clarification needed: sticking stuff into each other?

[ummm Barney]

Hi people,

I'm in desperate need for clarification on: What makes the time vvis.exe needs go sky high as I've experienced it before? (-_-)
I've learned about func_detail brushes and all that, but what about brushes that stick into each other? Two examples I'm concerned about:
- displacement terrain and stuff on that terrain. Will I run into trouble if I just put my structures into the displacement ground?
- what about props like debris, rebars coming out of walls?

Before I continue with my map (the 2nd ever) to eventually end up with rendering times of days - how is this done properly?

thanks in advance

 

[JFry]

displacements don't block vis and brush-based entities don't block vis. So basically as long as you don't have any world brushes clipping into each other you should be good. You can have displacements clip into world brushes and you can stick props(or any entity) into displacements and/or world brushes with no adverse affects on your compile time.

 

[ummm Barney]

Yup, that's what I needed to know. Thanks a lot. (Now if I only knew what to put on the shaped terrain... procrastinating by letting pidgeons fly and making surveillance cameras doesn't help : )

 

[Unarmed]

Anf if your vis still takes ages, then it's time to go error hunting.

 

[Shinobi]

yeah, typically if your VIS takes more than 20 mins (and that's on any processor of any map size) then there's something you could have done more efficiently

 

[Humidor]

I laughed at the title of this thread

 

[Crispy]

Also don't forget to use NODRAW extensively. If there is any face that the player cannot ever see (typically back faces, tops of buildings, etc.), this needs to be textured in NODRAW.

The next thing is Hint brushes, but they are more difficult to use, and can be added into the map right at the end for optimal results.