Limits in bsp size??????? Created 18 years ago2006-09-26 10:46:39 UTC by Shizuka

We are at the moment building a kz map and are getting a strange bug.

When the bsp file reaches over 16 MB there can only be one player on the server. If a second player tries to connect the server freezes and you cannot move (or join if you are the second player).

First we thought it had something to do with clip nodes but thats not it. Instead it seems like its the size of the bsp file. Over 16383 and it bugs and below 16384 it works.

Have anyone of you heard of a limit of the bsp file for hl/cs? And why then should it be at 14 bits and not 16 bits?

(Recommendation from kz founder was that kz mappers should include textures as to keep backwards compatibility, so the map can't be broken due to missing textures from future releases of cs.)

Don't wadinclude textures if there's a lot of them, use a seperate wad instead.

This usually happens when you use 12 different wads, and you only take 3 textures from 10 of them. Whenever I make a map, I catalog all the textures I used, and then compile them all into one wad with Wally. Cuts the bsp size alot of times.

We tried moving the textures out from the bsp into a wadfile and it wasn't enough. It probably reads the textures into memory along with bsp regardless from where it originates.

We would like to have all our textures but if there is no other way we will have to see which ones that can be replaced for others that are on the map. We will also try to rescale some of them to make the bsp smaller.

Got some screens from the map and as you can see there are lots of textures.

http://addicted2.org/opt140002.jpg
http://addicted2.org/opt140003.jpg
http://addicted2.org/opt140007.jpg
http://addicted2.org/opt140014.jpg
http://addicted2.org/opt140016.jpg
http://addicted2.org/opt140020.jpg
http://addicted2.org/opt140024.jpg
http://addicted2.org/opt140026.jpg

Thats not all of the textures and we would actually like to add some more rooms but with a 17 MB bsp it looks hard to get anything more in there

So, if you compile your map without -wadincluding anything, its still over the size limit?

Without including the wads it is well under the size limit if that limit exists But the server still crashes (maybe I shold mention that this is a dedicated server problem it works fine locally on your computer). Therefore we (my co-mapper and me) think the server is still reading the wad and bsp as one or something. It's a strange bug but from what we have seen it only occurs in really big maps. That's why we think that it got something to do with bsp size.

Oh another important thing between working compiles and non working the only difference we have found is the bsp size. The same textures under 16 383 works fine anything over that and we got problems.

There is no way it would read the bsp and wad as one. That doesn't make any sense.

How big is the WAD that you compiled the others into? Are there alot of unused textures in it? Try getting rid of them.

When we made the wad for that map it only contained the textures needed for the map (why include other???). And you are absolutely right this bug does not make sens in any way. We have been working for quite some time to find a solution to the problem and we have some theories but non that has solved the problem.

Your best bet is to distribute the file in a .zip with a .res included. .Res files tells the server which file to download.

So say your name is kz_poop and you're using the textures hello.wad and bye.wad, that are both in the counter-strike/cstrike directory, your .res file would be named kz_poop.res look like this:

maps/kz_poop.res
hello.wad
bye.wad

Note that the .res file reads files with the mod directory as root, like everything originates from cstrike. So a sound would mean:
sounds/kz_poop/sound.wav

The .res file is placed in the maps directory.

Let me explain the bug again.

1. We get the map on our dedicated server, works fine.
2. Player one joins and it still works fine.
3. Player two joins and the server freezes.
4. One of the players leavs an the map works fine again.

Both player of course have the map so no downloading.

This only occurs when the bsp is larger than 16 MB the same map optimised in some way to make it go under 16 MB and it works. Unfortunately when the lighting is right and a final compile it gets over 15 MB.

The latest theory we are working on is that one should strike a balance between worldbrushes and func_walls etc. When the map gets big and complex

It does'nt include all the wad data. Only the data that would appear on the face of the brush. Or thats how it should be.

the map needs some serious optimization, if your getting an error, its because of unneeded complexity or failed entity setups.

I think thats the first thing you have to fix to decrese size and R_Speeds.

do a gl_wireframe 1 and take some more screenshots so we can show you what I mean

The map has been very optimized and r_speeds are arond 500 a few tops on 700 or 800 but thats really no problem.

We are very sure that there are no failed entity setups. The map has been checked and checked over again for errors.