Ok this is a question that has been haunting me for awhile...I see maps out there that are sooooooooooo big and of course playable.

Now when i create a map that is big..startin with terrian mess...I run into MAX_Collison or something like that.

How is that possible ppl can make such a huge map??

Baffles me too - I have been lucky enough not to get the max collisions error with my new, big, outdoor map :). I had it when I was working on my Flughafen map, and it had something to do with too many terrain meshes having the same texture...

Again, I don't know how some people manage.

u know i havnt tried to use different textures..I use alot of normandy texture (ground) hmmm i gotta try that. THanks.lol

The maps you see in the game, the BIG ones.

Here is the trick.

Lets say you want to make a HUGE map. Ok, make the terrain 512x512 at 5 or 4x4 verts, make it match the grid, by resizing it. Then copy and paste away where the terrain will be.

Next, once you have determined the level of detail of hills, or bumps, or whatever kind of look you want, then add rows or collumns to the patch you need. Like a little bump in the road, you would break that large patch into many little triangles to make it look smoother.

Now, doing all this, is a matter of REDUCING triangles. Remember, every square is made of 2 triangles, the more triangles, the more the compiler needs to break the map down and reproduce, (simple terms).

The math would be.

If I had 100 terrain patches made at 512x512 at 4x4 verts. It would produce 3600 triangles.

If I had 100 patches at 512x512 at 9x9 (for high detail, like in my tutorials) would produce. 6400 triangles. It may not seem alot, however, then you need the triangles per BRUSH.

If you had 1200 brushes you made that would be

1200 x 12 ( remember, 2 triangles make a square, and a brush has 6 sides, thats 2 triangles per side) would be 14400 triangles, plus the models that have up to 300 tris per model.

30 models at 200 tris each

6400
14400
+ 6000
________
26800 tris

that is not including, player models, trees.

Now The picture should be clearer.
Oh, avoid using custom textures that are large file sizes.

Next, Visual

When you make a map, everything is seen by the computer. I dont know how to word this so it sounds easy.
Playing a game, you only see what is pushed into your video card! So, why have everything visible to your video card, when we can reduce that, to make the game play faster, at high FPS. The key in successfull map making is to make your machine render only what you see on your screen!!!!! We dont want to draw a box that is behind the player! that would be a watse of your machine resources. So some really smart people in the game industry, decided they could break a map into pieces by rendering only what is on your screen, or pumped into your video card when you move around. This was called, culling. We only want to draw what the player sees on his screen when he moves around, so we will eat pizza naked, never go home and will not take a shower for 4 weeks, untill we can get this culling concept designed an implemented into 3d games.

Ok, so they didnt eat pizza naked. But hey, they produced a way for game developers, to break the visual things a player sees, into little boxes and the rest of the 3d world will not be drawn. ""can I take a shower now?"

Your machine will push every triangle that is in that map. Unless the following things are done!

1. Use detailed brushes for every brush that is not a wall, floor or window.
2. Portal every window, doorway and area (little tricky).
3. Reduce the amout of models NOT in portaled areas(all areas should be).

4.Then, PRELIGHT the entities using VC_LOG compile. This prelights the models and entities so YOUR computer does not chunk when entering a high entity area. :P

Why all this, and man that really sucks to do all that?
It can generate large maps, and less chunky drawing by the end-user machine.

I hope that helps.

MY ....GOD..... That was by far the best explaination I've heard..ever.

Im tearing over here.....

Thanks a million Wyatt Earp...but i got alittle loist whenu said "then add rows or collumns to the patch you need".

another thing..portals man i cant even touch that. I saw your tutorals on that and it looks like alot of work..lol

Thanks again for this explantion...(CLAP__CLAP)