a sky texture automatically draws itself behind everything else, which is why you have to build your map so that when people look at the sky walls, there is nothing else behind them except other sky.
Maybe it’s time to rethink the layout of your map, though you never did mention how much your FPS drops or how many tris are being drawn at the worst points.
ok i see wut ur sayin with the sky now. so wut if i amde the outside box of my map not a big square but exactly the shape of my map? would that work? and coverthe caulk with a sky texture, from the brushes u can see like what icircled itneh red part of the pic.?
good thing you’re learning it now…somepeople make the same mistakes over and over.
type this in console (~ key) of the game;
\set cg_drawfps 1
that will tell you your fps while you move about the map.
i am gettin around 20fps almsot everywhere in my map, which is good i guess. when i go agaisnth e sky and u can see hte caulk its around 40-90 fps, but htas expected i guess cause it is caulk.
do you only get 20 fps? on my maps i usually get around 200 fps
remember to caulk everything and use your hint brushes good
what kind of fps do you get while playing goldrush or fueldump ? 20fps is only good if your video card max’s out at 30fps. Understand ? It is dependent on your video card and processor. What are the computer’s spec.'s ?
\r_showtris 1 <<<<< to activate
\r_showtris 0 <<<<to deactivate
EB are u talkin to me or cementosje for specs… anyway its a FUCKING SHITTY COMP. my dad got it REALLY cheap off a friend brand new so he got it. its a COmpaq, all stock, we are gettin a radeon soon tho so its as good as my otehr comptuer, it has crashed liek 5 times casue the graphics card overlaoded and causeda fatal error during AA or ET in gamepaly… so yea it blows balls big time… it also crashec casue of virtual mem which i had to increase…
yeah…I was talking to you Matt…I actually posted that at the same time as cementosje, but his posted first.
soooooooo…what are the fps for the stock maps ?
Back onto the subject at hand;
Use clip brushes to keep the spectators from seeing the bottom sky.
| = wall or hillside
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
–|--------------------
–|---------------*
–|-----------*
–|-------*
–|—*
–|*
*^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Ugly illustration, but I hope the idea gets across…If you do this to all four sides and then apply it to the extra areas too, the clip will keep the specs from going so high, but it stops the players too…so be careful.
that is one big mofo of a map to try and reduce the vis of the map
my surgestion make everything baring the skybox detail then place caulk brushes along the walls and floor, then only the caulk brushes will split the vis portals this should reduce the number dramaticaly
an place on big hint brush above the level of the buildings touching all the skybox sides this should cut the top of the vis portals making them less complex shapes
If you want to check the tris being drawn type this in the console
/r_speeds 1
/con_drawnotify 1
I feel around 20k is pretty good this is usually about what I shoot for, 30k is pushing it, 15k and down is nothing to worry about. This is probably the best way to get a feel for how your map will perform.
another thing to consider especialy for multiplayer games is how many player you expect to be inside visible vis portals
areas like a small back room dont probabley come into play to often but objective rooms etc you would expect to find large numbers of player here very often so make shure there is enough free memory to draw the players
I feel around 20k is pretty good this is usually about what I shoot for, 30k is pushing it, 15k and down is nothing to worry about
Same with me: I usually aim at 20/25k. Anything above that number, I try to fix with hint-brushes or deleting some of the eyecandy. In some cases however, I had to rearrange some parts of my map to get below my 25k limit…
i have no lcue wut a vis portal is lol
In radiant load your map and go to Plugins\ prtview \ load prt. file
This will show you all portals in your map; now the trick is to keep the amount of portals as low as possible: The more portals in your map, the higher your fps will be( and the longer it will take to compile your map!). A structural brush will by default create a portal, a detail brush will not. That’s why it’s so important to have allot of detailed brushes in your map.
To complicate things: A structural brushes will block vis, but a detail brush will not. So you can’t go crazy and turn every single brush into a detail brush.
For more reading about this check:
http://www.wolfensteinx.com/surface/tutorials/caulk_hulling.html
ok well i did sum work to get rid of the thing in the red circle in my above pic, buy making the wall (yellowcircle) a sideof a builing and as tall as hte rest os u can no longer see that, also i used the clip brushjes to make it impossible to see over the side to the caulk, i am almsot done all the sky work, so i thought i would ask about anotehr problem… i have this in about 3 places on my mpa… anyone know hwat is happenign to this brush? its the see thru thing, almost as if its caulked, but it dosent have the caulk texture.
not try fire fly, more vis portals doesnt nesaserily mean higher fps, they are there to reduce fps so you dont need to drawn the hole map, but if you have too many then it will increase the fps so the trick is to find the best places and size for your portals
ok so the sky is about 75% done and i am trying to compile cause i have added alot od details aswell to my map as i add sky(ie chairs and such) and to test the lights i added. So i try the complie that i foudn in anotehr thread when someone asked wut compile to use to see the effect of ur lights… but i am getting that nasty max map visibility. I have detail brushed 75 % of the map so far (the brushes that need it so far) and i am worried because i have only done 25% of the props adding!! so i think i migth have a problem tehre, so will putting hint brushes in place NOW affect my compile problem andget rid of the max visibility? i dont care if it will lower fps in game yet, i jsut want to compile to see hte light effects… thanks… oh and btw i HOPe to have the map out by the end of JAnuary 
edit:also how can i see wut hte compiler said in teh prompt there without having to watch it? is there a log fiel i can open ot see wut it said long after it has closed?