VIS-ts for win32


standard disclaimer
-------------------
If this program causes your computer to have problems in any way, whether it
explodes or loses its cmos or whatever, its not my fault.  By reading this
and using ezvis you understand and acknowledge this disclaimer.  All issues
with the software not working properly and all responsibility for damages lie
solely with the user.


Care and feeding
----------------
Vis-ts is a redo of the vis program for generating the potentially visible
set of quake maps.  Several modifications have been made to allow for better
performance and ease of use.  This particular version has been compiled for
a win32 environment such as Windows NT or Windows 95.

Vis-ts has the ability to estimate the time of your vis job.  This is a very
rough estimate and becomes wildly inaccurate for conditions involving a
large number of leafs visable to other leafs.  However it is the most
accurate time estimation out because its the only one.  The feature can be
disabled as well with the -notime parameter.  Also the -timeonly parameter
will only calculate approximate vising times without running the vis itself.

If you want to use leet vis and dont have the bsp file available for use,
just run vis-ts -prt and it will use the .prt file only.  This is useful
to me while I am designing the program and it may be useful for benchmarking
if you terminate a qbsp compile and just want to see a quick estimate of how
long it would take to vis that level with -timeonly.  Quick and dirty.

Had to rip a feature off of the hipnotic guy.  Vis-ts shows percent done now
too.  Much more useful than looking at a blank screen for hours at a time.

The next featureset of Vis-ts is that it now has the ability to use a response
file just like doom did.  Instead of typing tons of different command line
parameters one can just put them in the response file and it will be processed
as if it was on the command line.  An example response file is included with
the Vis-ts program.

Ambient sounds for textures are calculated by the vis program.  This option
can be disabled with the -nosound parameter.  Also the textures associated
with sounds can be changed via the response file. The following commands
do this and are show with their default values:

-watertex *water
-skytex   sky
-slimetex *slime
-lavatex  *lava
-extrawatertex *04water


Custom texture names for water brush sounds,lava sounds, and sky sounds,
should make for some interesting levels in the future :)

For those of you who may be still experiencing strange problems with grey
areas try the -threshold parameter.  It is a floating point number that
controls how close of a fit the vis does.  The default is 0.1 but you can
try 0.01 or 0.001 if you want to get it more precise.

If the vis job is taking forever just press q to end the vis.  This is in the
event that you only want to see a time estimate or if its taking longer than
you want it to.

Also added a -nokeys parameter for use with editors that do not give you the
option of many command line parameters.

Right now I am looking at ways to algorithmically improve vis.  So far things
are going slowly but in time it will happen.

Thanks and greetz
-----------------
  Thanks to GOD or else we wouldnt be here.  Also thanks go out to iD
software because they love us almost as much as He does ;-)  Also I would
like to thank Billy Zelsnack for his putting up with me and being such a
great help in my other projects.  Special greets to Dave Taylor at crack.com,
Ryan Geithman at bossgames, and all my wonderful friends on irc.


Starving Coder Standard Beg for dollars section
-----------------------------------------------
Non-beta LeetVis is FREEWARE.  Use it and  give it to your friends.  (This
does not apply to the beta).  If you like the program please give to a worthy
charity such as Feed the Children or the Red Cross.



Complaints, Concerns, Comments, etc...
--------------------------------------
They all go to vile@dazed.nol.net or /dev/null depending on how angry you are
at me ;)  Seriously though, PLEASE send me any comments or suggestions.  I
would like to bring you the absolute best vising tool ever.  Thank you.


--------------------------------
.prts is .prts and pieces .prts.
