Too many entities again

ChromeAngel

<div class="IPBDescription">What can i get away with</div>The attached picture was taken using with gl_wireframe set to 2.  Standing on surface 'A' I can see entites in the direction of the blue arrow.  Standing on surface 'B' I can see entites in the direction of the yellow arrow.  edge 'C' connects 'A' and 'B', crossing this edge I can mommenterily see entities in the direction of the green arrows and get the "Too many entities in visible packt list" warning.  Is this going to be acceptable in-game?



<!--EDIT|ChromeAngel|April 22 2002,21:32-->

Merkaba

sounds odd to me...you shouldn't get the error unless you have tons of entities in one room.

On the other hand, do you have many env_sparks, toggable lights, env_beams set to random, and particle systems?

They all have a habit of sneaking into the visible entity packet all the time.

nrby

Be careful you dont have groups of entites in other places in the map, large brush based visible entites that have been grouped will cut through multiple VIS portals and VIS will draw them EVERYWHERE in the map, no matter where the player is.
Pipes are a good example of the cause of this error.

Moleculor

If you have too many visible entities, things such as ammo and weapons on the ground, and possibly buildings and such will start to disappear (become invisible, not get destroyed) in game.

ChromeAngel

I think narby may be closer, I have 1(one) PS in the whole level a couple of env_beams and a handfull of sparks.  I do however have some rather large, spread out, brush entities.

I colud use some tips on how to split these up optimally so that I don't end up raising the entity count any higher.



<!--EDIT|ChromeAngel|April 22 2002,22:05-->

realityisdead

Excuse my ignorance, but are brush based entities that only consist of one brush handled like this? (Drawn at all times, when you look in that direction...)

Or just ones that consist of massive (read: somewhat large) amounts of seperate brushes?

And gl_wireframe 2 will show this if they do, right?



<!--EDIT|ken20banks|April 22 2002,17:09-->

Relic25

Sometimes yes, Ken.  If the single-brush entity covers enough area, the engine won't be able to discern easily where it should be visible (since it exists in more than one VIS space) and sometimes draws it all the time, regardless of where you are in the map.  As an example, It used to be possible (might still be - I haven't looked in a while) to look up while in the main part of the map while in gl_wireframe 2 and see the multiple-brush func_illusionary way up in the readyoom, even though it is completely isolated.

Black_Wolf

hmm, could you fix this with hint brushes surrounding the brush entity? to put it in one particular VIS prtal? or am i entirely confused (^happens often^)

Relic25

Again, that just depends on individual circumstance.  Sometimes it might help to put it into a hint brush, but if the entity is large enough and happens to lie on a division of VIS space, then no matter what you do, it will be forced into more than 1 VIS block due to Maxnodesize.

ChromeAngel

I've split up the most obvious massive, multi-brush, brush entites.  I'll compile it when I get home from work.  Hopefully this will free up some entities for special effects.

Yamazaki

I try to keep all my brush entities under 384x384x384 units in size, and this almost always works. I try to group as many entities of the same type together as long as it fits within those boundaries, so a 384 unit long railing and catwalk can be bound together if both need the solid rendermode.