VBSP error: CONTENTS_SOLID ? Created 16 years ago2008-01-19 22:16:20 UTC by R1Co

I had to rearrange my skybox and now VBSP is giving me an error, which causes, that no new .bsp is created. Important part of the compile log:

FindPortalSide: Couldn't find a good match for which brush to assign to a portal near (1024.0, 3605.6, 306.5)
Leaf 0 contents:
Leaf 1 contents: CONTENTS_SOLID
viscontents (node 0 contents ^ node 1 contents): CONTENTS_SOLID
This means that none of the brushes in leaf 0 or 1 that touches the portal has CONTENTS_SOLID
Check for a huge brush enclosing the coordinates above that has contents CONTENTS_SOLID
Candidate brush IDs: Brush 256017:

Processing areas...done (0)
Building Faces...SubdivideFace: didn't split the polygon

Neither the coordinates nor the brush number lead to the reason. I checked both. It seems, that is has something to do with an areaportal nearby. But I recreated that too and the error stays the same.

Delete the brush in question and compile again.

Thanx for the tip, Ant! Actually I did that, but since the compiler came up with the same error and another brush number, I thought it's not the reason. Now I deleted both brushes and the error is gone.

Note that

SubdivideFace: didn't split the polygon

was yet another error. Luckily I found the (third) problematic brush with the help of the cordon tool and deleted it too.

CONTENTS_SOLID is, in my experience, a brush based error. It's caused if you make some kind of invalid brush (again, from experience. I could be entirely wrong, so someone correct me if so :P). I recently got one with a perfectly valid piece of geometry: it was textured entirely in nodraw, except for one face which was skip (I was testing something, don't laugh at me :< ). That created an invalid brush, despite the physical shape of the brush being entirely fine.

Just keep an eye on the brushwork.

Yeah it was obviously caused by vertex manipulation although those brushes weren't reported by the "check for problems" tool. Ayway it's all fine now.