In Need Of A Surrogate Pc For Compile

MrRadicalEd

<div class="IPBDescription">Serious considerations please</div> My first compile was a bearable 22 hours and that was only at 3/5s complete. I now have a final version, but I expect this compile to double from the original. I remember a (long)long while back someone had a machine open for compiles specificaly for NS maps. I don't know if that individual still accepts submissions, but I am considering looking for help here.

CSG and VIS are no biggies. Those finish under 10 minutes or so, but it's RAD that is a killer. Obviously I'm looking for some real horespower to finish up this map. Helping out will obviously earn you credit towards the map and I'm not looking for just anyone to take my labored work and compile it themselves.

If you're truely interested send a PM my way and we'll talk.

Scythe

Shodan is loooooong gone. As is Monse.

I'm sure you'll be able to find someone with enough unf to compile it for you.

--Scythe--

Cloist

There used to be a remote compiling system run by VERC but has gone down.
Although i have found <a href='http://articles.thewavelength.net/529/' target='_blank'><u>this</u></a>.
It may not be avaliable but the website is still running.

ShenTraX

what system specs are you compiling on?

MrRadicalEd

It's a 1ghz Athlon with plenty of ram.

So far I'm 28 hours in to the compile with 6 hours(At the most) left on FaceLights in RAD

I estimate an additional 26 to 28 hours at the FaceLeafs portion of RAD. Everything afterwards is bearable( FinalLights, and extra bounces)

Nukem3000

How much ram you have on your computer?

MrRadicalEd

PLENTY. Over 600mb

it's only at 30% usage on a modified Win98se OS. Only 2 other processes are running and that's the mininmum that is required(I know what I'm doing)

Reebdoog

That seems like an incredibly long time to compile a map. What compile options are you using? And leaks? (I assume not cause vis is fine...)

MrRadicalEd

I'm very methodical with my mapping techniques. No leaks, no over lapping brushes.

The map spans nearly the entire bounding box and contains lots of spot lights. The map is quite massive which does contribute to the compile time.

Well it took 22 hours FaceLights so I expected nearly the same for VisLeafs. Another 22 hours ago and FaceLeafs is only at 17% as I type this. So at the most I have another 92 hours left. Now I wouldn't mind this normaly, but I am moving in 3 days and this PC wont be on for much longer. My plan was to get this somewhat final compile out the door for people to play on so I can get as many additions to it before another compile is needed.

Rendy_CZech

This is very strange, i think faster computer don't help. U must be using some insane rad parameters like -chop and -texchop

Try add to rad parameters -sparse and -novismatrix

MrRadicalEd

No nothing bizarre at all

I have come to the conclusion that with the many func_wall burshes set to opaque, point based lights, and Sparse taxes my CPU too much. I think if I went to legacy calculations in RAD I can speed up the time at the expense of memory.

BlackPlague

well that might be your problem, you might have TOO many entities and its calculating its atmospheric values. so i guess if you take down SOME of these entities, it might go a wee bit faster :/

MrRadicalEd

The more that I think about it, the more I want to cancel the compile. I think I can compensate for the lack of spot lights, but I'll miss them a lot. I just want ns_flint out to people who can play it and give feedback.

BlackPlague

WOOOOOOOOAAH! i think this is your problem!


EDIT
do you think we could see a screen shot of a view of your x/y view of your map?

DragonMech

I'll do it. I've never compiled any maps before (I have done a little C++ a while back), but if you give me a list of steps it shouldn't be a problem. My specs:

3.2 Ghz P4 w/HT
1024 MB 400Mhz DDR RAM
T1 Lan connection (100 MBps)

[EDIT] I'll just do it overnight; I'll be needing my computer later this evening.

MrRadicalEd

I wasn't lying when I said it was big

DragonMech

<!--QuoteBegin-MrRadicalEd+Sep 1 2004, 12:40 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (MrRadicalEd @ Sep 1 2004, 12:40 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> I wasn't lying when I said it was big <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
Looks good. What's the entity count?

MrRadicalEd

embarassingly high. So the compile has stopped and I'm culling out 70% the spot lights in favor of colored lights. Now my lighting scheme didn't consist soley on point based lights, but were additions, but I'll say "bye bye" to that thought for a looong time. Thanks for the ideas guys.

DragonMech

Alright. If you want me to compile anything for you, just shoot me a PM in the future.

Greedo

When you said opaque func_walls, you meant func_walls with zhlt lightflags set, right? Even one of those will increase compile times exponentially. With a ridiculously old version of lost, I had 5 or 6 of them, and Shodan was going to take about 20 hours to compile. I took those out, and Shodan spit the .bsp out in under 30 minutes.

If you like the way your lighting is, you should see what the map looks like without those entities blocking lights.

Moose

MrRadicalEd, without looking at your map, I can only guess about what might be causing your problem. So, from what I'v read so far, it sounds like your problem is connected with the opaque func_walls. Opaque entities take an enormous amount of CPU time to calculate the shadows. So if I were you, I would remove the opaque option from all the func_walls in your map and recompile to see if this cuts the compile time. I highly doubt you have enough light_spots to drag your compile time to 22 hours.

From looking at your hammer screenshot, I can tell you right now that my map ns_rust is as large or larger, and it took 3 hours to compile. But, when I experimented with opaque func_walls to create cool shadows my compile times quadrupled. A good workaround for light blocking func_walls, is to copy&past the brush you want to block light and cover it in the null texture. Null textured brush's are invisible and block light <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/smile-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile-fix.gif' /><!--endemo--> Hope this helps.

the_x5

<!--QuoteBegin-Greedo386+Sep 1 2004, 02:19 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Greedo386 @ Sep 1 2004, 02:19 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> When you said opaque func_walls, you meant func_walls with zhlt lightflags set <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
Huh? I don't even know what you are talking about. Can you please explain?

I know ZHLT = Zoner's Half-Life Tools, which compile your map in worldcraft. But where are these lightflags, what's their purpose, and why are they so bad to have in your map?

<!--emo&???--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/confused-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='confused-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->

n00b I guess...

MrRadicalEd

Heeeeeeeyy. I managed to shave off 10+ hours off my compile. I'm only part way through, but things are much faster now. Thanks for all the suggestions

agentx5, It takes more time to block light as it's being created on func_walls since they are entity based and don't naturaly block light in RAD.

the_bERt

if you dont want to work on your pc while compiling you should set the process priority of rad in the task manager to hight, that gives an additional boost

Kouji_San

Well my map is probably much bigger then your map and it takes me arround 3-5 hours to compile it (depends on what I'm doing with the pc during compile). A technique I use also helps to cut down on compile time:

The use of textured light increases the compiletime... So have a look at some light emiting textures and look for textures which can be lit by placing light entities in front of them. This will decrease the lightdata and increases the compile speed.

What im talking about is this:

Lets say you have a spot light texture and you lit it using texture lighting. Sure this look nice and is faster to imliment, but uses to many individuel lights and can be done pretty easily with only one light (and a light_spot if you want to use one <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/smile-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile-fix.gif' /><!--endemo--> )
Simply place one light entity against the texture in the color of the light. A brightness of 32-48 will work prefectly.

This technique can also be used on computer screens, bigger light textures etc... You would need more then one light btw... Just place the light entities in a logical location in releation to the texture. And don't worry about the looks since it actually doenst look worse then texture lighting, in some cases it looks even better...