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This is a post originally hosted on the now deceased map.planetmedalofhonor.gamespy.com/callofduty/forum by Cornrow Wallace

I originally wrote this tutorial for our mappers at Anarchic-x & thought this might be useful for those who want to create larger maps. This method can also apply to CoD 2 mapping.

[edit] Hidden structural brushes

For this example we have a hill with 2 players on both sides.

Without outdoor portals the game will draw everything on the other side of the hill for both of them, even though they technically cannot see each other. Why? Because meshes (both terrain & patch) are Detail by default, and Detail brushes do not block vis and/or portals. So here is the solution.

[edit] Structural Brush Prep

When you want to have a portal cell cutting through this terrain, it's best to fill as much unseen area under the terrain with a solid structural brush textured with Caulk. Here is a portal cell without the caulk brush.

This cell goes from the bottom of the skybox to the top, left to right.

This portal cell will work (read: will not fail during compile), but doesn't do much to help FPS. It is correct in the sense that there are no leaks, but because there is nothing to block the view beneath the terrain, everything on the other side of the hill will still be drawn by the game.

[edit] Adding Portal

To block vis on the other side of the hill without actually seeing anything (read: a wall, building, etc...), draw out a caulk brush with the same dimensions as the portal cell that goes from the bottom of the skybox to just under the terrain, and resize the portal cell so it sits right on top of this brush.

As you can see, the caulk brush does not pass through the terrain.

Here it is again with only the caulk brush selected.

Here it is again with only the portal cell selected.

Now there is a Structural brush blocking vis between the 2 players, so as long as your view is below the top of the caulk brush, the game will not draw what is going on beyond it, greatly increasing FPS & reducing visible tris. When doing outdoor portals, always use this method when possible, it will help you very, very much, especially with larger maps.

[edit] Extra world brushes

Use this method in conjunction with pt. 1.

Using caulk brushes below terrain as described in pt. 1 of this tutorial helps increase FPS and lower visible tris for hills, but what about mostly flat terrain? The most effective way of doing this is using World brushes (brushes textured completely with your skybox texture) to block portal walls.

In this example I am using screens from my map mp_wesel to show you how I did it.

Because these World brushes are textured with the same sky texture as your skybox, you will not see a seam, edge or disturbance anywhere, unless you are at an elevation where you normally would be able to see terrain behind the World brush. This is why you place the World brush in the middle of a hedgerow or treelines.

Here are 2 curved hedgerows from mp_wesel.

Right now they do not block any vis and will not block portal walls because there is nothing there. To solve this, draw out some brushes inside the hedgerows & texture them completely (not just the faces) with your skybox texture. Texturing them completely with your skybox texture allows them to block portal walls, but also allows fire (grenades, bazookas, tank shells, etc..) to pass through. Make sure these World brushes go from the bottom of the skybox all the way to the top, no need to use a caulk brush underneath for them.

Same hedgerows with Worldbrushes inside.

Here is a screen of some World brushes & portals selected. I've labeled the World brushes for clarity.

Note: Not all World brushes & portals are selected, this is just to give you an idea of how to lay out your World brushes & portals.