![]() I will have my map de_forlorn as example here. In contrast, a “traditional” map will have several skyboxes, often not connected directly but rather through a system of indoor rooms or hallways, varying in size and shape. Please note that an open map can have varying skybox shapes but I’ve chosen the simple and classic one to showcase my point where it is easier to see and visualize the concept of open map. I have highlighted the skybox in blue so you could see the continuous sky body all over the map. Let’s see this map in 2D view from the side. This is the classic definition of open map. The shot is taken in Hammer obviously, and you can immediately see that the skybox is one big unbroken body from one edge of the map to the opposite one. I’ve chosen a nice medium-size map from CSGO to showcase the issue: de_stmarc. I believe a screenshot should be welcome at this stage to illustrate an open map. Source does not like over-rendering I repeat, Source does not like over-rendering. We are talking here about a severe fps killer and a potential slideshow on a medium to low range computer. In an open map, and without hallways and enough geometry to help the engine, the PVS risks to be huge and the whole map could be rendered at once from any point (over-rendering). A twisted hallway is a remedy to long sight lines after all. In a traditional “hallway’d” map with twisted corridors leading to open areas followed by other hallways, and even if you “forgot” to place hints and areaportals, the geometry itself allows the engine to cut visleaves and limit visibility granted the visleaves’ cuts will be subpar and messy and the PVS will be in excess, but still, the visibility and fps will be relatively under control. ![]() The map is mostly large, outdoors with an unbroken skyline in other words, the same stuff that source engine nightmares are made of in terms of PVS and BSP. The word “open” is an umbrella term to denote any map that does not have traditional hallways and corridors that connect indoors to outdoors. Optimization becomes even more imperative when the said map is open. If you work with Source engine, then you already know the importance of optimization in a large, detailed map. Inheritably, Source does not like large open maps where the PVS is of considerable size and the over-rendering is a real issue. This fact makes Source, as was Quake engine before, more suitable to rooms and hallways separated by portals where the BSP shines in all its glory. Source engine, which is funnily a Quake engine on steroids (a bit of exaggeration but still), inherited the same limitations of its parents in terms of visibility calculations: BSP and PVS.
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