hooray for build times

[legacy-Juggalo_Kyle]

ok, heres a simple question. is there any game tweaks i can do to hurry up my build times? currently on my map, it takes me 10 minutes to rebuild the lighting. im not sure if this is possible, but it doesnt hurt to just ask.

[Angel_Mapper]

Don't use so many lights and bsp. :p
Also, set the lightmap values for bsp to the highest possible number necessary to maintain the shadows that you want, and set any that the player will never see to Unlit.

[legacy-Juggalo_Kyle]

:( but i need the lights and bsp. and everything in the map can be seen by the player. doh, i guess im destended to live with slow building times.

[legacy-thinkingfeller]

set radius on coronas to 0.

[legacy-Tidu]

If you have a pitch black area, make it a solid black texture and make it unlit.

[Angel_Mapper]

Originally posted by thinkingfeller
set radius on coronas to 0. I wouldn't do that, if you do it'll be calculating collision for all of them in your view frustrum all the time. If you meant brightness, then that would work. :)

Originally posted by Tidu
If you have a pitch black area, make it a solid black texture and make it unlit. What about the dynamic lighting from weapons fire?

[legacy-G.Lecter]

Originally posted by Juggalo_Kyle
...Currently on my map, it takes me 10 minutes to rebuild the lighting...That means your map is turning into a good thing. :up:
There is a thread in UnrealPlayground about lowering the buid times. It's about building paths but it might help you:
http://forums.unrealplayground.com/showthread.php?t=35876

[legacy-eliot]

wel 10 mins is very long for my it never takes higher then 1 minut i guess u should upgrade u pc :D

[-=¤willhaven¤=-]

I remember the 2K4 days. I think it took 45min to fully rebuild Convoy.

[Killer909]

How many brushes are you using?
My build time went down a ton when I changed all of those pipes in the round halls and the spiral staircase to static meshes with a specific color skin. Cutting my brush count 1/2, I would guess that it builds in 1/8th the time as before. Lighting seems to take about the same, maybe a little faster than before.
Obviously, 8 or 16 sided shapes just take a lot longer to build in bsp, and even if you can color them correctly to make them look round, using a static mesh will look MUCH better and build MUCH faster.

[legacy-Apophis3d]

Heres my idea and dont take any offence by this but.....

How fast is your computer?

[legacy-rippy_dog]

You can avoid rebuilding it as often if you open another file, make a big box, and test all your tweaks in there.

[Angel_Mapper]

Originally posted by rippy_dog
You can avoid rebuilding it as often if you open another file, make a big box, and test all your tweaks in there. Not necessary if you make liberal use of the Groups browser, the Hide/Unhide actors buttons, and the Build Option >> Only Rebuild Visible Actors option.

[legacy-Juggalo_Kyle]

Originally posted by Killer909
How many brushes are you using?


about 580. that of course will change when the map is final.

[Killer909]

im around 1200 and bsp build only takes 1 or 2 minutes. Cheyenne Mountain is around 300 and a built/light/path takes around 1 min. If you want I could build your map on my puter and tell you how it compares.

[legacy-Juggalo_Kyle]

my bsp build time is only like 30 seconds. its my light building thats pissing me off.

[legacy-deji]

Would memory make a difference without altering the cpu or any other parts of the pc?

I got a GIG of RAM atm, but another 512mb is a dirt cheap upgrade that I'm willing to do if it speeds anything up.

[Killer909]

UnrealEd and UT both work better when you have more ram. 512 is the absolute minimum considering how much RAM costs. 1 Gig seems to be the norm for everyone serious about UnrealEd and/or UT2k4, but if you have the cash, go for more.

EDIT: my first PC was custom build and had an expensive last minute upgrade of ram from 8MB to 16MB

[legacy-Juggalo_Kyle]

i would buy more ram, trust me, but i own a crappy mobo, so i can only have 1 gig in here.

[legacy-Ryandar]

Originally posted by Killer909
UnrealEd and UT both work better when you have more ram. 512 is the absolute minimum considering how much RAM costs. 1 Gig seems to be the norm for everyone serious about UnrealEd and/or UT2k4, but if you have the cash, go for more.

Pff, 192 megs for the win. Starting up Ued is an ordeal on my pc.

[legacy-Scrivster]

my trouble is that i like building big levels, but i dont like build times. two things kinda contradict. takes about 10 mins usually so i jus leave and get sumet to eat or something. easiest way to cut build times, cut level size! :noob: sorry i know that dont help but i wish id listen to that when i build levels. anyway if i built a level convoy sized with a 45 minute build time itd have to be so crammed full of stuff itd lag like hell! 45 mins for the smallest AS map? really? damn i should open mothership and click build all. i'd be playing the new unreal before that finished!

[Killer909]

Thats actually good advice. As Kyle knows, I am working on a really big map, and to cut down build/light/path times, I initially broke the entire project into 3 maps, literally, 3 files. The largest is now around 1200 brushes, the next is ~250, and the last is ~50 brushes. Lately I have been working on the 250 brushes map and have been so glad that build times is only a minute, compared to having to build 250+1200 when the larger map didnt change a thing. The maps are currently seporated at an elevator, which I plan to soon connect so that what was a dead end before is now the path between them. Anyone working on a large map might consider this, depending on if its outdoors, indoors, or both.

[Angel_Mapper]

Did you guys read my post above about the Groups browser and Only Rebuild Visible Actors? You can cut your build times and not have to build parts in separate maps.

[Killer909]

Im going to give that a try Angel. I always forget about that feature.

[legacy-deji]

Originally posted by Ryandar
Pff, 192 megs for the win. Starting up Ued is an ordeal on my pc.

I used to run it on 96mb RAM with Deus Ex :confused:

That was fun.

[legacy-Chyron]

But Deus Ex was a UT99-engine game :p