I have tried this several ways read a bunch of stuff about it and have looked at how others have done this in their map but I still dont understand what I am doing wrong ?
http://murdergrounds.com/images/screenshots/errors/areaportal01.jpg

http://murdergrounds.com/images/screenshots/errors/areaportal02.jpg

Have you tied it to the entity "func_areaportal"?

also if it's in a doorway it needs to be either a func_areaportal and parent it to the door so that when it opens/closes the areaportal does the same.

OR if the door is always open, change it to a func_areaportalwindow (Think thats the one)

OR if the door is always open, change it to a func_areaportalwindow (Think thats the one)

areaportalwindow needs to be tied to another brush to work, like a black brush, and it has to be a sealed area meaning if you had a house with 2 doorways you could not use 2 areaportalwindows to block it.

if you can see it in your map after you compile, then you have not tied it to the entity "func_areaportal" (as Formo has mentioned) -- I've done this myself when in a rush, fun when you go to run your map and see it blocking a door or pathway, doh!

Yes i did tie each one to a func_areaportal entity.

The rooms i am tring to do have only two open doors in them one on each side of the building . the outside areaportal is just running across the path way from building to outside skybox i did one on each side of the map to test .

you may want to re-check to see if you didn't tie it to a func-detail, cuz i have never seen an areaportal visible like that in game, unless I did not tie it to the entity....i have see it when I make the brush, texture it with areaportal and forget to tie it to the entity.

B@d....if you still have access to your dod-federation ftp folder, maybe post the vmf in there, and we can take a look at it....

Im going to redo it again rename it and I will report back here within the hour thanks for all your help guys.

you may want to re-check to see if you didn't tie it to a func-detail, cuz i have never seen an areaportal visible like that in game, unless I did not tie it to the entity....i have see it when I make the brush, texture it with areaportal and forget to tie it to the entity.

B@d....if you still have access to your dod-federation ftp folder, maybe post the vmf in there, and we can take a look at it....

http://murdergrounds.com/images/screenshots/errors/proof.jpg

This is just to show you all i did tie it to entity func_areaportal

fast compiled again and same results :(

The vvis is not running now since i put the areaportals in i have deleted all but two now tring to figure out which is doing it but it seems like all of them so far what could be doing this :confused:

Not sure if this is the problem, but something to try:

Make sure every face of the brush is areaportal texture.

Post your whole compile log, there is most likely another issue that makes a leak in the map.

As for your doors and areaportals, do NOT tie your areaportals to the door, so it opens and closes as the door does. That's fine in single player, but in multiplayer, that forces the server to process what's rendered and what's not every time the door opens and closes, and it does so for every client on the server. That creates major lag.

Thanks but you lost me when you said do not tie areaportal to the door . I dont have any working doors in my map why would you say that :confused:

let me tell you what I did I created a brush to fit the doorframe model fill it in like a door would it could be overlapping alitle not sure if that matters or not ?
Then i textured it areaportal texture then i tied it to func_areaportal and left all the settings alone it said it was open thats all i did . what did i do wrong here ?
I know I have a few problems or errors to workout still in my map as you will see from the log and it will probably cause me to fix them before the areaportals will work im sure :rolleyes:

** Executing...
** Command: "c:\program files\steam\steamapps\general_bad\sourcesdk\bin\vb sp.exe"
** Parameters: -game "c:\program files\steam\steamapps\general_bad\day of defeat source\dod" "C:\Program Files\Steam\SteamApps\general_bad\sourcesdk_conten t\dod\mapsrc\dod_Aachen_b19"

Valve Software - vbsp.exe (Aug 4 2006)
1 threads
materialPath: c:\program files\steam\steamapps\general_bad\day of defeat source\dod\materials
Loading C:\Program Files\Steam\SteamApps\general_bad\sourcesdk_conten t\dod\mapsrc\dod_Aachen_b19.vmf
fixing up env_cubemap materials on brush sides...
ProcessBlock_Thread: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (3)
ProcessBlock_Thread: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (2)
Processing areas...done (0)
Building Faces...done (0)
Chop Details...done (0)
Find Visible Detail Sides...
Merged 268 detail faces...done (0)
Merging details...done (0)
FixTjuncs...
PruneNodes...
WriteBSP...
NODRAW on terrain surface!
NODRAW on terrain surface!
NODRAW on terrain surface!
NODRAW on terrain surface!
NODRAW on terrain surface!
NODRAW on terrain surface!
done (1)
writing C:\Program Files\Steam\SteamApps\general_bad\sourcesdk_conten t\dod\mapsrc\dod_Aachen_b19.prt...done (1)
Creating default cubemaps for env_cubemap using skybox materials:
skybox/sky_dod_08_hdr*.vmt
Run buildcubemaps in the engine to get the correct cube maps.

