Snarkpit Forum Index » General Banter » Addicted to Optimization
Addicted to Optimization
1
2 next page »
Post Reply
Quote
 Re: Addicted to Optimization
Posted by Madedog on Tue Sep 13th at 10:49am 2005

Ookay... I came from cinema right now and on my way home... I started seeing VIS leafs and world brushes and func_details and prop_statics... is this normal :S I am like going completely nuts, seeing level objects inside REAL world... VIS brushes and all... when I go along the street, I think how I could make the world render faster and make it not kill the VIS :o I am thinking of what could I make a func_detail, where to place HINT brushes and which objects are models instead of brushes.... suddenly everything became bright about optimization...

now, here's my question: is this NORMAL? Because I feel as if I've gone completely out of my mind!



HL2 tutorials 'n' stuff: http://madedog.pri.ee
217.159.236.34:27050 - CSS Server - Clean | koffer.ee



Quote
 Re: Addicted to Optimization
Posted by wil5on on Tue Sep 13th at 11:14am 2005

It's normal in the mapping community. You just learn to live with it.


"If you talk at all during this lesson, you have detention. Do you understand?"
- My yr11 Economics teacher



Quote
 Re: Addicted to Optimization
Posted by fishy on Tue Sep 13th at 11:20am 2005

eventually you'll automatically filter out the things that wouldn't be good for mapping, and only dwell on effective but simple structures. at least that's how it's gone for me.


i eat paint



Quote
 Re: Addicted to Optimization
Posted by Gollum on Tue Sep 13th at 11:46am 2005

Please forgive the forthright nature of my response. It is meant in good humour. I have found, much to my chagrin, that the Snarkpit can still be a relaxing way for a knotted wordsmith to unwind. Sometimes it's good just to take a random topic and pontificate. At least it gets the words flowing, like stetching cramped muscles.

There are two probable answers. I am sorry to say that neither answer pronounces favourably upon your condition. In either case, help should be sought, though the nature of help must be quite different between the two situations.

Answer One

Yes, you really have gone out of your mind. Your obsession with computers and mapping have caused psychological imbalance. You really do see all these bizarre things, in the same way that some people really do see fairies at the bottom of the garden (the garden of the sanitorium, that is).

Answer Two

No, you are still entirely sane. Rather, your problem is that you have become so painfully geeky that your sense of identity depends -- and therefore also your appraisal of self-worth depends -- upon styling yourself, defiantly, as a proud nerd. In order to obtain social recognition, you visit places like this, where people with similar interests gather.

You don't really perceive these phantasms of mapping; rather, you pretend that you perceive them. You imagine them, and then go further, by seizing upon this imagination as proof of the extent of your obsession with mapping. "Surely," you think to yourself, "if I'm seeing these things it means I am a mapper of extraordinary obsession". And, parenthetically, you perform the deduction: "If I am a mapper of extraordinary obsession, then I am extraordinary".

In passing, note that this deduction form, which is called adjectival detachment, is not valid logic. For example, from the statement "Coal is becoming a white elephant", one cannot deduce that "Coal is becoming white". Conversely, from the statement "This is a fake ming vase", one cannot deduce that "This is a ming vase".

In doing this, you seek to generate both a distinction in the community ("Look, I'm special") whilst at the same time identifying yourself with its core values (commitment to, and love of, mapping). This is a sensible course, because the community is likely to respond sympathetically towards your pretended question ("Am I going mad?") with reassurances that it happens to all the best mappers, that we are all a little bit mad here, and that it's only a sign of your outstanding commitment to mapping.

There is nothing concerning about using your imagination in this way, so that you think about the world around you from the point of view of mapping. It can be a valuable exercise in visualisation, and you might get some good ideas from it. Imagination is fun and healthy; we should all do more of it.

What is concerning, however, is your need to pretend that you actually see these things. You need to do this because then it creates an excuse for you to generate a topic on the discussion boards, with the attention focused on yourself. This is a substitute for the social interaction which, as a self-proclaimed geek (see your website), you so desperately lack.

Why not phone up some friends instead? It doesn't matter if they're geeky friends, or if you do nothing but play computer games, eat pizza, and watch cheesy sci-fi movies. These are excellent ways to idle away your life, and I wish I did them more often. But get out and see people, or arrange to see them soon.

Finally, may I suggest that you never seek to discover, "Is this NORMAL?", but ask yourself instead, "Does this make me happier?"






Quote
 Re: Addicted to Optimization
Posted by keved on Tue Sep 13th at 12:07pm 2005

Topical question for resident psychologist: I can't help imaging new and elaborate places to build in which people kill each other - does mapping make me violent?



Quote
 Re: Addicted to Optimization
Posted by Junkyard God on Tue Sep 13th at 12:10pm 2005

sometimes i dream about mapping <img src=" SRC="images/smiles/icon_smile.gif"> tis nice, building ur own world, letting other people suffer physics traps <img src=" SRC="images/smiles/icon_smile.gif">


Hell, is an half-filled auditorium



Quote
 Re: Addicted to Optimization
Posted by Gaara on Tue Sep 13th at 12:49pm 2005

Around the time Half Life 2 was delayed I dreamt of getting it and was about to play it, but then woke up. I woke up very angry.




Reckless disregard for childrens well being, women and nothing but utter contempt for other cultures.



Quote
 Re: Addicted to Optimization
Posted by satchmo on Tue Sep 13th at 1:52pm 2005

? quote:
You just learn to live with it.


I have learned to keep my mouth shut when it comes to these matters. The only person I confessed such crazy thoughts is my wife, and she just wrinkled her forehead and looked at my strangely, as she usually does when I do something extremely nerdy.

