And it happens on a simple map I'm creating - so far there's only a couple of models, a lot of big func_detail brushes, and almost everthing in lovely orange dev textures, except for a test bit of water (which doesn't work - I get water splashes but no actual water unless I dive under the surface).

My skybox is quite big, but it seems to have no leaks.

When I compile in LDR, it compiles ok. When I click on HDR, it crashes.

Is it the water? Is it because some of my brushes are overlapping (cos I haven't changed them to displacements yet)? Is it because I've got models rotated diagonally?
Is it just 'one of those things' which means I should start again? (I wouldn't be losing too much if I had to)

any help appreciated :)

I've done some more googling, and there's one forum post I found on another site.... it seems the problem may be related to the diagonally skewed bridge I've constructed, which also overlaps another brush. The phrase 'off grid' seems to be key: I've noticed when drag-resizing and cut&pasting that often vertices don't line up properly afterwards. I've typically got my grid size set to 16 (and my rotation step set to 15deg) for when I'm setting out the basic of my map, dropping to 8 or 4 to get models to align properly with brushes. But after moving or skewing brushes I occasionally need to drop down to 2 or even 1.

If your water doesn't show, it's either that you have a leak or that you're not compiling with vvis. In either case, you should fix that first

And it happens on a simple map I'm creating - so far there's only a couple of models, a lot of big func_detail brushes, and almost everthing in lovely orange dev textures, except for a test bit of water (which doesn't work - I get water splashes but no actual water unless I dive under the surface).

My skybox is quite big, but it seems to have no leaks.

When I compile in LDR, it compiles ok. When I click on HDR, it crashes.

Is it the water? Is it because some of my brushes are overlapping (cos I haven't changed them to displacements yet)? Is it because I've got models rotated diagonally?
Is it just 'one of those things' which means I should start again? (I wouldn't be losing too much if I had to)

any help appreciated

The water won't work if a) there is a leak in your map, check your log for ***leaked***, or if your water brush isn't constructed/surround properly (look up some tutorials).

It is nothing to do with the rotation of models.

It's almost certainly a leak, post your log here and it will be easier to see whats wrong.

Thanks for the hints - I had a displacement that broke through the bottom of the skybox - I thought I'd fixed it, but maybe it's still poking through by a few pixels. Presumably that would cause the problem?


edit: yes it was a leak, I loaded the pointfile and found a gap in the floor. I also fixed the displacement and now it compiles fine *and* the water works :) cheers all!