can someone give me a detailed description of EXACTLY what r_speeds are and how they affect your map, and the command to type in console to see the report about them

thanks

-Thurs

yes.

mapping faq (http://www.dayofdefeat.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=100)

r_speeds are the amount of polygons being rendered on your machine.
Epolys are model polygons Wpolys are world polygons

first type
developer 1
and then
r_speeds 1

and you will get some stuff at the top left

R_speeds above 1000 for Wpolys are bad while Epolys are usually target range around 5000 I guess

From Tommy14 page
redraw or refresh speed. Commonly used for the wpoly count only, as in: "What are your r_speeds?"- although really it also includes many other factors such as: transparencies, epolys & sprites. R_speeds affects lag and fps.

As you know your map is build up by brushes. Each brush that you place on your map is build by triangles. Its these triangles that the engine draws on your screens starting with those furthest away and then those closer in the field of view. The more triangles there are, the longer time it will take to draw all those on your screen. Some engines have to draw several layers in order to present the whole picture.

Large things are chopped into smaller things so even if you have 1 large object in your map it will be drawed as several small objects.

How does this affect your map then? Well...the further you can see in your map the more traingles you can see...the lower framerate you will get... also the more details the more triangles...

So try to keep it simple from design and add details later where its affordable...

Im not an expert, but I know how a 3d engine works generaly..

http://www.dayofdefeat.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=100 - mapping faq - 2nd post down.

I didn't put that there for nothing. :)

more info: http://www.slackiller.com/tommy14/rspeeds.htm

Originally posted by Kehldon
From Tommy14 page


As you know your map is build up by brushes. Each brush that you place on your map is build by triangles. Its these triangles that the engine draws on your screens starting with those furthest away and then those closer in the field of view. The more triangles there are, the longer time it will take to draw all those on your screen. Some engines have to draw several layers in order to present the whole picture.

Large things are chopped into smaller things so even if you have 1 large object in your map it will be drawed as several small objects.

How does this affect your map then? Well...the further you can see in your map the more traingles you can see...the lower framerate you will get... also the more details the more triangles...

So try to keep it simple from design and add details later where its affordable...

Im not an expert, but I know how a 3d engine works generaly..

The only thing I'd like to point out about that is that w_polys are NOT just triangles...they can be anywhere from 3 sides up to I believe it is 36 sided...although e_polys ARE triangles only.

enable to know what r_speeds are, we must understand r_speeds, enable to understand r_speeds, we must become them! BECOME THE R_SPEEDS! GET ON THE R_SPEEDS! HATE THEM! HATE THE R_SPEEDS NOT THE GAME! Then, once you know the r_speeds, you'll begin to love them...

be an "r_speed nazi" as it were. er, do you mean "in able" not enable?

Good brushwork is the main key to good r_speeds

Other things that help r_speeds in most cases are texture scaling, the use of func_entities which do not cause bsp cuts and good vis blockers

apart from good brushwork, there are also the many dirty tricks you can perform.

One of the things you got to remember: If a player can't see it, don't make it!! It's kinda useless to make brushes that are unvisible but cost precious CPU-cycles

Now, returning to the secret of great pesto... :D

actually IIRC wpolys in quake were triangles, that is why they had commands like show_tris. but HL doesn't do wpolys that way, they are usually rectangular, with triangles for odd filler only.


here is a way to think of r_speeds:

imagine each brush as a Lego ® block or a series of blocks. the faces of each Lego® block is a wpoly.
if you make the textures larger, the Lego ® blocks get bigger = fewer wpolys. that helps.
but if you make the blocks into entities it is like they are the glass blocks - see thru.

now for VIS - now you "compile" your block map for VIS by putting triangular chunks of CLEAR gelatin/Jello® in all the open spaces. these will be your VIS leafnodes.
maxnodesize limits the widest/longest these leafnodes/blocks of gelatin can be, but there is NO limit on how tall they can be - except they have to fit into the open space.

now a plastic soldier/player in any block of gelatin/leafnode sees the other blocks/leafnodes - that is how vis works. and any Lego® block/wpoly touching those leafnodes/gelatin he sees is rendered by his video card. that is your r_speed wpoly count. so you want to block out how many leafnodes/gelatin wedges he sees, since then he will have lower r_speeds.

now HINT. hint is a knife that cuts the leafnode/gelatin so you can shape it a little bit and get a small control of what the player can see where. it is NOT a curtain to block the view, it is a cutter.
and it cuts better than it is supposed to, since it cuts not only the gelatin/leafnode, but also any wpolys/Lego® blocks between it and the next block of gelatin/leafnode.

i hope that is clear and jiggles in tune with your brain.