Hi there, following on from another thread that talks about the occluder texture, I thought I would put an example in a small test map to get some screen shots to show you how well the texture can block objects from being rendered.


Here is a simple wall with occluder on the center brush x 6 sides, then either side of this brush is a 2 grid wide wall with nodraw x 5 sides and a tree line texture on the face.



Here is the same view showing how objects behind are still rendered by the engine if no occluder is used.



And again the same view with the occluder wall inside.



I was able to walk through the wall and noticed dramatic fps jump due to sudden appearance of objects to be drawn, so I reccomend using a clip on the wall as well to block players and vehicles from going through it.

Regards Grassy

I could see creating a very narrow treeline that players can pass through, but still blocks vision. That could be useful in places where the skybox-textured brush doesn't work and I don't want to create a massive treeline.

Can occluder brushes be structural? (IOW, can you hang portals off of them?)

Possibly you could, in the above example I made the brushes detail. If the occluder textured wall was left structural then to a portal it might look like any other structural wall, but in this case it's not solid so a player could walk through it.

Worth experimenting with for sure!

If the wall is not clipped to allow players to move through it I would make it very thin, 2 grid max, because when you stop in the right spot the rendering of objects in front gets very strange artifacts.

Grassy

Yes you can use the occluder texture with the portal texture.

The occluder texture has the surfaceparm occluder in its shader,so it does block things from being drawn,but its also has nodraw and nonsolid surfaceparms.The portal nodraw has the surfaceparms nodraw and nonsolid.As does the portal textutre,but the portal texture also has the surfaceparm portal in it,so that it can be used for portaling.

So for portal brushs they should be structural,not detail.With the portal texture on the correct side/sides and any texture with the surfaceparms nodraw and nonsolid in them.

Thanks Bodger2,

I just finished testing it with portals and works fine....

but



even with the occluder wall 1 grid unit thick when you stop at a certain point in the wall many parts of the map still in view are not drawn, leaving gaping holes everywhere, it looks awfull.

I still think it would be best to block access into the wall and force players to go around it, this way objects come into view gradually.

Grassy

I wasn't recommending using the occluder texture with portals.I was just trying to point out why it could be used.

The occluder texture should only be used in special situations.I want to make that clear.

I dont know how you got impression I thought you were endorsing the use of it.

I was only stating my findings after testing.
Grassy