npc_msleeper_boss wrote:
Beard: What info did you get from IRC exactly? Because if someone told you that the number of visleaves would increase the filesize, they were wrong. I'm assuming you misunderstood what someone (me?) said.

I asked IRC if a large number of visleafs could be responsible for the large filesize; someone (Mevious, I think? not 100% sure) suggested that it was a possibility. The rest of my post summarises the other remarks the IRC channel made. I was trying to help identify what was causing his bloated BSPs, as opposed to saying "these things will bloat up your map".

Mevious wrote:
Vordwann wrote:

Just turning things into func_details does not fix your visleaves. You need to use other methods such as hint+skip, visclusters for large open areas, and (for BTS and Old Aperture especially) plenty of areaportals in the right places. Also make sure your nodraw behind the displacements is placed optimally for visleaves, but hint+skip should fix most of that.

Hint+skip brushes and areaportals are great for optimizing framerate (when used correctly), but I've never heard of them being used to lower bsp size. Visclusters speed up compile time by telling the compiler that all the visleafs inside the cluster can see each other, but again this data must be stored in the bsp, and I don't see how it would lower the bsp size. On the other hand, maybe I'm just oversimplifying everything and these actually are factors. If so, please provide source material so that I can get educated.

I think the biggest impacts you can have are:
1. Reduce the overall number of drawn faces in the map (Edit: this helps mostly due to removing lightmaps (#2))
2. Optimize lightmap scales (which it sounds like you are already working on)
3. Lower the quality and count of cubemaps (which you haven't added yet)

I never said they reduced the map size. I was saying to him that he shouldn't just make things func_details to reduce the number of visleaves.

Vordwann wrote:
I never said they reduced the map size. I was saying to him that he shouldn't just make things func_details to reduce the number of visleaves.

Visclusters don't reduce visleaves either (assuming you mean func_viscluster).

But yeah, my entry is coming along now :3 I just hope I get it finished in time

SpAM_CAN wrote:
The filesize went down dramatically when I added hints and skips, and reduced the lightmaps of everything (except for the water, as I've already said), and I replaced clusters of brushes with just one, and added an overlay or something.

But yeah, my entry is coming along now :3 I just hope I get it finished in time

You probably don't want to do hint + skip until you're pretty much done with the map. Just my $0.02