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Jedi Academy turned 20 this year! We celebrated in a ton of different ways: mod contest, server event, podcast, etc. Thank you to all who have been a part of this game for the last two decades. Check out the anniversary content!

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This game turned 20 years old this year, and it is still one of the greatest Star Wars games of all time. If you're new or returning from a long hiatus, here are the basics of getting started with Star Wars Jedi Knight Jedi Academy in 2023.

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Reducing Passage portal flow + more

AngelModder

By AngelModder

Most have noticed that during the "Passage Portal Flow" phase of the BSP VIS compile it can take longer and longer the more complex your map's layout is. You'll start seeing numbers in access of 100 MB for the "required passage memory". You've probably wondered how can I fix this and speed this up? You probably just adjusted your chop size in the end and watched your fps never be the same. 
We were literally told the answer from the get go. Structural brushes as you know split the VIS and create a new portal node that then etc etc. What most don't realize is it's not really the size of the usable footage in their map's that is the issue, it's all the space in between your rooms, hallways, bathrooms etc that you have in your map. What we need to do is bring order to the chaos that creates between those sections and the wasted portals it creates in the void.

Take note of of the area your map uses in X/Y/Z, imagine that as the outer most points of your VIS BSP grid that the compiler will generate. It is based on this size/area your map covers in GTK Radiant. All the empty area's in the X/Y/Z imaginary box allows useless portals to be generated and they add up quickly to work against you. 
What you need to do is eliminate these voids, fill them. In ever nook and cranny, around every hallway/lift shaft, all of it with system/caulk; until there are no more holes or any where for extra portals to be generated. Yes it completely sucks and next time you build a map you'll  probably rethink your layouts and how your build. 
Now compile - Go back into GTK and load the PRT files. Said portals are gone and your the VIS stage of your compile went I guarantee 50% at least if not much more. 

This picture really explains it best. for the moment. I will continue to edit this over the next few days while I have time during compiles and I discover more about this.
spacer.png

TIP - To simplify application of this method, create your own "caulk". Be sure to use an easily distinguishable color for the texture choice. 

 

Additional info from SephFF:

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Recommended Comments

NumberWan

NumberWan

Posted

An intersting thing, I've never tried it. Even though I would always follow most of the rules, like making portals, adding misc_model_breakables, using detail brushes instead of structure ones where possible, dividing the map into separate areas, etc.

As I understand – you suggest adding Caulk brushes outside your visible/playable area and thus fill in the voids outside your map in order to make the whole space (used in Radiant) to look like a cube.

mjt

mjt

Posted

@SephFF I summon thee! Do you remember the VIS blocking you did under your terrain? Good for you! 😄

 

SephFF

SephFF

Posted

Wish I could remember where I learned that. @mjt was it you? What i do remember was looking at vis and I noticed no vis cubes where caulk was....So i got the idea to just fill things with caulk and it really does speed things up.

mjt

mjt

Posted

Yeah, we talked about how CS-Go Battle Royale did VIS blocking. However I never checked out the portal *.prt files so I didn't recognize this was an issue with q3map2 / workflow.

Seems you lucked out! 🙂

NumberWan

NumberWan

Posted

On 2/2/2021 at 4:24 PM, SephFF said:

Wish I could remember where I learned that. @mjt was it you? What i do remember was looking at vis and I noticed no vis cubes where caulk was....So i got the idea to just fill things with caulk and it really does speed things up.

Maybe you could make some screeshots of your progress?
Even though AngelModder posted pictures, it would be nice to see how this method worked for you. 😉 

SephFF

SephFF

Posted

4 hours ago, NumberWan said:

Maybe you could make some screeshots of your progress?
Even though AngelModder posted pictures, it would be nice to see how this method worked for you. 😉 

This work?

WedDeV9.jpg

NumberWan likes this
NumberWan

NumberWan

Posted

On 2/4/2021 at 4:59 PM, SephFF said:

This work?

WedDeV9.jpg

That looks great! Still I'm surprised, game tools didn't take so many things into account.
I know they never planned the game to live up so long and never intended to create anything too complicated.



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