EWTOOLS-VIS(1)

📦 version 2.0.0~alpha11, in ubuntu stonking

🎀 EWTOOLS-VIS — bestie, let's talk visibility 🎀

hiii so this is the manual for ewtools-vis — aka plain old vis — and it ships with ericw-tools. Two names, one icon. she's giving PVS and she's giving it correctly. periodt. 💅

✨ NAME ✨

ewtools-vis — compute visibility (PVS) for a Quake BSP file.

also answers to: vis — same thing, compute visibility (PVS) for a Quake BSP file. 💖

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

vis [OPTION]... BSPFILE

that's it bestie, options then the map. slay. 🦋

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

okay so vis is one of the tools you use when you're making maps for the game Quake. Here's the whole vibe: it hunts for a .prt file by taking BSPFILE, stripping the file extension off it (if it even has one), and then slapping ".prt" on the end. Then it goes and calculates the potentially visible set (PVS) information, and after that it updates the .bsp file — overwriting any PVS data that was already in there. no takebacks. 💀

This particular vis supports the PRT2 format for Quake maps that use detail brushes. For the full lore on that, go read the qbsp documentation. ✨

⚠️ real talk: compiling a map (without the -fast parameter) can take a long time — like, genuinely days or weeks in extreme cases. 😭 not a drill. Because of that, vis will attempt to write a state file every five minutes so all your progress isn't just gone if the computer needs a reboot or the power decides to betray you. she's thoughtful like that. 🫶

✨ OPTIONS ✨

🌸 Logging 🌸

  • -log — write log files. This one's enabled by default, so it's already on, you don't gotta ask twice.
  • -nolog — don't write log files. bye.
  • -verbose, -v — verbose output. she's telling you everything. yapper mode activated. 🗣️
  • -nopercent — don't output percentage messages.
  • -nostat — don't output statistic messages.
  • -noprogress — don't output progress messages.
  • -nocolor — don't output color codes (for TB, etc). tragic, honestly. 🌈🔒
  • -quiet, -noverbose — suppress non-important messages. equivalent to -nopercent -nostat -noprogress, so it's basically all three of those stacked. efficient queen. 👑

🔥 Performance 🔥

  • -lowpriority [0] — run in a lower priority, so you free up headroom for other processes. be polite to your CPU's other commitments. 🥺
  • -threads n — set the number of threads explicitly. By default vis will attempt to detect the number of CPUs/cores available. bestie's got auto-detection fr fr. ⚡
  • -fast — skip the detailed calculations and calculate a very loose set of PVS data. Sometimes useful for a quick test while you're developing a map. not the final look, but great for a vibe check. 👀

🎮 Game 🎮

  • -gamedir "relative/path" or "C:/absolute/path" — override the default mod base directory. If this isn't set, or if it's relative, it'll be derived from the input file or the basedir if that one's specified.
  • -basedir "relative/path" or "C:/absolute/path" — override the default game base directory. If this isn't set, or if it's relative, it'll be derived from the input file or the gamedir if that one's specified. (yes, they derive off each other. it's giving mutual support. 🫶)
  • -filepriority archive | loose — which types of archives (folders/loose files or packed archives) are higher priority and get chosen first for path searching.
  • -path "/path/to/folder" — additional paths or archives to add to the search path, mostly for loose files. Multiple allowed, so stack 'em if you got 'em. 📚
  • -q2rtx — adjust settings to best support Q2RTX. ✨
  • -defaultpaths — whether the compiler should attempt to automatically derive game/base paths for games that support it. Enabled by default.
  • -nodefaultpaths — opt out of -defaultpaths. no thanks, I'll do it myself. 💅

💾 Output 💾

  • -noambientsky — disable ambient sound generation for textures with names beginning with 'SKY'.
  • -noambientwater — disable ambient sound generation for textures with names beginning with *WATER or *04WATER.
  • -noambientslime — disable ambient sound generation for textures with names beginning with *SLIME.
  • -noambientlava — disable ambient sound generation for textures with names beginning with *LAVA.
  • -noambient — disable all ambient sound generation.
    • See also: _noambient for selectively disabling ambient sounds. (that's the model entity key one, scroll down bestie 👇)
  • -noautoclean — don't remove extra files on successful completion. Default is to remove them.

🧚 Advanced 🧚

  • -level n — select a test level from 0 to 4 for detailed visibility calculations. Heads up: lower levels are not necessarily faster in in all cases. It is not recommended that you change the default level unless you are experiencing problems. Default 4. don't touch it unless something's actually broken, okay? 🙈
  • -visdist n — allow culling of areas further than n units.
  • -nostate — ignore saved state files, for forced re-runs. built different, starts from zero. 🔄
  • -phsonly — re-calculate the PHS of a Quake II BSP without touching the PVS. surgical. 👑

🌈 MODEL ENTITY KEYS 🌈

  • "_noambient" "1" — disables ambient sound emission from these specific brushes. ✨ (this is the selective one from up top, iykyk)

👑 AUTHOR 👑

  • Kevin Shanahan (aka Tyrann) — http://disenchant.net
  • Eric Wasylishen
  • Based on source provided by id Software

legends, all of them. 💜

🐛 REPORTING BUGS 🐛

Please post bug reports at https://github.com/ericwa/tyrutils-ericw/issues.

Improvements to the documentation are welcome and encouraged — so if you spot something, go be the main character and fix it. 🫶

  • Copyright (C) 2017 Eric Wasylishen
  • Copyright (C) 2013 Kevin Shanahan
  • Copyright (C) 1997 id Software
  • License GPLv2+: GNU GPL version 2 or later — http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl2.html
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law. 😭 read that part twice bestie.

and that's the whole page!! this one's from ericw-tools, dated Jul 29, 2026 — go make something visible, you absolute icon. no cap, ate, periodt. 💖✨🎀

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