Forum posts

Thanks for the help Pepper.

I only just found the site that that was taken from today (followed a link from seventh's compiler-reading post). Wish I'd have seen that sooner - that would have solved at least half the problems I've been having lately!

Just out of interest, when trying to fix the problem last night I was looking at this line in the defenition you gave above...

"message is simply alerting you to the fact that one of these winding data structures has a larger number of points than expected, and one of the points was ignored".

Now, this might be a bit of a noob question - but looking at each individual brush in my map, there are none that have a particularly 'large number of points'. There's no complicated geometary in there, or any crazy vertex manipulated brushes. The whole thing is constructed out of very simple shapes (triangles and squares basically). In the case of the arch I described above, it's constructed out of about 80 narrow triangles in a fan like arrangement. To make working on the map easier, I grouped them all - so does that mean that the compiler sees all the grouped brushes as one brush with loads of points, or does it see the grouped traingles as just that - a whole bunch of individual triangles?

Also, sorry to be a pain, but when constructing complex architecture, rather than using vertex manipulation, I prefer to painfully construct things using loads of little triangles - as it helps give a more organic feel to the spaces and I have more control over the shapes I end up with. Is this a good practice? Or am I just over-complicating things for myself?

Once again, thanks for the advice guys...

I've searched for any info on this compile error but haven't managed to find any anywhere...

Basically, every time I compile my map I get the message 'Chop Winding Error due to too many points' over and over and over when it reaches the 'Leaf Thread' point in the compile process.

Now I think this is because a portion of my map has a series of brushes (1 unit thick) fanning out in a complicated arch-style arrangement at the end of a long corridor. It's basically like a grand entrance to the main building that I'm in the process of constructing.

When I made this arch, I figured Hammer wouldn't like it so I blocked off the open end of the arch so there'd be no leaks and compiled it to see if it worked - and it did (and looked gorgeous too ) but now that I've started making the building on the other side of the arch, hammer won't compile...

Any idea what this error means? I can't find a definition anywhere...

Thanks in advance.

Thanks Unbreakable, I think I get what you mean...

Would it be fair to say that (for example) the outer walls of your map, and the map's main structures, like arches, doorways, stantions etc should remain as normal, but any little miscelaneous details, like shelves, windows, fireplaces, pipes etc are better of being tied to entity like func_wall?

Does tying brushes to func_wall ever have any effect on the way the objects are lit by any chance?

oh, and sorry for all the dumb questions!

Cheers for that seventh.

In the end I grouped all the glass together and tied them to func_walls and then did the same thing with all the arches and it compiled just fine.

Just out of interest, would you say it's good practice to tie all (structural/architectural) brushes to func_wall? What are the pros and cons of doing this instead of just leaving them as they are?

Thanks again...

I'm in the process of making a short corridor framed by a series of arches (so it kinda looks like a tunnel) - but you can see the sky between all the arches.

Inbetween each arch there are 16 leaves of glass angled outwards like vents in a fan-like arrangement.

When I compiled the map with just one set of these vents between two arches, the map compiled just fine. But when I cloned all the glass leaves to fill up the gaps between the arches down the whole corridor, the compiler hangs at 'LeafThread:' for ages.

I don't suppose anyone knows why this is? Have I overcomplicated the map by using too many leaves of glass? Or could it be another problem entirely?

Can anyone explain what the 'LeafThread' bit in the compiling window actually does?

Many thanks...

Yeah, I think I get what you mean... I'll have to wait until I get home before I can try it but you've given me a good place to start at any rate!

Thanks for the help...

Sorry for the stupid question but I can't find a suitably basic answer to my question in the tutorials.

Basically, I have a complex light shade/fitting in a room made up of a hundred-or-so little panes of glass with a simple light entity sitting in the middle.

Each pane of glass is a simple, sliding func_door and when the light is turned on I want the panes of glass to slide accross at the same time.

