Another Changelevel Problem... Created 9 years ago2015-03-25 21:24:42 UTC by Half-Rats

Alright, so I thought I remembered how to properly change levels...should have brushed up. The last time I attempted was sometime in 2002...The map transition works, but none of the weapons carry over and my character is facing the wrong way and cannot move. I made the stupid mistake of not adding info_landmarks before compiling and running through hammer! Whoops...
I have my mod set up to run through steam...it shows up in my game's list. I make a change and compile, and then run it through steam to test.

This is what shows up in my console:

"Loading game from SAVE\hrc2a1.HL1...
ERROR: couldn't open.
Loading game from SAVE\hrc1a2.HL1...
Loading decals from hrc1a2"

Here's what the change area of both maps look like:
http://www.moddb.com/mods/half-rats-a-fever-dream/images/problematic

I know it's a bit messy...I've learned my lesson. Going to be paying attention to the grid from now on.

Info_landmark MUST be in the exact same spot on the grid in both maps. Perhaps one of them is in a different location. Find the X Y Z coordinates of the landmark in the first map, and put the landmark in the second map on those coordinates.
When I'm finished with a changelevel and am ready to build the next map, I save the current one (let's call it map01) as "map02", and then I delete everything in the map except for the room where the changelevel takes place and begin to build off of that. This way, I can make absolutely sure that everything is in the same place as map01. I hope I explained that well.

I'm going to do that and try it again. Although, it was all in the same spot. If you look at the pics, you'll see. I'm loading the map through half-life itself...or rather from my own mod that I click on in the steam game's list.

I have my own liblist.gam file that dictates the starting map. Also, I don't think it explains the fact that my character has no weapons and cannot move.

Yeah, I don't know what that could be.
Try making two test maps and link them together with a changelevel to see if you can create the problem again. If it works fine, you may have to start your map over again, or remove and rebuild the changelevel. I'm not saying that rebuilding your map is the only solution, but this stuff happens sometimes.

I tried deleting old maps after copying and renaming. And, now, despite the perfect placement of my landmark entities, I'm spawning outside the map in the void..............Welp, there goes tons of work. I'm kind of seeing why I stopped mapping with hammer all those years ago...

Don't give up. This stuff is bound to happen. Just keep working and putting up with it. Half-Life is a very old game, after all. Whenever I have to redo something, I always come back to it with new ideas and end up with something way better.
I'm sorry I can't be more helpful than this. I'm not familiar with these problems you're having.

I ran a test and it worked.

Info_landmark MUST be in the exact same spot on the grid in both maps.

INCORRECT. info_landmark is a reference point between the two maps and the player spawns in the new map in relation to the landmarks position. It doesn't have to be in the exact same coordinates...

That would just be a huge pain in the arse and your following maps start point would be off in a corner of the grid somewhere...

I don't know, but it appears that it's the case for me at least.

Oh, I didn't know that. :s

Yeah, it definitely looks like I'll have to keep the landmarks in the same spot. I can work around that.

The info landmark needs to be in the exact same reference position.
Say your level transition is a hallway with a crate in it. Both levels have the same hallway and the same crate. As an example, place an info_landmark 16 units above the crate's center in both levels and you're good to go. The info_landmarks need to have the same name.
You don't need a crate per-se, but it's a good tangable landmark. The same can be said for walls or doors or some other detail near the level transition; pick an area common to both levels to plop your landmark down near.

I got it! Thanks, everyone!

Alright, so I began my third map, and the changelevel doesn't work properly....again. It seems that every time I playtest, it makes it so that any future level changes will not work and will spawn me at the origin. Not only that, but none of the weapons carry over. Only this time, I'm trying to make a one-way change. Even tried renaming all of the landmarks - didn't work. Changed them back. Now everything is broken. Not sure how I'm supposed to be able to playtest with my custom content if I can't get these level changes right.

The trigger_changelevel entity must exist in both levels, making a two-way level change even if you only want it to be one-way. You can check the "use only" flag or put it in an inaccesible room if you don't want the player to be able to return to the previous level.

Ohhh. I'll give that a shot. I think the main problem I'm running into is also that I get the error in the console that it "Couldn't load".

Unknown command: VModEnable
] map dream2
Loading game from SAVE\dream3.HL1...
ERROR: couldn't open.

Am I supposed to name the landmarks differently?

All landmarks in between level changes must be named the same.

That "ERROR: couldn't open." seems to be related to the loading of that save file. It may be corrupted, but I don't think it should matter, I run into those all the time.

The VModEnable error is safe to ignore.

I seem to be spawning in the new map, where the old map's trigger_changelevel was. LOL?

Move the trigger_changelevel then. And if that don't work, you should check the most fundamental and important part of any changelevel:

Does the info_landmark and trigger_transition have the same targetname, and is referenced in the trigger_changelevel's landmark field, and are they in the same position relative to the geometry in both maps?

You do have an info_player_start in each level right?
Each level should be playable on it's own first.
As far as landmarks go, if you have 2 level transitions in a map, you need 2 landmarks.
So if you're going from level 2 to level 3, name one info landmark: 2_to_3.
If you're going from level 3 to level 4, name the other landmark: 3_to_4.

You don't need to name them like that, you can call one "bologna" and the other "space_farts" so long as both levels reference the same name.

Other than that, just check that your BSP names are correct in your trigger_changelevels

Another tip I can give you is that when you compile your map for testing, don't load your map from an autosave/quicksave that you made during a previous session, as that save file may contain data that's no longer valid because your bsp has been updated with new data.

When you say that, it makes me want to do it just to see what happens. I'm guessing just an anticlimactic error dialog box, but that's not always the case!

In some games, like Wolfenstein 3D, somehow part of the level remains embedded in the save file. So if you load a game that was saved in a map that is now different, you will spawn in the room you were at in the old map, but the doors out of it won't work; you'll be stuck in that room.

I've done that a couple of times in The Core. Accidentally quick loaded a save made before some major adjustments were compiled. The result was... interesting.

It cuases a mistmatch between world geometry and entities, doesn't it?

Ohhhh...No, I didn't put player starts in there...and, I haven't saved, but I have died in a few maps during testing....for science.

Right. You might want to create a 'new chapter' autosave in your first level.
every time you run your map pack you should be over-writing your saves so they update with the new maps