Talk:PVS

How about Perceptible Visleaf Set as it seems to be used for the 'perceptual field' of an NPC ? Also, I get the feeling that PVS includes 'audible' stimuli as well as 'visible' stimuli ? --Beeswax

It's logical that an NPC would only check visibility for entities within its PVS, but that doesn't mean the acronym changes. :-p No need to add another variation. What I will do is update the article to reflect the fact that entities can have PVS too. --TomEdwards 10:50, 27 Feb 2008 (PST)

So you don't want to hear about Panoramic Visleaf Set to differentiate PVS from LOS cones, Potential Visual Stimuli for PC-NPC equal rights, or even just the more intuitive Probably Visleaf Stuff ? ;-) --Beeswax

So if I've got this right, PVS is used in 3 contexts:

1. In the GUI Rendering-process PVS is used as a 'spatial' filter applied before Z-buffering. (Does this mean a PVS can 'see' - or better 'hear' - around corners ?)

2. In Optimization (level design) PVS refers to a particular group or set of visleafs which can be seen from a given visleaf. ie the PVS includes the 'occupied' visleaf, plus any other visleafs that can be seen by an LOS from the occupied visleaf. (See Ralph van Hoorn's excellent explanation of visleafs)

3. In NPC AI it is used to define the NPC's Zone of Awareness ; ie the spatial area (measured in visleafs) that is covered by the NPC's vision and hearing. If another entity (usually a Player or NPC) enters this area the NPC will be aware of its presence and react accordingly. NPCs may also "Think outside PVS" by using the NPC memory feature(?). In contrast to the NPC's LOS (Line of Sight), PVS is not restricted by props and func_detail brushes, or the direction in which the NPC happens to be looking (?).

Note: I'm still not 100% about the 'hearing round corners' thing - it certainly makes logical sense of the different uses of PVS and LOS, but does it actually work out like this in practice ? --Beeswax 13:01, 27 Feb 2008 (PST)

PVS isn't used for the interface, unless I'm very much mistaken. I tweaked your second point a little instead of repeating it here.

As for point three, an NPC is indeed aware of all entities inside its PVS but will only respond to ones it can sense normally. "Thinking outside the PVS" means that it tests all entities in the map (or possibly a given radius), not that it can "see around corners". :-) I don't know how smell (or sound) works at all, but I suspect it seeps from leaf to leaf or just ignores them entirely. --TomEdwards 23:57, 27 Feb 2008 (PST)

fgd references to PVS

• BaseNPC "sleepstate" choices

• 0 : "None"
• 1 : "Waiting for threat"
• 2 : "Waiting for PVS"
• 3 : "Waiting for input, ignore PVS"
• 4 : "Auto PVS"
• 5 : "Auto PVS after PVS"

• BaseNPC spawnflag : 1024: "Think outside PVS" : 0
• func_detail : "Detail brushes do NOT contribute to visibility in the PVS."
• func_reflective_glass : "have 1 reflective glass in your view frustum ( + pvs ) at a time."
• ai_script_conditions : ActorInPVS(choices) : "Actor in Player's PVS ... Checks that the actor is in the player's PVS"
• item_dynamic_resupply : "A dynamic item. When the player enters the PVS of this entity, it will determine the item most needed by the player, spawn one of those items, and remove itself."