From: Sonya Roberts To: ml@qoole.com Reply-To: ml@qoole.com Date: Thu, 11 Sep 1997 11:36:36 -0400 Subject: Re: please tell me something... astray wrote: > > hello > i am tryingto make my own Quake levels and i would like to know what > does vis.exe really do? VIS checks your map and determines what polygons are visible to the player ("inside" the map) and which ones aren't. It then removes all of the excess polygons. This dramatically decreases the size of your WAD, increases your r_speeds, etc. VIS can only work if there are no leaks in your level (holes from the inside of the map to the grey void outside, lights or path corners placed outside the bounds of the map, et.c), because if there's a leak then as far as it can tell, _everything_ is inside. If you have leaks, QBSP will create a .PTS file with the same name as your BSP. Copy the BSp and PTS to id1/maps, bring up the map in Quake, and say "pointfile" at the console...it'll load the points (and usually give you a message about not enough of them, just ignore that). Turn on noclip and wander around your level (esp. outside of it) until out find a zig-zagging line made of dots. Follow the line in the white-to-black direction until you find the free end...where it is, your leak is. Fix the leak, and recompile, repeating as necessary. *DO NOT* just slap a big box around your level in order to fix a leak!!! This _entirely_ defeats the purpose of VISing, as now everything except the exterior of that box is "inside", and very few polygons will actually be removed. -- Sonya Roberts ________^ ^ ^ ^________ ^ ^________ ________/(((((((=O!O= =O.O=)))))))\_____=OYO= \________ *---------\_)___(__)/) C\C_)____C_/------C\C_)____C_/---------* MS. BARROW'S CONSENSUAL REALITY http://webhome.idirect.com/~sonyar SONYA'S PAGE OF POV STUFF http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Lofts/1022 CONTAMINATED LEVELS http://www.trailerpark.com/siesta/sonyar/index.htm ------------------------------------------------------------------------ THE RENDERING TIMES http://www.spake.org/rtimes/