Now, I've figured out how to trigger this to happen when I enter a room (by making a simple 'trigger-when-you-walk-over-a-certain-patch-of-floor') so I know the idea actually works - but the problem is, I want the whole instillation to activate (light to turn on and the panes of glass to slide) by walking up to a switch and pressing 'use', rather than just walking through the door.

Can anyone start me off on how to go about this (or point me towards a tutorial I may have overlooked).

Many thanks...

Cheers Hazardous!

I've managed to sort it all out now - my big metal cube with blue lights is compiling perfectly!

Your help is VERY much appreciated.

Thanks again!

Thanks for the advice.

I've downloaded Zoner's compile tools as well as the ones that Hazardous! linked to and I've tried them both (changing qvis, qrad to hlvis etc etc) but my levels are still turning out fullbright.

Not sure if it will help but this is what I get in the compile window...

** Executing...
** Command: Change Directory
** Parameters: C:SierraHalf-Life

** Executing...
** Command: Copy File
** Parameters: "C:Documents and SettingsGerDesktopbeginning4.map" "C:SierraHalf-Lifevalvemapsbeginning4.map"

** Executing...
** Command: C:PROGRA~1VALVEH~1Zonershlcsg.exe
** Parameters: "C:SierraHalf-Lifevalvemapsbeginning4"

hlcsg.exe v1.0 (Jun 2 1999)
Based on Valve's version of qcsg, modified with permission.
Modifications by Sean Cavanaugh (seancavanaugh@hotmail.com)
-- hlcsg --
1 thread(s)
entering C:SierraHalf-Lifevalvemapsbeginning4.map

********** ERROR **********
parsing brush

** Executing...
** Command: C:PROGRA~1VALVEH~1Zonershlbsp.exe
** Parameters: "C:SierraHalf-Lifevalvemapsbeginning4"

hlbsp.exe v1.0 (Jun 2 1999)
Based on Valve's version of qbsp2, modified with permission.
Modifications by Sean Cavanaugh (seancavanaugh@hotmail.com)
-- hlbsp --
1 thread(s)

********** ERROR **********
ReadSurfs: 70 > numplanes

** Executing...
** Command: C:PROGRA~1VALVEH~1Zonershlrad.exe
** Parameters: "C:SierraHalf-Lifevalvemapsbeginning4"

hlrad.exe v 1.0 (Jun 2 1999)
Based on Valve's version of qrad, modified with permission.
Modifications by Sean Cavanaugh (seancavanaugh@hotmail.com)
--- hlrad --
1 thread(s)

********** ERROR **********
ERROR: Couldn't open texlight file C:PROGRA~1VALVEH~1Zonerslights.rad

** Executing...
** Command: C:SierraHALF-L~1hl.exe
** Parameters: +map "beginning4"

This is from using the example map from the beginner4 tutorial - just to make sure it wasn't MY mapping mistake.

Sorry to bother you with this, but I really don't know what to do.

Thanks again,

Ah, okay - I see what you mean now.

I'll give that a shot and let you know how I get on.

Thanks again for your help guys.

Thanks for the help guys. By the sound of it there's something wrong with my compiling tools.

I've just downloaded the RADp13.zip file from Hazardous' link.

I take it this is the RAD program?

Once i've unzipped it what do I do with it? Where do I put it?

Sorry to ask such basic questions, but I'm only just starting out

Hello there,

I've just downloaded Valve Hammer and I've started making a map by following the tutorials on this site. When I got to Beginner 4 (about changing the lighting) It said that if the map was floodlit or fullbright then my map was faulty.

I've been over and over my map again and again and I've followed the tutorial to the letter - but to matter what I do my map is always fullbright.

To try and figure out what the problem was I made a cube, hollowed it out with a wall thickness of 32 and put an info_player_start entity with no light entity and compiled it. And even that was fullbright! Surely a hollowed out cube couldn't have a leak in it?!

In the end I downloaded and example map from the tutorial and compiled that. It turned out fullbright too.

I really don't know what else to do now - I've gone over the steps really carefully to make sure I'm not doing anything wrong but I obviously am


Can anyone help me out with this?

Cheers.

Oh - and nice forum by the way!