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Forum: All Forums : Call of Duty 2
Category: CoD2 MP Mapping
CoD 2 mapping and level design.
Moderators: foyleman, Foxhound, Mystic, StrYdeR, batistablr, Welshy, DrBiggzz, supersword, playername
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Author Topic: Question about Portals
MistaObvious
General Member
Since: Jul 5, 2006
Posts: 26
Last: Aug 3, 2006
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Level 2
Category: CoD2 MP Mapping
Posted: Monday, Jul. 10, 2006 12:42 pm
Ok, so I read the tutorial about VIS and watched the vids about portals by Wyatt. I get the gist of it all except one thing: the red boxes... I think they're for setting the angles at which you can see something in one cell from another cell, but I'm not entirely sure how this works.

So, when placing these little boxes, what sorts of things should I be keeping in mind?

Oh yea, and just a quick question about prefabs: do you include custom prefabs within the .iwd when finalizing your map?
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FlesyM
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Since: Jul 24, 2005
Posts: 399
Last: Jan 24, 2008
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Level 5
Category: CoD2 MP Mapping
Posted: Monday, Jul. 10, 2006 04:27 pm
prefabs question : no you don't.

portal question : I'm sorry but .... what red boxes ? I have no clue what you talk about ?
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MistaObvious
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Since: Jul 5, 2006
Posts: 26
Last: Aug 3, 2006
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Category: CoD2 MP Mapping
Posted: Monday, Jul. 10, 2006 07:47 pm
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MistaObvious
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Since: Jul 5, 2006
Posts: 26
Last: Aug 3, 2006
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Category: CoD2 MP Mapping
Posted: Monday, Jul. 10, 2006 07:55 pm
D'oh... nm. Guess I misunderstood what he was saying. I looked as close as possible without burning my retinas (they were pretty hot, tho) and noticed that those are spawn entities. At least that's what it looks like. So with portals you need only worry about the portal face, correct? So basically, if I design a building, for every window and door I add a brush to fill that space. Of that brush, the three interior faces are Portal No Draw and the outside is Portal, right? That's all I need worry about?

I'll get into the advanced portal stuff soon enough. I'm more concerned with this very basic principle right now.
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veef
General Member
Since: Apr 25, 2006
Posts: 1258
Last: Aug 29, 2006
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Level 8
Category: CoD2 MP Mapping
Posted: Tuesday, Jul. 11, 2006 12:58 am
MistaObvious writes...
Quote:
So with portals you need only worry about the portal face, correct?
Correct
Quote:
So basically, if I design a building, for every window and door I add a brush to fill that space. Of that brush, the three interior faces are Portal No Draw and the outside is Portal, right?
If the windows/doors are open yes seal them with the portal, there are 6 side to a brush so for a window 5 sides woud be "portal no draw" and one side "portal". the "portal" texture can be on the inside or outside but generally on the outside as another portal may be against it.
Quote:
That's all I need worry about?
For a basic building yes, keep in mind portals need to be connected to something structual and must make a complete seal (like the skybox).


edited on Jul. 10, 2006 08:58 pm by veef
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MistaObvious
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Since: Jul 5, 2006
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Last: Aug 3, 2006
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Category: CoD2 MP Mapping
Posted: Tuesday, Jul. 11, 2006 04:28 am
Thanks for the reply. Now, I only took a brief look at advanced portals, or portals outdoors. Are they really that necessary even on a small - medium sized map? If so, what sorts of things should I be watching for for creating portals - how would I plan for that?
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veef
General Member
Since: Apr 25, 2006
Posts: 1258
Last: Aug 29, 2006
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Category: CoD2 MP Mapping
Posted: Tuesday, Jul. 11, 2006 08:27 am
MistaObvious writes...
Quote:
Are they really that necessary even on a small - medium sized map?
That would depend on amount the game engine has to draw, even the smallest stock map is portalled. Dx7 it would not matter as much but Dx9 needs all the framerate improvement it can get.
Quote:
If so, what sorts of things should I be watching for for creating portals - how would I plan for that?
You should be creating your layout so that you have something blocking the view of too many portals ie building,wall..etc. Remember the portal is the game engine's window to view what is inside a sealed area called a "cell" the more it can see the worse your framerates will be.

So take for example 2 towns each surrounded by a tall wall with only one entrance. Of course each entrance would have a portal, and we would put a portal covering the entire town at the height of the wall acting as a roof to our sealed area. Now one town is located at the top of a hill and the other is located at the bottom with nothing but a clear landscape between them.

Imagine if we walk out the entrance from the bottom town and look up towards the top town, framerates are good. Now imagine if we walk out the entrance of the top town, framerates are bad. And no matter how many cells you divide the towns up into framerates will be worse from the town on top of the hill. Why? because from there you can see through any portal that is acting as the roof of any cell in the bottom town.
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MistaObvious
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Since: Jul 5, 2006
Posts: 26
Last: Aug 3, 2006
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Category: CoD2 MP Mapping
Posted: Tuesday, Jul. 11, 2006 01:25 pm
Great explaination. Yea, there really wouldn't a whole lot you could do about the entrance at the top. Glad you cleared up the "roof" part for me while you were at it. Was going to be my next question. ;)

Finally, someone I was talking to (who's still learning himself) was thinking portals is something you do at the end, or as you go along. I was thinking that perhaps the best way to portal a map would be to do all interior portals as you go along and when the overall layout is finished portal the rest of the map. How's that sound?

EDIT: If a prefab building doesn't contain portals, can I add them effectively after I've imported the prefab? I'm assuming yes, but curious none-the-less.

edited on Jul. 11, 2006 09:33 am by MistaObvious
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veef
General Member
Since: Apr 25, 2006
Posts: 1258
Last: Aug 29, 2006
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Level 8
Category: CoD2 MP Mapping
Posted: Wednesday, Jul. 12, 2006 09:14 am
MistaObvious writes...
Quote:
Finally, someone I was talking to (who's still learning himself) was thinking portals is something you do at the end, or as you go along. I was thinking that perhaps the best way to portal a map would be to do all interior portals as you go along and when the overall layout is finished portal the rest of the map. How's that sound?
When you do your portals is a matter of preference, nothing is set in stone. I myself find it is easier to do the basic layout then portal that way there is less to adjust ( if needed ) than to do it last.
Quote:
EDIT: If a prefab building doesn't contain portals, can I add them effectively after I've imported the prefab? I'm assuming yes, but curious none-the-less
Yes.
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FlesyM
General Member
Since: Jul 24, 2005
Posts: 399
Last: Jan 24, 2008
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Level 5
Category: CoD2 MP Mapping
Posted: Wednesday, Jul. 12, 2006 11:33 pm
I find outdoor portalling to be really tough. take brecourt per example ... what's the point of portals when a players sees the whole map at once ? you can add portals at high bumps in the terrain (coupled with caulk brush underneath the terrain) ... but inevitably there will spots where framerates will drop because the player sees a lot. more important then the act of portalling itself, is the carefull design of a layout that block the view at strategic areas.
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