Creating default HDR cubemaps for env_cubemap using skybox materials:
skybox/sky_dod_08_hdr*.vmt
Run buildcubemaps in the engine to get the correct cube maps.

Finding displacement neighbors...
Found a displacement edge abutting multiple other edges.
Warning: overflowed 4 displacement corner-neighbor lists.Finding lightmap sample positions...
Displacement Alpha : 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10
Building Physics collision data...
done (1) (456032 bytes)
Placing detail props : 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10
Compacting texture/material tables...
Reduced 4366 texinfos to 2687
Reduced 204 texdatas to 180 (5623 bytes to 4888)
Writing C:\Program Files\Steam\SteamApps\general_bad\sourcesdk_conten t\dod\mapsrc\dod_Aachen_b19.bsp
37 seconds elapsed

** Executing...
** Command: "c:\program files\steam\steamapps\general_bad\sourcesdk\bin\vv is.exe"
** Parameters: -game "c:\program files\steam\steamapps\general_bad\day of defeat source\dod" -fast "C:\Program Files\Steam\SteamApps\general_bad\sourcesdk_conten t\dod\mapsrc\dod_Aachen_b19"

Valve Software - vvis.exe (May 22 2006)
fastvis = true
1 threads
reading c:\program files\steam\steamapps\general_bad\sourcesdk_conten t\dod\mapsrc\dod_Aachen_b19.bsp
reading c:\program files\steam\steamapps\general_bad\sourcesdk_conten t\dod\mapsrc\dod_Aachen_b19.prt
3815 portalclusters
13547 numportals
BasePortalVis: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (132)
WARNING: Cluster portals saw into cluster
WARNING: Cluster portals saw into cluster
WARNING: Cluster portals saw into cluster
WARNING: Cluster portals saw into cluster
Optimized: 509231 visible clusters (0.00%)
Total clusters visible: 10689916
Average clusters visible: 2802
Building PAS...
Average clusters audible: 3638
visdatasize:3385605 compressed from 3662400
writing c:\program files\steam\steamapps\general_bad\sourcesdk_conten t\dod\mapsrc\dod_Aachen_b19.bsp
2 minutes, 28 seconds elapsed

** Executing...
** Command: "c:\program files\steam\steamapps\general_bad\sourcesdk\bin\vr ad.exe"
** Parameters: -game "c:\program files\steam\steamapps\general_bad\day of defeat source\dod" -noextra "C:\Program Files\Steam\SteamApps\general_bad\sourcesdk_conten t\dod\mapsrc\dod_Aachen_b19"

Valve Software - vrad.exe SSE (May 22 2006)
----- Radiosity Simulator ----
1 threads
[Reading texlights from 'lights.rad']
[39 texlights parsed from 'lights.rad']

Loading c:\program files\steam\steamapps\general_bad\sourcesdk_conten t\dod\mapsrc\dod_Aachen_b19.bsp
8170 faces
4 degenerate faces
725297 square feet [104442840.00 square inches]
557 displacements
404231 square feet [58209316.00 square inches]
8166 patches before subdivision
zero area child patch
zero area child patch
zero area child patch
zero area child patch
zero area child patch
82913 patches after subdivision
17 direct lights
BuildFacelights: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (485)
BuildVisLeafs: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (573)
transfers 5962777, max 1191
transfer lists: 45.5 megs
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (1)
Bounce #1 added RGB(54548, 51385, 35340)
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (0)
Bounce #2 added RGB(13738, 11498, 6714)
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (0)
Bounce #3 added RGB(4814, 3680, 1821)
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (1)
Bounce #4 added RGB(1938, 1364, 568)
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (0)
Bounce #5 added RGB(855, 550, 190)
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (0)
Bounce #6 added RGB(394, 233, 69)
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (1)
Bounce #7 added RGB(189, 103, 26)
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (0)
Bounce #8 added RGB(92, 46, 11)
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (0)
Bounce #9 added RGB(46, 22, 5)
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (1)
Bounce #10 added RGB(23, 10, 2)
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (0)
Bounce #11 added RGB(12, 5, 1)
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (0)
Bounce #12 added RGB(6, 2, 1)
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (1)
Bounce #13 added RGB(3, 1, 0)
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (0)
Bounce #14 added RGB(2, 1, 0)
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (1)
Bounce #15 added RGB(1, 0, 0)
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (0)
Bounce #16 added RGB(1, 0, 0)
Build Patch/Sample Hash Table(s).....Done<0.1119 sec>
FinalLightFace: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (20)
FinalLightFace Done
0 of 0 (0% of) surface lights went in leaf ambient cubes.
ComputePerLeafAmbientLighting: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10
Ready to Finish

