R_speeds, Func_walls, Entities And Serious Sam

DjArcas · November 2002

<div class="IPBDescription">Non strictly NS, but not strictly NON NS</div> First off, I haven't done HL mapping in a few years now... been very taken with the power of the Serious engine, and now having gone back, I'm finding it hard to adjust, or at least to remember what is good, and what is not...

The Serious engine performs run-time vis culling and lighting - to aid the engine in this, you create the visibility blocking architecture with world brushes, and you create anything that doesn't block vis (light brackets, complicated shaped things, pipes on walls etc) with "detail brushes" aka func_walls.

My question is this.

Currently I've got a series of lights running down a corridor, in the floor. If they are normal brushes, then they split the floor into quite a few polys. If I make them func_walls, then they don't do so - but which is better?

I'm also under the impression, perhaps incorrectly, that func_walls are drawn using epolys, not wpolys, so it's also a way to keep the wpoly counts down.

I keep reading about the entity limits in the game, and am wondering about hitting them.

To sum up - should I continue with what the Serious engine ingrained into me - that anything that can't block visibility or cast shadows should be a func_wall, and everything else should be a world brush.

(as an aside, I wish NS was based on the serious engine - how does LOD on world brushes, variable shadow detail on a per facet basis, LOD turning distant windows into walls to block vis and doors that block vis when they're shut grab ya? <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='wink.gif'>

Cash_Car_Star · November 2002

HL actually has the ability to have func_walls cast shadows. It's one of the ZHLT flags. Anyway, the HL engine doesn't require this method of mapping, as most of the detail should be low poly anyway. There is a specific maximum to the number of entities you can have, 400 brush-based entities if I recall correctly, and more importantly it has been postulated that the less you have, the less a map lags. Only use a func_wall if you positively need it for something, namely facesplitting (which can also be cured by 1 unit gaps sometimes) and different rendering modes.

c4x · November 2002

There's no rule saying that anything that could break up a brush must be turned into a func_wall. Because of the large size of NS's maps some mappers are hitting the entity limits. You should really only change seomthing into a func_wall if it helps cut down r_speeds. If you have a hallway and the r_speeds are fine in that hallway without turning the lights into func_walls then all you'd be doing is adding to your entity count.

Remember you can use hint brushes as well to cut down on r_speeds.

DjArcas · November 2002

"There's no rule saying that anything that could break up a brush must be turned into a func_wall. "

*grins*

There is in Serious Sam <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='wink.gif'>

I'll do my best to curb my instinct to pop anything that's not casting shadows and is splitting world polys into a func_wall then.

c4x · November 2002

Yeah, that's the best way to do it.

KungFuSquirrel · November 2002

epolys only apply to models in the scene -- characters, players, set pieces, buildings, etc -- and NOT to any BSP-based brush.

R_speeds, Func_walls, Entities And Serious Sam

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