strange func_lod behaviour. please help

[poseyjmac]

func_lod could be the greatest thing since cinnamon toast, but there is a bug thats preventing me from using it in my map. sometimes, if you look away and look at it, it will disappear completely, despite the values i set for it to fade, also if i have a playerstart that starts looking at it, it won't be there, until iget within about 50 units, and then it suddenly pops into view.

anyone know why this is, or if its just broken? this could be one of the best ways to occlude brush geometry if it worked right.

 

[NoisyMonk]

well, I'd say that you probably know more than almost everyone here.. so I'm sure that you've checked all the flags and properties.. so I'd either say that it might be a bug, or you may have over looked some minor detail in the properties? Sorry man.. no real help from me. :S

 

[poseyjmac]

oh oh oh, it does work, my bad! its behaviour is very interesting though and it confused me at first. what happens is this:

lets say you set a distance of 400 units for fadedistance in func_lod. now if you get 350 units near it. its going to be visible right. right. now back up to 415 units while you're still looking at it. its still there. why? because it knows you're watching it, so what its going to do is gradually fade out for many more units(dont know specifically) or so ONLY AS long as you are looking at it.

BUT if you look away, and look back, its completely gone. and looking away and looking back will make it disappear as long as you are at least 400 units away. but players when moving through a level are always looking different places, so it works out well. this is indeed a great optimization tool.

you can turn all your func details into these, but remember that func_lod does NOT block the following: physics objects, ragdolls, light. SO, you'll want clone the brush, make it func_detail and nodraw on all faces, and have it occupy the same space as the func_lod.

its too bad i can't edit the title, i would say func_lod, a very good optimization tool