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Forum:	All Forums : Call of Duty 4
Category:	CoD 4 Level Design CoD 4 mapping and level design.
Moderators:	foyleman, rEdrUmMDK, Foxhound, Rasta, StrYdeR, The_Caretaker, batistablr, playername

Author

Topic: Portals

Pnk

General Member
Since: Aug 16, 2007
Posts: 8
Last: Jul 7, 2008
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Category: CoD 4 Level Design Posted: Saturday, May. 17, 2008 12:56 pm
Hey, I have some question relating about portals I have tried to search some good tutorials but none of them can really tell how to apply portals and what the logic is about portals. Me and a friend have almost finished our map and now we want to apply portals. My two main questions are - How does portalling work so i can understand the logic behind portals? - And how can you apply portals in a logical fashion? minimap As you can see on the minimap 80% of the action is indoors.

The_Caretaker

Preferred Member
Since: Jun 8, 2004
Posts: 11042
Last: Jul 20, 2008
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Category: CoD 4 Level Design Posted: Saturday, May. 17, 2008 12:59 pm
Portals work by deviding the map into cells. The enginge calculates which cell you can see, and which you can't and then make the graphics card only draw the ones you can see, thus boosting FPS, because your card doesn't have to draw out all those things hidden from view anyway. Each cell is an encloses space, closed off by structural brushes (walls, roofs etc) and portal brushes. Building are easily turned into single cells by sealing off the doors and windows with the portal brush. Outsides are a bit trickier usually.

Pnk

General Member
Since: Aug 16, 2007
Posts: 8
Last: Jul 7, 2008
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Category: CoD 4 Level Design Posted: Saturday, May. 17, 2008 01:18 pm
thanks for the quick reply and the information. But is there an easy way tot divide outdoor space in to single cells or is it just trial and error?

Johnno

General Member
Since: Mar 21, 2006
Posts: 92
Last: Jul 16, 2008
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Category: CoD 4 Level Design Posted: Saturday, May. 17, 2008 01:23 pm
You need to bear in mind that portals 'penetrate' terrain brushes, so to speak, so you need to have the bottom of the portal below all terrain brushes and remember that you can't have the same cell on both sides. (i'm as confused as you are lol)

The_Caretaker

Preferred Member
Since: Jun 8, 2004
Posts: 11042
Last: Jul 20, 2008
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Category: CoD 4 Level Design Posted: Saturday, May. 17, 2008 01:33 pm
It's usually trial an error.. but keep in mind you need to make your cells so they don't see into alot of other cells.. so use corners in roads, walls and cover for your cells. In your minimap picture for instance, there are alot of corners outside.. use those. The area on the far right side of the map can be easily made into one cell etc.

Pnk

General Member
Since: Aug 16, 2007
Posts: 8
Last: Jul 7, 2008
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Category: CoD 4 Level Design Posted: Saturday, May. 17, 2008 01:53 pm
Like this you mean ? The greyed out part is not accessible for players.

The_Caretaker

Preferred Member
Since: Jun 8, 2004
Posts: 11042
Last: Jul 20, 2008
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Category: CoD 4 Level Design Posted: Saturday, May. 17, 2008 01:59 pm
I'd probably turn both those areas in 3 or 4 portals..

FiremanPaul

General Member
Since: Nov 5, 2006
Posts: 61
Last: Jun 7, 2008
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Category: CoD 4 Level Design Posted: Sunday, May. 18, 2008 06:25 pm
Remember that as far as buildings go, related to portals, there is usually more textures and models inside than outside. If the buildings are anything other than really small, portaling just the buildings can have a huge benefit. Caretaker gave a good description of what the portals do in regards to the games engine and the graphics card. If you were to divide a long straight street into multiple cells, you wont see much benefit because you can see down the length of the street right through each portal. Open the stock maps using a mod and enter /devmap mapname, then enter /r_showportals 1, this will show you how those maps were portaled. You may find that just portaling the buildings is enough, or perhaps dividing the outside areas into just a handfull of portals. You can have portals withing portals, for example you could have a group of buildings each seperately portaled, and then put a large portal box over the top of the group of buildings. The goal is to seperated areas that cant be seen from another area.