Func occluder

Green boxes represent occluded props, red boxes unoccluded ones.

func_occluder is a brush entity available in all Source games.

Class hierarchy
CFuncOccluder ↳CBaseEntity
func_occluder.cpp

Entity Description

It hides models that are entirely covered by it in the player's view, according to how it has been textured. They are used to control visibility in places where func_areaportals or world brushes are unsuitable. Calculations of model visibility in-game is done in real time and is not in the final compile process. Use func_occluders wisely, because they do calculations in real time and can cost a lot of CPU if there are too many in a map.

Occluders are very useful in cases where you have reasonably large func_detail, prop, func_brush, or displacement walls. These walls do not cut visleaves and therefore will not stop props from rendering behind these walls. Adding an occluder inside the same wall will at the very least hide all props behind the brush entity walls.

Usually, all faces of a func_occluder are Nodraw or Skip (as seen in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive maps), with the occluding faces using the Occluder or Trigger texture.
The occlusion will only work if the player is looking at the side that has the occluding texture "visible." If the back side is Nodraw, the occlusion will not take place if looked at from the other side.

Usage

Texture on a func_occluder	Effect of that face
	Occlude
	Don't Occlude

Texturing

This entity works according to how materials has been applied to it:

• All sides covered with the Occluder or Trigger materials will occlude.
• All sides covered with the Nodraw material will not occlude.

Important:If compiling VBSP with -nodrawtriggers, occluding faces cannot use trigger textures.

Occluders and Areaportals

There are several important differences between occluders and areaportals:

• An occluder only hides props, not world geometery or static brushes.
• An occluder does not split visleaves.
• An occluder can be free standing and does not need to separate two areas.

Note:VBSP will display a warning saying Occluder "" straddles multiple areas. This is invalid! if the func_occluder is not fully enclosed in world geometry. This warning can be ignored if you intend to occlude models that may still be visible otherwise, and will not affect functionality.

Tip:If you have a basic understanding of disassembly, you can easily jump over this warning. Binary search for 4F 63 63 6C 75 64 65 72 20 22 25 73 in a disassembly tool like IDA to find the sub-routines.

Debugging Commands

r_occlusion

Activate/deactivate the occlusion system.

r_visocclusion

Activate/deactivate wireframe rendering of what the occlusion system is doing.

r_drawpixelvisibility

Show the occlusion proxies

r_occludeemaxarea

Prevents occlusion testing for entities that take up more than X% of the screen. 0 means use whatever the level said to use.

r_occluderminarea

Prevents occlusion testing for entities that take up less than X% of the screen. 0 means use whatever the level said to use.

r_occlusionspew

Activate/deactivates spew about what the occlusion system is doing.

r_occludermincount

At least this many occluders will be used, no matter how big they are.

Keyvalues

Name (targetname) <string>[ Edit ]

The name that other entities refer to this entity by, via Inputs/Outputs or other keyvalues (e.g. parentname or target).
Also displayed in Hammer's 2D views and Entity Report.

See also:  Generic Keyvalues, Inputs and Outputs available to all entities

Initial State (StartActive) <choices>

If the entity starts inactive, use the Activate or Toggle inputs to turn it on. Default value is 1.

• 0: Inactive
• 1: Active

Inputs

Activate

Deactivate

Toggle

Control the state of the occluder.

External links

• Visibility Optimization
• Wikipedia on Antiportals