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Seriouse Fps Trouble


JeeMonkey

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hey all, im about half way done with my map when i go to test it (not for the first time) and i notice that my FPS (frames per second) are between 70-90 and thats a lot considering i was testing my map be myself and i have a cable modem. how do i lower the FPS rate in my map? LEAVE NO POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS OUT. GIMME ALL THE ADVICE U HAVE!

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However in gaming, FPS does count, if you play at 40FPS then play at 80FPS you'll notice a lot more fluidity to the game; game physics rely on FPS too, or should I say the physics will be best for you at certain FPS and 85 and 140 I think are two of the best....so FPS matters in mapping!

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LOL..well that all depends what's in the map and how it's laid out. The first thing you should do is check and see how much of your map is DETAIL and how much is STRUCTURAL.

 

EDIT: Wade man how come you don't have your other (highly rated) SG map in your sig?:p

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[off topic]

 

Are you Darksaber from XWAlliance Upgrade?

 

If so, cool, if not, then cool anyway.

 

 

[on topic]

 

Are you caulking all the non-visible sides of your brushes? This helps the engine draw less polygons.

 

Also, I thought detail brushes helped the compiler run quicker, but at the trade off of having a lower FPS

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If they're used carefully they should be okay, but as VIS doesn't take them into account when compiling, the engine can see straight through them, but you know that already.

 

I personally prefer to make as many brushes structural as possible - I don't mind the wait for the VIS and LIGHT stages of the compile to complete.

 

What can I say? - I like my shadows and my FPS!

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Making everything structural can cause strange happenings in your VIS, therefore lowering FPS. Also, it may cause errors. If you use detail brushes, you actually have control over your VIS process. As well, lighting isn't affected by detail/structural brushes.

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Detail brushes don't cast shadows as they are not included in VIS process, so the LIGHT stage just passes the light through the brush - that's what I meant by liking my shadows.

 

If the brushes are small, many sided or have funny angles, then I generally use a detail brush. Any 6 sided, rectangular brushes wider than 8 units I tend to keep structural and I don't seem to have any FPS or compile issues with this.

 

I also bring the sample size for the lighting down for my final compile to stop the shadows aliasing - a lot of the effects I have in my maps would be impossible using detail brushes.

 

This is just the way *I* do things - I personally think it it makes for a better looking map and if there is a lot of detail, it tends to keep the frame rate high - my PC bogs down like f*ck if I use a lot of detail brushes.

 

*LEAVE NO POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS OUT. GIMME ALL THE ADVICE U HAVE!*

 

This is what works for me - it may not for others

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Originally posted by codja

Detail brushes don't cast shadows as they are not included in VIS process, so the LIGHT stage just passes the light through the brush - that's what I meant by liking my shadows.

how do u figure that out? detail brushes just affect the vis process and thats it. only patches dont cast shadows (-unless you add patchshadows to light stage)

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[off topic]

lol, what ya mean codja? I used to play XWA on the zone ;) I aint for ages now

 

[on topic]

So if i keep everything scructural, i get shadows, but low fps, and vice versa if i make em detail... I like my shadows as well ;)

 

lol, i try to caulk all surfaces that dont show... how but it slows the fps? How can i make sure theya re carefully caulked?

 

--Darksaber :atat:

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Originally posted by Darksaber_SMC

[on topic]

So if i keep everything scructural, i get shadows, but low fps, and vice versa if i make em detail... I like my shadows as well ;)

 

lol, i try to caulk all surfaces that dont show... how but it slows the fps? How can i make sure theya re carefully caulked?

 

--Darksaber :atat:

just because your map is all structural doesnt mean it will run better. in some cases your map will take many times longer to compile and have no performance benefit. you should really learn what a detail brush does before you start detailing things.

 

some links

 

http://www.nibsworld.com/rtcw/tutorial_detail_and_hint_brushes_part1.shtml

 

you know when you have caulked something in the player view because you will see a hall of mirrors effect

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Detail brushes were originally created for the Quake2 engine so id could add a lot of detailing without adversely affecting the compile times of the maps.

 

Detail brushes do not become part of the final visibilty matrix - hence the faster compile time.

 

The reason that detail brushes don't cast shadows it that the light function uses the visibilty matrix to compute where the shadows lie.

 

If detail brushes were vised then there would be no difference between them and structural brushes.

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I'll give it a go tonight when I get home, but i'm pretty sure i'm right. If not, then my apologies in advance but I hope we can agree that detail brushes are ignored by VIS, hence the faster compile time.

 

So, when are we going to get started on areaportals?

 

[excuse/get out clause] I know the original q3rad didn't shadow details, but the latest q3map is a cracking little utility, so perhaps (grudgingly admit) you're right...

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Something I learnt a short while ago is vis does actually affect lighting compile times, leaving everything structural will make lighting run at its fastest but at the expense of insane compile times and the risk of odd things happening as you play your map and maybe even drawing more than the game needs to.

 

Vis is an essential part of mapping, it can, at times, make a huge difference to most importantly FPS and to the light compile time.

 

And to clear it up, a detail brush does[/b] cast shadows, patches don't unless you tell them to....

 

...in the latest Q3Map2 though you can tell things to not cast or not receive shadows, giving you even more control over lighting.

 

Don't learn to map unless you're willing to learn everything about every stage!

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