Object names Objects/Maxobjs Memory / Maxmem Fullness
------------ --------------- --------------- --------
models 8/1024 384/49152 ( 0.8%)
brushes 1273/8192 15276/98304 (15.5%)
brushsides 11645/65536 93160/524288 (17.8%)
planes 16272/65536 325440/1310720 (24.8%)
vertexes 22878/65536 274536/786432 (34.9%)
nodes 6664/65536 213248/2097152 (10.2%)
texinfos 2687/12288 193464/884736 (21.9%)
texdata 180/2048 5760/65536 ( 8.8%)
dispinfos 557/0 98032/0 ( 0.0%)
disp_verts 42389/0 847780/0 ( 0.0%)
disp_tris 68320/0 136640/0 ( 0.0%)
disp_lmsamples 749619/0 749619/0 ( 0.0%)
faces 8170/65536 457520/3670016 (12.5%)
hdr faces 0/65536 0/3670016 ( 0.0%)
origfaces 4182/65536 234192/3670016 ( 6.4%)
leaves 6673/65536 213536/2097152 (10.2%)
leaffaces 11515/65536 23030/131072 (17.6%)
leafbrushes 8030/65536 16060/131072 (12.3%)
areas 6/256 48/2048 ( 2.3%)
surfedges 55522/512000 222088/2048000 (10.8%)
edges 33572/256000 134288/1024000 (13.1%)
LDR worldlights 16/8192 1408/720896 ( 0.2%)
HDR worldlights 0/8192 0/720896 ( 0.0%)
waterstrips 878/32768 8780/327680 ( 2.7%)
waterverts 0/65536 0/786432 ( 0.0%)
waterindices 13896/65536 27792/131072 (21.2%)
cubemapsamples 4/1024 64/16384 ( 0.4%)
overlays 18/512 6336/180224 ( 3.5%)
LDR lightdata [variable] 3251552/0 ( 0.0%)
HDR lightdata [variable] 0/0 ( 0.0%)
visdata [variable] 3385605/16777216 (20.2%)
entdata [variable] 57830/393216 (14.7%)
LDR leaf ambient 6673/65536 160152/1572864 (10.2%)
HDR leaf ambient 0/65536 0/1572864 ( 0.0%)
occluders 0/0 0/0 ( 0.0%)
occluder polygons 0/0 0/0 ( 0.0%)
occluder vert ind 0/0 0/0 ( 0.0%)
detail props [variable] 1/12 ( 8.3%)
static props [variable] 1/72590 ( 0.0%)
pakfile [variable] 420476/0 ( 0.0%)

Level flags = 0

Win32 Specific Data:
physics [variable] 456032/4194304 (10.9%)
==== Total Win32 BSP file data space used: 12030130 bytes ====

Total triangle count: 22403
Writing c:\program files\steam\steamapps\general_bad\sourcesdk_conten t\dod\mapsrc\dod_Aachen_b19.bsp
18 minutes, 24 seconds elapsed

** Executing...
** Command: Copy File
** Parameters: "C:\Program Files\Steam\SteamApps\general_bad\sourcesdk_conten t\dod\mapsrc\dod_Aachen_b19.bsp" "c:\program files\steam\steamapps\general_bad\day of defeat source\dod\maps\dod_Aachen_b19.bsp"

NODRAW on terrain surface!
NODRAW on terrain surface!
NODRAW on terrain surface!
NODRAW on terrain surface!
NODRAW on terrain surface!
NODRAW on terrain surface!

That's your problem right there.

