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Compile time
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 Re: Compile time
Posted by satchmo on Fri Dec 17th at 4:15am 2004

Is it just me or has anyone else noticed that the compile time seems shorter for HL2/Source than HL1? I feel the difference is quite significant. To generate a BSP with similar file size, Hammer 4 takes significantly less time.

When I mapped for HL1, it wasn't unusual to take an hour to compile a map. But now it takes just minutes (and the map I'm working on currently is at least twice as large and has more brushes than all of my previous maps). I even run Firefox, HL2, and notepad at the same time when I compile, but nothing slows Hammer down.

[addsig]



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 Re: Compile time
Posted by Nickelplate on Fri Dec 17th at 4:51am 2004

my maps take about 20 seconds when i dont run RAD or VIS. When i run them they go longer than 12 hours. It's not my computer, either. I have dual P4 3.06 and 1GB ram on my compile machine. [addsig]



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 Re: Compile time
Posted by SaintGreg on Fri Dec 17th at 5:14am 2004

For me compile time seem much much longer. I have about 1/4 of my map done and currently vis takes about 15 minutes. With my hl maps vis never took more than 10 minutes, although this is probably skewed because i never made very complex HL maps. But also with source maps can be so much more detailed. Rad doesnt seem to take that long for source for me but that might be my map.




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 Re: Compile time
Posted by ReNo on Fri Dec 17th at 5:21am 2004

I've not done anything large or particularly complex in source, but considering Echo takes around 30 seconds for a full compile in its current form I reckon that it seems fairly quick. I think long compile times can be attributed to unoptimised maps - I think if you put some time into using func_details where appropriate and use hint brushes effectively, you could probably cut down those multiple hour compile times significantly.
[addsig]



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 Re: Compile time
Posted by Gorbachev on Fri Dec 17th at 6:05am 2004

? quote:
my maps take about 20 seconds when i dont run RAD or VIS. When i run them they go longer than 12 hours. It's not my computer, either. I have dual P4 3.06 and 1GB ram on my compile machine.


You've got something setup apocolyptically wrong then. Either that or you have a million overlapped brushes and the most brutal map optimization known to man...even then that'd be a stretch.
[addsig]



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 Re: Compile time
Posted by Raeth on Fri Dec 17th at 6:31am 2004

? quote:

? quote:
my maps take about 20 seconds when i dont run RAD or VIS. When i run them they go longer than 12 hours. It's not my computer, either. I have dual P4 3.06 and 1GB ram on my compile machine.


You've got something setup apocolyptically wrong then. Either that or you have a million overlapped brushes and the most brutal map optimization known to man...even then that'd be a stretch.


Not so. It seems VIS chokes on any sort of map that's even sort of open. I imagine if you're making a map with lots of boxy rooms VIS would run fine, but maps with a lot of volume go slooooow. Like days and days of compiling slow.




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 Re: Compile time
Posted by SaintGreg on Fri Dec 17th at 7:03am 2004

When I think about it 20 seconds for bsp alone seems pretty long. So he must have one huge map going.




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 Re: Compile time
Posted by $loth on Fri Dec 17th at 7:39am 2004

I think with the new SDK release hammer compiling is faster than from the first release. [addsig]



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 Re: Compile time
Posted by Gorbachev on Fri Dec 17th at 8:13am 2004

Unless you have the ill practice of boxing in the entire map with the largest possible cube it still does not make sense. 12 hours is a loong time. Even for the largest possible volume with the old engine my map took 45 mins with a much lesser computer.
[addsig]



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 Re: Compile time
Posted by ReNo on Fri Dec 17th at 8:22am 2004

Well its certainly possible to push compile times in HL1 much higher than that Gorb - my flatshaded island map ran for over 24 hours on VIS before I pulled the plug on it and accepted only a fast compile (it wasn't gonna make much different in a map like that anyway!). I've not attempted anything of the sort in source so I can't really comment on how it works with compiling open areas, but since displacement surfaces aren't taken into account for vis calculations, I would think it would be fairly quick. Make sure you keep the brushwork underlying the displacement surfaces extremely simple and neat, and use hint brushes to surround detailed areas that will cause lots of leaf splitting (eg. a small detailed building surrounded by terrain).
[addsig]



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 Re: Compile time
Posted by goanna on Fri Dec 17th at 9:00am 2004

It's much faster than 3.5. For my 6.9meg map Hammer 4.0 is taking about 5mins. In Hammer 3.5 it was taking me around 1hr 20mins for 5 megs. This is on full compile with all 3 sections on normal.



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 Re: Compile time
Posted by Jinx on Fri Dec 17th at 10:54am 2004

Heh when it comes to compile/build times and in-editor lighting, I guess UnrealEd still kicks Hammer's sorry ass. Too bad I'm too lazy to finish learning it :x

I'm just about done rebuilding my 'old' machine, a 2700+ with 1GB 3200 ram. If compile times get long, I might just use that as my 'compile' machine to keep this one's resources free.





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 Re: Compile time
Posted by $loth on Fri Dec 17th at 12:40pm 2004

Has anyo one noticed hammer lagging since the last update. I updated this morning and when I try going into my map it lags

[edit] it even does when I create a new map and there is nothing in it

[addsig]



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 Re: Compile time
Posted by JFry on Fri Dec 17th at 1:10pm 2004

To me rad seems somewhat faster, but vis seems slower. I always have a long wait thru portal flow. Does anybody know what portal flow does? Is that new to source or did I just overlook it in hl1?



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 Re: Compile time
Posted by Nickelplate on Fri Dec 17th at 5:24pm 2004

My map actually IS a very open map with displacement overlapping. Also i have lots of brushes as i have old houses with holes in them. All that will work for this map is a BIG-ass skybox around it. any suggestions? [addsig]



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 Re: Compile time
Posted by Raeth on Fri Dec 17th at 8:16pm 2004

? quote:
My map actually IS a very open map with displacement overlapping. Also i have lots of brushes as i have old houses with holes in them. All that will work for this map is a BIG-ass skybox around it. any suggestions?


Uh, give yourself a week before the contest ends to do a final compile on the map?





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