Compile Windows Not Responding Created 13 years ago2010-07-23 01:42:10 UTC by satchmo

I am trying to compile a large map, and Hammer's compile windows keeps saying that it's not responding.

The Windows 7 cursor is still spinning when it's focused on Hammer.

Is it really not responding, or the compilation process just takes so long that Windows 7 thinks it's not responding?

it's just still compiling afaik.. mine does that too at least, and when it gives me the option to close or wait for the program to respond, i just choose to wait. Is it giving you the "wait" option?

Thanks. I tried it again this morning, and this time, I did not piss off the compiler by using any other program or even take the focus off Hammer (ie staying in foreground). And it worked.

I thought my computer is powerful enough to handle compiling, but apparently with a complex and large map, it needs undivided attention while compiling.

It still blows my mind why Valve did'nt implemented some sort of threading in that Compile thingy.

That's why i prefer a front end GUI.

Right now, i know a couple but they're probably all broken due the recent engine updates.

Meh.

isn't there a "-low" priority parameter like for the old tools?

You can adjust priority on the compile tasks (vvis/vrad) through right-clicking on them in the task manager.

I strongly advise compiling maps outside of Hammer; it's a memory hog and seems to cause system instability for me the longer I leave it open. You can do this with a Windows batch file and it takes about 2 seconds to write. Here is the code (external link because it doesn't fit in the forum's formatting)

http://pastebin.com/ZwRgvwQv

All you have to do is fill in the paths specific to your needs, cutpate everything into notepad, and save as a file with a .bat extension. You also have to compile the map from within Hammer to start, but only with VBSP, to generate the .bsp file itself; which should take no longer than a minute or two.

The advantages of this method are that you will experience faster compile times and you should get a real-time update of how your compile is progressing. The only disadvantages I have found so far are that...you have to deal with Windows batch files

Thanks for the useful tips!