Fr/Map Compiling Theory

Introduction

Tout comme la vidéo, les rendus, un programme, .... Votre maps à besoin d'être compilé. La compilation à pour but de rendre votre map jouable sur le moteur Source. Le compilateur part du VMF que vous avez éditer sous hammer, et le transforme en BSP. la compilations sous Hammer passe par 3 outils:

• VBSP
• VVIS
• VRAD

Outils de compilations

Tool	Purpose
VBSP	L'outils BSP à pour rôle de partitionner l'espace jouable, d'indiquer à Source tous les enplacements de ce qui sera nécessaire aux joueurs comme les entitées, les sons, les triggers,.... La lumière et les VIS sont calculé par les deux outils suivants.
VVIS	This tool creates the visibility matrix for the map based on the level's geometry. This matrix is what determines which polygons the player can see, might see, and can't see from any given point within the level in game. It is critical that this tool be run on every .bsp you create. If it is not run then the entire level will be visible all the time which would, in all but the simplest of box maps, make the map unplayable due to video-lag. In-depth information about VIS can be found at visibility determination.
VRAD	The RAD tool, or Radiosity tool, is responsible for generating and applying all lighting effects in a level. Everything from entity lights and the "sky" down to the lowly texture light has to be handled by this tool. A .bsp that has not had RAD run on it will appear pitch black in game or full-bright depending on video-mode and console-settings. This tool is normally the one responsible for slowing down compiles most of the time as it has to process huge amounts of data in the completion of its task. In-depth information about RAD can be found at RAD (technical).

Compile managers

• Batch Compiler - Supports Quake, Valve, Zoners, and CSTTools

Which compile tools?

Hammer ships with Valve's own compile tools. These are denoted by the presence of a 'v' preceding the tool name in the tools file name (i.e. vbsp.exe, vvis.exe, vrad.exe). In addition, Adam McKern is working on a new set of Source compiling tools (CSTBSP, CSTVIS, CSTRAD--known collectively as CST) that have refinements over and more options than the default tools. As of now CST does not have any big improvements over the Valve tools and it is not as thoroughly tested.

See also

• The Source Engine BSP File Format - a look at the compile tools from a technical standpoint (from the author of VMEX and other Source tools).