ED_ParseEntity: closing brace without... Created 18 years ago2006-03-25 17:03:23 UTC by Throstur

I have gotten an error which terminates CS, this is what I did.

1: Built a map (3 weeks)
2: Compiled without Vis or Rad (very short compared to with Vis and Rad)
3: Started Counter-Strike through Steam (some minutes)
4: Entered into console: "map cs_timevilla" - this starts a localgame with that map.

after the previous steps the game started to load but then an unexpected 'Fatal Error' occured stating: 'ED_PraseEntity: closing brace without data'

Click OK > Everything shuts down
Click X > Everything shuts down

Any help will be appreciated, Thanks in advance.

Problem Map:

http://twhl.co.za/mapvault_map.php?id=3801

No vis or rad at all? Try fast vis and fast rad, or normal. Its not going to work without vis and rad. Also try creating game and not using console to go to map. Use the selection box for choosing a level.

how do you do fast rad?

wow man this rad is gonna take hours upon hours.. its STILL compiling (not even 10% yet)

Use fastVis/rad. With fast vis/rad a big complete map should only take 10 minutes (depending on cpu speed) If it takes a obsurd amount of time, consider reading optimization tutorials.

I cant run from hammer if thats what u mean i use the batch compiler

I would use hammer to compile. Why cant you use hammers compiler?

no it never worked, only for source which doesnt work on my computer anymore btw

You probably have your tools settings messed up in hammer. I would go over all the directories and settings. Batch compiling is alot more succeptable to error than Hammer's compiler.

rad isnt nescessary for a test, vis is. do all normal and no rad.

I strongly advise you to get used to doing normal (or fast) compiles every now and then. I believe you would've spotted this problem much earlier if you had done so.

Well, after taking a quick look at the map, I can see some troubled things that greatly increase the compile difficulty. I haven't compiled myself, but these are things I learned over time to keep compile times down and work more tidy.

1. Take those hills for example. They're nice, but cause a lot of extra work for the VIS process. Make them func_walls to ease this process - the same goes for cylinders and other small or complex brushes (like all of that arty statue). Unless these objects hide other area's behind them (as in, a great wall or building or such) or are used to seal off the map, such objects are best made a func_wall. In case of cylinders this also saves you some polygons in-game.
2. The 'splintered' arch somewhere in the lower left corner of the map. Horrible brush-work, I assume it's caused by carving (evil tool when used with cylinders). Use the arch shape instead. It's best to avoid brushes to overlap each other too, maps quickly become hard to work with otherwise.
3. Not really something that will optimize compile times, but certainly will be helpfull along the way (to prevent leaks to occur and to make handling larger maps easier) is to stick to the grid. The larger, rough architecture is best kept at the grid lines so you can make sure there are no leaks and then putting in the details with smaller grid sizes can safely be done.
4. The use of sky brushes is sloppy. You put one brush on top of it all but there's still a lot of area's connected to each other where that isn't needed. Put more sky-brushes on top of those low buildings to divide the map into more smaller area's, and try to minimize the visibility between those area's for performance sake.

As for compiling through Hammer, there are tutorials here to help you set it up correctly. Batch compiling works fine too, though, so that's a matter of taste.

As for the map itself, the first thing that strikes me are the horribly long corridors. I'm sure those will not be good for gameplay... the plaza at the CT start looks nice, with some interesting use of height difference and such. Overall, most area's are probably too large and lack cover. I haven't playtested myself and I'm not a die-hard CS player, so I can't go into much detail here, but these are quite general rules for fast gameplay.

http://twhl.co.za/forums.php?pgt=1&action=viewthread&id=11064&pg=1

We just had this problem in another thread lol.

It's caused from havin too many wads--more than 8--assigned in hammer at once.

Does this fix your problem?