+portal problem

[mothergoat]

So I did exactly what the HEK tutorial told me to to add my +portal to increase performance. In Sapien, it recognizes the portals fine, but much of the level is unseen depending on where I move. I export it to a .map and the same problem occurs. I can't see chunks of my levels. What gives?

Thanks

[Grenadiac]

Well, that's what portals are for. They are used to calculate something called PVS - potential visible sets. The compiler splits the world up into areas determined by the world geometry and portal geometry. Then these "rooms" (leaves) are compiled to see which other leaves they can "see". If one room can see another room, it is marked as "potentially visible" and the renderer will draw the set of rooms that can be seen from the room the player is in.

That way, if you are inside a tunnel, the game engine doesn't draw the entire outside world...it is wasteful.

The only problem is that Halo has an unusual portal system...it seems to be 2D. So if you have a level that has a widely varying range in height, you could run into problems. This is purely a guess on my part, but it appears to be that way.

Anyone have any thoughts on this?