I defeated the leak! Created 18 years ago2005-11-29 19:15:09 UTC by Mariowned

ok so i worked on this map for a while then took a loooong break but i loaded it up today and was DETERMINED to delete the large null box and find that damn leak....

after repeated zooming in and squinting i finally found the damn 1 unit wide leak... weird since it was the floor and i dont think ive even used the 1 unit measure in this map but o well

I WIN!

any other people proud of their battles vs. the leaks?

Nah, skybox for me all the way haha

Yeah same, only cause I never make complex Valve type maps which is the same as Rabid style maps, he makes HUGe levels, if I did then i'd have to optimize it, hehe got a friend who is a master of optimizing, even Valve ask him for tips which is surprising since they sort of made their Hammer...

Leaks can be a bother but I always keep my maps clean now, I don't rush and make sure every clipped wall is tight and secure, even if the odd mixed textures arise, i'd hide them

Ya I remember on time I had this leak and I coundnt figure out where it was and then I noticed I had an entire brush missing from the sky lol.

Say it with me,
se-se-se-se-spam!

Simple way to defeat leaks is to map properly.

Well I just defeated the "mix water with the sky". Booya!!!!!
[/useless post]

I can tell you why it happened...

When you simply click on a brush and drag it out to your desired size, this error can occur. As you push the brush, so that it would theoretically be 0 wide, it stops at 1 unit. This would be the only possible way to get this error if you were not using VM or were not in 1 unit mode.

Watch out for that, and use VM to resize your brushes.

Or use a higher grid size when building the main world geometry.
I actually spent half my mapping life not using the grid. If you check out my oldest maps (voyagerv2, mr_ev2, liceo, kaspergmap, Hoth etc) none of the walls are 128 units high, and most of the scaling is wrong. I had a fair share of leaks in the past. It is said that in order to learn how to get up, one must trip and fall. Same thing applies to mapping.

Yeah, leaks can be annoying. But with careful planning, they can be avoided in the first place. The key is not to create them in the first place. Hunting them down can be gnarly.

considering i didnt use the 1 unit size on the grid and the wall was off 1 unit shows i did "map properly" there was just an accident and zombie grow up

I always start at 64x64 and work my way down.

Nah, skybox for me all the way haha

Usally all the the faces that face the void aren't rendered but when you skybox those faces that you don't see are rendered for they don't touch the void also it makes it much harder for vis and rad to render the map, vis needs to create more portals and leafs(may cause errors like- Max leaf faces, Max portals on a leaf, leaf saw in to portal, maybe allocblock:full and all these memory errors and many more) and rad will need to conculate the light on more faces(might also create many memory errors and some faces that were discarded before might cause a melformed face normal error)- Results: low framrates and high R_speeds might even be fullbright(if you have a memory error or a melformed face error) or might not work at all(all those leaf and portal errors), it's worse then a leak. If you do skybox then at list null the faces you can't see, all though it wont help you alot.

I think it should be a FAQ when there will be a section for that.

Simple way to defeat leaks is to map properly.

Explain yourself, ant. Do you mean by not using a small grid size?(like 1)

any other people proud of their battles vs. the leaks?

I had a few leaks in my unfinished compo entery. I had a 1 unit leak and I couldn't see it cause all the detail(and leak pointer and the point file didn't point at it) and the other was through a func_wall...I didn't even know I func_walled that wall.

I've had my share of them, though i can track em down in a minute or so.

Mapping properly is just that: there's nothing to explain. For the record, I always use the smallest grid possible (VM detailing ftw). Map carefully. I haven't had a leak since my 1st/2nd map, and that was like two years ago.

Elon, there is nothing wrong with a skybox! In many maps you have to bould a skybox in order to make the map as good as possible, and i NEVER had any problems with a skybox.

Yeah dude it never caused me any problems. It did lag though, because i didnt notice it was full bright. but that is easily fixed. Otherwise, i can see your point. but wont the sky textures get all funky if it isnt a cube?

but wont the sky textures get all funky if it isnt a cube?

It's not about the size or shape of the skybrushes in Hammer. Try using a single brush as a ceiling for a room. You'll notice it looks just normal in-game. In-game it's always a box that moves with the player, the skybrushes in Hammer are just a hint as to where this box should be visible.

Elon probably means boxing in your level, e.g. putting a big (sky)box around it to prevent leaks. That is indeed a bad habit, as it'll not only hugely increase compile times but also decreases performance quite some. But I think that's well-known around here already.

Thats exectly what I ment. It will surly increase the compiling time and if you don't have enough virtual memory it might even cause all these memory errors. As for the leaf and portal errors, just think what heppens when you make a complex map with awsome terrain, if you skybox vis will have to conculate the terrain twice, the part that you will see even without a skybox and the part you'll never see.

It will surly increase the compiling time

I think you mean "surely increase", or, better, "definitely increase". "Surly" means something like "grumpy".

Seventh, just edit the posts yourself and make the comment there, you bully.

This thread's quite pointless. You people actually memorize your "victory" over leaks?
My god.

Also,

Simple way to defeat leaks is to map properly.

Too true. Just be careful and use a reasonably-sized grid.

Simple way to defeat leaks is to map properly.

Just got to repeat that

You people actually memorize your "victory" over leaks?

Whats up Loffe? How come your always so negative? Do you want to talk about it?

I think i understand what you are trying to say about that sky box.. so i think i will shorten it down now ^_^

hes probably emo