troymac1ure wrote:
The speed can be changed with +/- although it doesn't show; Just hit + a whole bunch of times. I'll put it on the list, but it's not high up there... especially since I think most ppl don't even know what the protal viewer is. I've looked at it and to tell you the truth, It looks like nonsense to me. The portal planes are correct, but it seems like the selected faces are all over the place. I just read up on them recently, so at least I understand what they are more now.
Any sort of editor, etc for the portals would be useless... until we can have custom BSP. Bungie placed their portals so the game doesn't lag.
Thanks for the reply.
The only reason I know about portals is because I fix up the halo 2 maps to go into Halo Custom Edition and the maps alot of times need portals or you have dissappearing faces.
The tutorials that come with HEK(Halo Editing Kit) has a good description on them.
The primary function of these portals are as "visibility portals", portals that the Halo game engine uses to try and cull out objects that cannot be seen to improve performance by not rendering such objects.
The portals in general help break up the level so that it can be handled in parts to help performance in general. Attributes can also be set for portals, such as ambient sounds to play in the portal as well as environmental audio effects. Portals can also be used to define weather volumes and fog volumes.
There are 2 kinds of portals that are defined, "portals" and "exact portals". The following are descriptions for each:
1) Exact Portals: These are portals defined by surfaces or planes with the +exactportal material applied to them. Exact portals are created such that the faces (edges and vertices) match the surrounding geometry (edges and vertices). These faces in effect create a "seal". The volume that is between these surfaces or planes is an exact portal. The direction of the normals of the faces helps determine how the portal is defined.
2) Portals: These are portals defined by surfaces or planes with the +portal material applied to them. These portals are created by faces or planes that are used to divide the game environment. These planes must create a seal with the level, but do not have to match vertices and the associated edges with the surrounding geometry. These planes are much more loosely defined and placed in the level and are used to break or divide the level up into sections. The direction of the normals for the faces helps determine how the portal is defined.
A volume defined as an Exact portal CAN have standard Portal areas defined within it and vice versa as long as the above rules outlined in their definitions are satisfied. However, an open ended or non-enclosed Portal cannot intersect an Exact portal, a "vis error" or rendering anomaly will occur. In other words, be careful to not let a Portal plane improperly divide or bisect an Exact portal volume.
Portals can be used to help portal horizontally (looking left and right in the XY plane) AND vertically (looking up and over objects or geometry that vary in the Z-Axis).
