Posts by will2k

  • ITT: Post maps/scenes that never saw the light of the day.

    Quote from VIOLATION

    Maybe one day I'll actually turn these into something? I occasionally work on these sort of scenes for CS:GO but I'm terrible at making layouts so I usually just detail little areas to look nice and move on.

    This is some fine architecture there :); it's a shame to see them go to "waste" and not see the light of day in a playable map.

    Creating a perfectly balanced layout that pleases everyone is hard but it's not rocket science either. It's just a matter of practice:

    You'll have to learn the basics of competitive gameplay, check previous works of other designers to see what works and what doesn't and check some videos of pro-players in recent CSGO tournaments to track their movements and see how they use the environment to give you an idea what to design and place in your map.

    Lastly you can read some articles on map design and competitive play; here are some examples:

    Once you have a playable layout, Mapcore's playtest server is the way to go where most of the layout flaws will be pinpointed before you dig deeper in the detailing and art pass phase.

    Another solution is to team up with another designer where he takes care of the layout and balancing :D and you unleash your creativity on the art and detailing...profit?:D

    Best of luck and hope to really see those streets in a playable map soon.

  • What music have you listened to recently?

    Iron Maiden - Speed Of LightListening to the new Iron Maiden single released 3 days ago on Sep 4 as part on the new album "The Book Of Souls"

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    The music is sublime as you'd expect from Maiden but the video is pure awesomeness as it sees Eddie starting in a 1980s side-scroller arcade and finishing as a modern day first person shooter. You can even play the game on Maiden's website :D

  • What's going on with your life?

    Quote from Thrik

    Like an absolute bell end I managed to burn my arm by reaching over my just-boiled kettle for some kitchen paper. The steam did this in about half a second:

    If steam did this, then I suppose your kettle does not have a protection Valve

    In all seriousness, tough luck mate.

    Get well soon and glad it is not something more serious or in a more delicate place like Dux hinted :D

  • What are you playing now?

    After a long while of not playing anything, I decided to dig in and get some cooperative play.

    Currently playing Serious Sam 3 coop (and having a blast literally, despite finishing the game last year in single player), and Payday the heist coop.

  • What have you watched recently?

    Quote from blackdog

    Since we don't have a generalistic Cinema container, here's some words of wisdom

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    Still have to see Mean Streets! Got it ages ago, started it once but talk is very tight and accented, and I tried watching it a night I was too tired.

    Thanks for sharing the CG video.

    For Mean Streets, you are right, it is accented, but that's the beauty of it as it catches the authenticity of New York's Little Italy neighborhood in the 1970s.

    Scorsese's movies are always authentic but this one is more so since it is a reflection of his own observations as a young adult of Italian-American descent in his 30s living in Little Italy in the 70s.

    De Niro's "Nu Yok" accent and delivery are spot on in this movie :)

  • Hammer- Can I learn anything from this part of the compile log?

    Quote

    Hammer- Can I learn anything from this part of the compile log?

    Yes you can; hope this answered your question :D

    Joking aside, you can extract useful info from various parts of the compile log including vvis. Should you use this part as your primary guide for optimization - no. Should you use it as a complementary info - yes.

    The first number you should be looking at is portalclusters which is simply the number of visleaves in your map. There is no right or wrong in this number and it is relative to the map size and complexity. If your map is small to medium then this number should not go over 1000 as a rule of thumb. Large, complex maps can see this number go to 2000-3000. In this regard, if you have a small, relatively simple map and you see the portalclusters skyrocketing to 4000, you should think immediately of an un-optimized map with regards to visleaves, and the number 1 suspect being the lack of func_detail in the map.

    Sometimes a proper optimization system can greatly increase this number; as long as the map is solid on the frame rate side, there is nothing to panic about. I previously worked on a highly complex map where I had to devise a really large and sophisticated optimization system of hints and areaportals. The result was around 3500 portalclusters, however the fps in-game was a solid 220+ across the map which justifies the increase in the visleaves number.

    2nd number to look at is portalflow in seconds. vvis shouldn't take long for most maps and should finish in a matter of seconds. In the case of the map I mentioned above, vvis took around 20-25 minutes because of the sheer complexity of the visleaves but as said before, it was totally justified with the fps gains in-game (sometimes you have to sacrifice vvis time for in-game fps gain). If this portalflow is taking too much for a small, simple map, then you guessed it...the map is un-optimized where vvis is spending too much time calculating visibility for additional useless visleaves.

    3rd number to look at is average clusters visible which is basically the average PVS of each visleaf in the map. Contrary to total visleaves number which could vary with map size, this number is better kept low to ensure fluid frame rate. In your example log, this number is 135 which signifies that, on average, a visleaf in your map can see 135 adjacent visleaves (the PVS or potentially visible set which the engine has to render all its content when you are standing in the visleaf). You can see that, the higher the number the bigger the PVS; a bigger PVS means that the engine will have to render more content-->more overhead-->decrease in fps. For large maps that are well optimized, this number could go up (I've gotten around 750 in the large map that I previously mentioned) but most maps should be around 300-400 if properly optimized (general guideline from my experience). The primary tool for controlling this number is hint brushes to shape the visleaves as you please for a better visibility control.

    To conclude, the compile log is more of an additional guideline rather than your primary tool for optimization (shameless plug: you can check my papers and articles on optimization and optimization testing). Oh, and by the way, the numbers in your compile log are totally fine; no need to worry :)

    Long post, I know :-D; maybe I should turn and expand it into an optimization article.

    Hope this helps