instance, if you are fighting in the courtyard between two buildings, you don't want the engine to be rendering all of the furniture within the buildings. This will slow everyone's frames per second WAY down.

It's a tedious task to manually set cull distances on meshes, but all good mappers know that it's a necessary evil.

Hope this all helps
 
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