npc_template_maker Vs point_template?

Need Help? The Day isnt going so well on the Mapping front?
fug4life
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Post by fug4life »

Wish I knew... I would like to know how to reduce it more? I think it means tidying up your I/0 (input/outputs) so they aren't so complicated And using the enties associated sparingly and cost effectively. And I suppose all the additive data you customise for other enties like button sounds on buttons and so on?
I think I'm confused...
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Post by Svanrog »

I don't think I/O requires much entdata. Npcs and light seem to require a lot though. For example you can save a lot if you use as few kinds of npcs as possible. For example I had cockaroaches in tantrum, but I had to delete them due to full entdata.
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Post by fug4life »

Yur I noticed when I added a lot of lights it shot up. At the moment I'm trying to sort all my npc's and templates, for a rappeling Instance I have In one place 4 combine models and four makers when I think It would be better to use 1 model and 1 maker with 4 spawn destinations. I'm still avoiding using point_template but for the above senario I think I will have to because I want them to rappel with diffrent weapons.
I would really like to know what effects on performance entdata being full really does?
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Post by Svanrog »

Since my computer is brand new there is no change in performance for me. AS long as you computer is fairly modern it should run a 100% entdata map nicely. The problem is that it might be too much for the servers to handle. :?
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Post by fug4life »

Mine Is old but it's doing ok, map is playable and It seems I got still a bit of tidying to do but framerates are getting better the more I tidy, my Hints need improving stuff like that.

I read on other forums that entdata can be reduced by simplifing stuff like I/0's and shortening names and just like you said reducing as much un needed data as possible. Which I know I have areas I can do this. A few say it's ramdom as to whether the map will perform ok depending on how badly yougo over but it possible thatsome ent's may not work properly which I think Ive experienced.

enough worrying back to work all is ok for now the map works how I want it almost :wink:

btw thnx for all the advice.
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Post by Svanrog »

Shortening names? That might help for me. I have VERY long names for all entities. They're like "airfield_assaultsquad_combine1" and such. Shortening all names would help a lot, wouldn't it? Still it would be a pain in the arse to fix up all the names and I/O connections.
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Post by fug4life »

yur shortening entity names apparently helps. I suppose it all does.
btw, point template apparently is best, sadly I choose to make all mine npc_template_maker's and I think If I redo it all with point_template I will be using half the entites I am now!
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Post by [FTA]c0m4ndo45 »

Euh, my map has alot of scenes requiring literally tons of I/Os, but i cant really simplify it, would make the scene look choppy. So ill just continue ahead the way it is: As long as the FPS, playability and all is acceptable im happy.
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Post by fug4life »

agreed.
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Post by fug4life »

User talk:Robin Walker
http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki ... obin_Walke

Ent data is the entity data block, and it's not something you really need to worry too much about until you actually go over it. Many of the shipped HL2 maps show up as 'VERY FULL'. The easiest ways to reduce the amount of ent data you're using is to shorten entity names, remove names on entities that aren't ever being targeted (i.e. don't actually need a name), change entity logic to reduce the number of entities required (you can often rework complex entity structures to reduce the number of entities you're using), reduce the complexity of your AI nodegraph, and so on. If you have groups of entities being copied around the map, point_templates can be used to only have one copy in the map and instance it in all the places you want it.
I can't remember off the top of my head whether or not you can increase the ent data lump size in a mod, so I'll look it up when I get back to work on Monday. You shouldn't need to though... it's unlikely you've actually filled the ent data lump entirely with necessary data. -- Robin Walker 16:57, 30 Jul 2005 (PDT)
Thanks for all that - as a result I'm now going through my map, pruning things as necessary. I had soldiers named things like powernode-1-assault-2-soldier-1, so it's not surprising I ran out of space!

Well there you go.
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Post by [FTA]c0m4ndo45 »

Hmm, i guess ill start naming my entities only with the initial letters - like, instead of Main inside Door lock - MIDL. That will save some space. But since im halfway trought my map, i will only go renaming "old" entities later, Too much imput/output changing!
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Post by fug4life »

well seeing as I'm 111.5% I'm renaming the lot to numbers!
I've made a list of all my named entities and I've assigned a number to each.

Oh I missed this bit the final word from robin walker...

An optimisation article sounds like a good idea, but ent data shouldn't really be on it. There's pretty much no point to trying to reduce your ent data unless you've actually gone over it. It's just a chunk of text, so it takes up very little memory compared to everything else (models, sounds, textures, etc). You won't get any significant performance improvement reducing its size either, unless you manage to significantly reduce the number of entities you have (reducing the ent data block without actually modifying the entity count isn't really going to do anything at all).
Oh, and I checked out the ent data limit, and it turns out there really isn't one. VBsp is warning you that it's "full" because it's getting close to 384k, which was a size we considered a reasonable amount of ent data. Even though it uses 384k for reporting, it doesn't use that as a limit. It will go ahead and allocate as much memory as you need.
-- Robin Walker 10:29, 2 Aug 2005 (PDT)
Ah, it's merely a guideline rather than a hard limit - I did a lot of mapping on the original Half-Life, so I'm paranoid about hitting limits. Thanks again! --Cargo Cult 03:36, 3 Aug 2005 (PDT
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