Ok, so I'm mapping this map. It's this big estate housing a german officer and such and then the allies have to do something (dont know what it is yet :P). Anyway the map will only ahve one building, but it's rather large. Will it's size affect r_speeds? Can HL handle large, room-filled buildings?

The rule is, detail in small areas, less detail in bigger areas. So it really depends on how much in what areas. If you have some big fancy room with an elaborate staircase that has a lot of steps, your probably not going to be able to put much detail in that room (in the next room though, it shouldnt matter, as long as you can only see a little bit of the next room). type r_speeds in conolse, your w_polys should be at or under 1000 (its left to e_polys i thik). Hope this helped..

Just wait a couple months for the HL2 engine. The current engine sucks for handling big open spaces. I guess you could start building the map then import into the new Hammer when HL2 is released. I don't know how the new engine will handle big open spaces, but I'm sure it won't be an r_speed issue any longer.

Oh there will be r_speeds issues, especially for the people that dont have the latest and greatest CPU (the min. req. i heard for HL2 was around 700mhrz, and you know thats an under estimate like on all the min. req. for games). But over-all HL2 will probably be able to handle outdoor areas a lot better. But i wouldnt put it off for the 3-4 months(??) till it comes out. Forgot where i was goingwith this ...

r_speeds are the amount of wpoly and epoly that are rendered at any given time. The generally accepted limits for wpoly are to keep it under 800 at all times, and epoly can go all the way to 5000+.

So pretty much, your building will work, as long as you keep the game engine from rendering more rooms than it needs to. You'll want to read up on VIS blocks and using the HINT brush.

Very good Counter-Map tutorial on Vis Blocks and the Hint brush (http://countermap.counter-strike.net/Tutorials/tutorial.php?id=2)
Another good Counter-Map tutorial on Hint Brushes (http://countermap.counter-strike.net/Tutorials/tutorial.php?id=54)
Another Counter-Map tutorial on basic r_speed reduction (http://countermap.counter-strike.net/Tutorials/tutorial.php?id=19)
Snark Pit article on what r_speeds are (http://www.snarkpit.com/tutorials.php?tut=11)


Notice: I found all of these in the Mapping FAQ (http://www.dayofdefeat.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=100).

yeah basically what you're asking about is VIS, and to understand that is key to mapping, no matter what game you're developing for.

Originally posted by Majestic 12
yeah basically what you're asking about is VIS, and to understand that is key to mapping, no matter what game you're developing for.

Actually, you are right. A lot of games out there that uses .bsps(cough MOHAA, cough RTCW ), would run a lot of better on my system (or anyone's system for that matter) if they have taken into consideration VIS!! In fact, if you take into consideration VIS in HL2, it should run as well on lower end systems. I just dun understand why pple ditch VIS. Even Torque game engine buildings also have visibility calculations. If you wanna ditch VIS, then create a map out of 1 large mdl that can be processed better....bsp brushwork will cause lag and therefore MUST have vis or else you get a lag fest ala mohaa maps...! BSP = binary space partition, so vis is an important thing.