Sorry I got confused myself when reading earlier posts, I thought you said you had working doors. So just keep in mind what I posted should you add doors in your map.

As for the issue at hand, just uncheck every visgroup but the displacement one, and navigate around the map in Hammer, looking for yellow brush faces. There's no other way to locate them.

I can't see anything obvious in there that would be stopping your area portals from working, though you have one error that you may want to sort out which is this one - zero area child patch

Fix is below in the quote


Generally, this error may be ignored

Description:
A solid in your level has a face with no area. My guess is that vrad.exe is trying to create a lightmap for a face that doesn't exist. Maybe you have an invalid brush?

Solution:
First check Hammers problemchecker (alt+p). If that doesn't solve your problems, you can either ignore the error, or try to find it anyway using cordon tools. You would be looking for brushes which might be too complex. I wouldn't recommend the second option.

I have been lookin for that nodraw on terrain for quite some time i will try what you said Furyo to locate it does that mean it is on the top of the surface or could be any side ?

As for the other problem i have a few houses thats are really bad i need to rebuild them the right way and hopefully that will fix the second error zero area child patch.

thanks again i will try to get back here later today to report about this . :D

Well if you uncheck every visgroup but displacement, what you'll see will only be the displaced faces, and that's where your problem is. Any face of any brush can have nodraw on, but that face can't be displaced. If one of your displacement brushes has one or more undisplaced faces with nodraw, they won't matter cause they won't be taken into account during compile

I did that and it worked perfectly i found it right away inside a wall .

compiled it again and got no more errors for nodraw on terrain ! great thanks a ton ! :D

I had used some func_areaportalwindow entity on some of the out door areas is that ok or should they have been just areaportals .

and one mre thing my first compile since fixing the errors i did not have any areaportal in my doorways i just added them and tried again and now im getting this error in log several times with diff brush numbers Brush 535991: areaportal brush doesn't touch two areas :eek:

That means you have a leak. Go to said brush, and make sure it touches world brushes on all sides, or that any nearby brush also does.

As for areaportalwindows, those have very specific use, and without knowing where exactly you placed them and what they're supposed to do, no one can answer your question. I'd stick with areaportals by default anyway

I am a tad confused. I thought area_portals were only used for functioning door and such. Can one please explain as to why one would use them in doors that are open or in doorways.

Thx

The simplist thing you can do is to go to your items list and check off everything entity related except for portals. Take out the displacements, the entities...everything except solid brushes and your portals. Then look around your map and if you can't visualize the problem bsp-only compile and if it fails, place one entity in the map and bsp-copile only and then look at the leak file...eventually you'll figure out that either you have one of them slightly off (not sealed) or you have a open ended area with portals but one whole section missing a portal.

Thanks FD for the help I found the leak and got the portals to work finally but im not really sure where these areaportals should be placed outside the buildings doors I understand but my pathways is what Im workin on tring to improve the fps I get 80-100 looking towards the outside of the map but 20-30 looking towards the middle . I ran a few console commands for optimizing to veiw the leafs and such model rendering and i adjusted the model distance and that helped alot not with fps but with game play smoothness but i still dont understand where i should place the areaportals .

So I did what I usually do I just tried them somewhere :D so i evened them out throught the map 6 of them total and they dont seem to make a bit of difference with fps at all so im sure they are not even close :(

any more advice for a noob optimizer is welcome :)

hi poping in on area portals way of using: it can be tricky because you must be aware that every thing that can be seen at one place from one side of an areaportal will be rendered beyond it.

try to set areaportal so that threw one you never see another one insight otherwise what"s after the second one will be rendered as well...

try to stick them before corners.

for big outside areas try and think as "rooms"

turn of all func_detail and props, all your buildings should have brushs (textured in sky) going from the top of your building to your skytop doing this even outside areas are sealed and can be treated as rooms....

therefor it's easier to just fill big areaportals going from ground to skytop cutting your areas in rooms...

for example lets say you have an outside area then two buildings in front with one alley in the middle: you put your skyblock on top of the buildings to "close" the gap between the top of the building and the top of your map. You then just place a func_areaportal at the beginning of your alley between the two building going from the ground to the top... here you go

all that is after the funcportal won't be rendered in game when standing in the first outside area and when you pass through it all that's behind won't be rendered... like if you were in to big rooms.....

hope it helps...