She's a nerd herself, by the way. But she's just not in the same league as me. I feel right at home at the SnarkPit. It's populated by people who really understand me.

I can be free to be as nerdy as I want, and they just be nerdy back at me. It's such a great feeling.



"The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return." -- Toulouse-Lautre, Moulin Rouge



Quote
 Re: Addicted to Optimization
Posted by Andrei on Tue Sep 13th at 2:14pm 2005

I sometimes like to point out that reality has really lame graphics. I even yelled out "f*cking invalid brushes!" whilst looking at a strangely shaped pillar (it's base seemed to be something like a hexagon, except that some of the faces were bigger than others).




Quote
 Re: Addicted to Optimization
Posted by Madedog on Tue Sep 13th at 6:19pm 2005

Hmmz... well, I guess it's perfectly okay to think in such manner. To try to optimize the world (it seems my obsession is optimization... being so troublesome with it but now it all made sense... how the world is filled with huge cubes and valid world brushes... yes, Andrei, I have, myself, too, thought, that "heck! bad brushes" and "where the f**k is a player spawn point?) I also imagine the surrounding area in different games, such as CSS or HL2DM and how people are playing... well, it was introduced today anyway. So... I see hammer things everywhere now I'm not going to be worried about it I find myself being very happy with it.


oh, and I forgot to mention... I've gone completely crazy in my maps - with optimization :P I started to optimize like an old-timer now... damn...



HL2 tutorials 'n' stuff: http://madedog.pri.ee
217.159.236.34:27050 - CSS Server - Clean | koffer.ee



Quote
 Re: Addicted to Optimization
Posted by Captain P on Tue Sep 13th at 7:05pm 2005

I haven't stressed optimization that much I guess, though I've gone far with my maps sometimes.

Now, I think a map should play well, but sometimes optimization isn't worth the time spend on it. I'm no perfectionist with it anymore. More important is that the map plays well, looks good and that it's fun.

I guess it's a stage that mostly every mapper goes through at some point. It's important, yes, but shouldn't become the final goal. <img src=" SRC="images/smiles/icon_smile.gif">



Create-ivity - a game development blog



Quote
 Re: Addicted to Optimization
Posted by Madedog on Tue Sep 13th at 8:44pm 2005

I like optimization :P (now)... I used to hate it but really - when I came home today everything became bright... I could see the boxes and all filling all the empty space and I was thinking "damn, this world kills VIS!" and as I said... I started seeing VIS leafs and HINT brushes and func_details everywhere.. I just think I've done too much mapping... and now I'm addicted to optimizing :P I'd SO like to optimize something... does anyone have a map I could optimize?



HL2 tutorials 'n' stuff: http://madedog.pri.ee
217.159.236.34:27050 - CSS Server - Clean | koffer.ee



Quote
 Re: Addicted to Optimization
Posted by Foxpup on Wed Sep 14th at 1:27am 2005

You are insane, but normal.


Better to be in denial than to be human.

Bill Gates understands binary: his company is number one, and his customers are all zeros.



Quote
 Re: Addicted to Optimization
Posted by omegaslayer on Wed Sep 14th at 1:30am 2005

Praise the lord, gollum has spoken!!! We are not worthy.
*bows down



Posting And You



Quote
 Re: Addicted to Optimization
Posted by NameWithHeld on Wed Sep 14th at 1:36am 2005

well, is anyone here really sane?



'Tonight, we dine in hell! I hear the buffet there is to DIE for' - Leonidas I



Quote
 Re: Addicted to Optimization
Posted by BlisTer on Wed Sep 14th at 2:56am 2005

? quote:
oh, and I forgot to mention... I've gone completely crazy in my maps - with optimization I started to optimize like an old-timer now... damn...


i can still distinguish between pc and real world, is that a good thing or bad thing ?!


on a serious note, about optimization. In my older maps i used to optimize afterwards when i saw that r-speeds/fps wasnt good. Nowadays i have a "holistic" approach to mapping:
- when designing layout i immediately plan in vis blocking / hint brushes
- ALL new brushes i make, i always cover in nodraw texture, and only retexture the visible faces
- the only thing that i do afterwards is making every brush that is inside the map, and doesnt cast shadows, into func_detail/func_brush, provided 2 consecutive brushes dont cut into eachother.

it actually saves me time like this.



These words are my diaries screaming out loud



Quote
 Re: Addicted to Optimization
Posted by Captain P on Wed Sep 14th at 6:50am 2005

I do plan out performance in my layout somewhat too, I'm also used to func_detailing a lot of stuff, but any further than that it doesn't go with me right now.
I'm just building a very basic architecture at first, to get an idea of what the gameplay will be like, and a performance check to see where I can still add detail without making things inplayable.



Create-ivity - a game development blog



Quote
 Re: Addicted to Optimization
Posted by habboi on Wed Sep 14th at 2:33pm 2005

Nah madedog your normal!
Why on holliday I saw giant structures and wondered how I could make it into a map <img src=" SRC="images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif">

I spose it's a nice skill to share :P





Quote
 Re: Addicted to Optimization
Posted by Jinx on Wed Sep 14th at 3:22pm 2005

What's really funny is how terrible 'texture alignment' is in real-life. Seriously.



Quote
 Re: Addicted to Optimization
Posted by Nickelplate on Wed Sep 14th at 4:58pm 2005

Gollum, I was thinking the exact same thing. /me loves j00.


I tried sniffing coke, but the ice cubes kept getting stuck in my nose.
http://www.dimebowl.com




1
2 next page »
Post Reply