Low fps

[legacy-Noname]

When testing my map I have a very low fps. Could someone explain what to do in this situ:cry: I have distancefog in my map but don't wan't to overdo that, so you hardly can't see the map anymore. I guess I have to add antiportals but I've seen differences between antiportals between some maps so I don't know waht to use. Torlan and Dawn have redcollored antiportals, but when I add a portal I can't see it, but it removes all that's behind. Could someone enlighten me here.:(

[legacy-AL777]

Could you post a pic of the map, preferably one from a perspective that players would commonly see? I can't help you out if I don't know what's causing the problem.

[Killer909]

Also, is your computer high-end or a couple years old?

[DGUnreal]

UDN (http://udn.epicgames.com/Two/WebHome) and UnrealWiki (http://wiki.beyondunreal.com/wiki) should always be your first sites to check for information regarding mapping questions.

Do a search for "optimization" etc.
- UDN Level Optimization main page (http://udn.epicgames.com/Two/LevelOptimization)
- UnrealWiki Map Optimization main page (http://wiki.beyondunreal.com/wiki/Map_Optimization)

Use "stat render" at the console in-game to see where all of your frame cycles are going. eg: BSP (CSG Brushes), decolayers, terrain, staticmeshes.
This is shown in frame-milliseconds, so you want lower values for all of these areas to obtain better fps. Whichever area(s) have high ms values are the ones eating up your fps.

I assume that this is a terrain-based map as you mention Torlan, Dawn and AntiPortals.
- Did you use an oversized terrain? ie: a 512x512 terrain with a low TerrainScale value? This quickly eats up fps as you are rendering more terrain polys than needed. ONS-Dria sized maps can be 256x256, anything smaller should be 128x128 or less.
- Do you have a high amount of DecoLayer? eg: really thick grass. Alphablended decolayers like this are one of the highest fps killers.
- Do you have a lot of CSG Brushes in the map? CSG renders 15 times slower than StaticMeshes.
- Do you have a lot of effects actors (Emitters, Projectors), as these are slow, especially if they have a lot of pixel overwrite (emitters) (use rmode 7 to check this).

Other than this, screenshots of the map would help...


Regarding AntiPortals, they show up as dark-orange brushes in the Editor wireframe views, but are invisible in the renderer.
This is correct.
However, for larger multiplayer online gaming, you also want to add "Network AntiPortal" CSG Brushes to further optimize the map.
The visible red APs in Torlan/Dawn are Special Brushes, see below for more information.
See the section Using BSP inside of Antiportals for Online Optimization on the UnrealWiki Map Optimization main page (http://wiki.beyondunreal.com/wiki/Map_Optimization)
The reason why you have seen differences is that some mappers probably used only AntiPortals while others used both AntiPortals and CSG NetworkAntiPortals. CSG NAPs are not required for maps such as low player DMs (eg: 1on1 or 4on4). But they should always be used on large ONS or VCTF maps.

FYI, some mappers also do this procedure in one step, by creating a Special Brush (Add Special...) with the Solid/SemiSolid type and AntiPortal and Invisible checked. Also be sure to select all of the CSG Brush's surfaces and set them to Unlit.
AFAIK Steve Polge's optimization guide states to create a SemiSolid inside of an AntiPortal, not the Special Brush method that some mappers use.
ONS-Torlan uses the Special Brush method. ONS-Dawn for example is using Solid CSG Special Brushes with their AntiPortal type set. This is not what you are technically supposed to do (it should be a semi-solid brush) but in many cases probably won't matter.

Personally, I create them the Steve Polge way as explained at UnrealWiki and here (http://www.ataricommunity.com/forums/showpost.php?p=5972754&postcount=3) and here (http://www.ataricommunity.com/forums/showpost.php?p=5990303&postcount=6).

[legacy-Noname]

Omg.. thank you very much. Yes I have quite a big map and I probably messed up the terrain like you said and is that the reasons my fps gets killed. I will also check the other things you said.

[DGUnreal]

Omg.. thank you very much. Yes I have quite a big map and I probably messed up the terrain like you said and is that the reasons my fps gets killed. I will also check the other things you said.

Do a "stat render" and look at the Terrain section, if it is pushing more than around 30,000 Triangles, your terrain is too large/dense and will be eating up a lot of frame-milliseconds.
Your options would be to either increase your TerrainScale X/Y, which will make the total map area larger and will require re-positioning all of your map items, or you will have to export the Heightmap and resize it down (eg: from 512x512 to 256x256). This requires special software to manage the G16.