When I load my map, it crashes DoD to the desktop.....any idea what may be causing it? ...only error is a Error loading studio model ""!, but that is in a previous version that does not crash -- have I gone past some threshold in brushes, portals, etc.? Only big thing different from this version and the last one that worked is the portal count
-- earlier version had:
1748 portalclusters
5048 numportals
Optimized: 148388 visible clusters (0.00%)
Total clusters visible: 1756036
Average clusters visible: 1004
Average clusters audible: 1728
visdatasize:686370 compressed from 783104

while this version has:
2556 portalclusters
6891 numportals
Optimized: 337223 visible clusters (0.00%)
Total clusters visible: 3 299061
Average clusters visible: 1290
Average clusters audible: 2508
visdatasize:1417171 compressed from 1635840

big jump and I did not add a lot of brush work from one version to the next ....no errors when I run "check map for problems" either.

full compile log follows...

materialPath: c:\games\steam\steamapps\XXX@juno.com\day of defeat source\dod\materials
Loading C:\games\Steam\SteamApps\XXX@juno.com\sourcesdk_co ntent\dod\mapsrc\dod_rouen_b2z27.vmf
fixing up env_cubemap materials on brush sides...
0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...100...1... 2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10Processing areas...done (0)
Building Faces...done (0)
Chop Details...done (0)
Find Visible Detail Sides...
Merged 1108 detail faces...done (0)
Merging details...done (1)
FixTjuncs...
PruneNodes...
WriteBSP...
done (1)
writing C:\games\Steam\SteamApps\XXX@juno.com\sourcesdk_co ntent\dod\mapsrc\dod_rouen_b2z27.prt...done (1)
Creating default cubemaps for env_cubemap using skybox materials:
skybox/sky_dod_06_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_06_hdr*.vmt
Run buildcubemaps in the engine to get the correct cube maps.

Finding displacement neighbors...
Finding lightmap sample positions...
Displacement Alpha : 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10
Building Physics collision data...
done (1) (883995 bytes)
Error loading studio model ""!
Placing detail props : 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10
Compacting texture/material tables...
Reduced 3174 texinfos to 1826
Reduced 318 texdatas to 261 (10318 bytes to 8430)
Writing C:\games\Steam\SteamApps\XXX@juno.com\sourcesdk_co ntent\dod\mapsrc\dod_rouen_b2z27.bsp
36 seconds elapsed

1 threads
reading c:\games\steam\steamapps\XXX@juno.com\sourcesdk_co ntent\dod\mapsrc\dod_rouen_b2z27.bsp
reading c:\games\steam\steamapps\XXX@juno.com\sourcesdk_co ntent\dod\mapsrc\dod_rouen_b2z27.prt
2556 portalclusters
6891 numportals
0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10Optimize d: 337223 visible clusters (0.00%)
Total clusters visible: 3299061
Average clusters visible: 1290
Building PAS...
Average clusters audible: 2508
visdatasize:1417171 compressed from 1635840
writing c:\games\steam\steamapps\XXX@juno.com\sourcesdk_co ntent\dod\mapsrc\dod_rouen_b2z27.bsp
19 seconds elapsed

[Reading texlights from 'lights.rad']
[39 texlights parsed from 'lights.rad']

Loading c:\games\steam\steamapps\XXX@juno.com\sourcesdk_co ntent\dod\mapsrc\dod_rouen_b2z27.bsp
9799 faces
2 degenerate faces
662790 square feet [95441896.00 square inches]
194 displacements
101773 square feet [14655364.00 square inches]
9797 patches before subdivision
90076 patches after subdivision
111 direct lights
0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...100...1... 2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10transfers 7321053, max 649
transfer lists: 55.9 megs
0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 Bounce #1 added RGB(361614, 269954, 127190)
0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 Bounce #2 added RGB(77431, 51164, 17362)
0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 Bounce #3 added RGB(22286, 13140, 3206)
0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 Bounce #4 added RGB(7618, 4025, 731)
0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 Bounce #5 added RGB(2878, 1367, 189)
0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 Bounce #6 added RGB(1153, 495, 53)
0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 Bounce #7 added RGB(482, 188, 16)
0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 Bounce #8 added RGB(208, 74, 5)
0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 Bounce #9 added RGB(92, 30, 2)
0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 Bounce #10 added RGB(42, 12, 1)
0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 Bounce #11 added RGB(19, 5, 0)
0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 Bounce #12 added RGB(9, 2, 0)
0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 Bounce #13 added RGB(4, 1, 0)
0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 Bounce #14 added RGB(2, 0, 0)
0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 Bounce #15 added RGB(1, 0, 0)
0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 Bounce #16 added RGB(1, 0, 0)
Build Patch/Sample Hash Table(s).....Done<0.2231 sec>
0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10FinalLig htFace Done
0 of 18 (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 34/1024 1632/49152 ( 3.3%)
brushes 2586/8192 31032/98304 (31.6%)
brushsides 18370/65536 146960/524288 (28.0%)
planes 9654/65536 193080/1310720 (14.7%)
vertexes 20707/65536 248484/786432 (31.6%)
nodes 5183/65536 165856/2097152 ( 7.9%)
texinfos 1826/12288 131472/884736 (14.9%)
texdata 261/2048 8352/65536 (12.7%)
dispinfos 194/0 34144/0 ( 0.0%)
disp_verts 7690/0 153800/0 ( 0.0%)
disp_tris 11104/0 22208/0 ( 0.0%)
disp_lmsamples 283343/0 283343/0 ( 0.0%)
faces 9799/65536 548744/3670016 (15.0%)
hdr faces 0/65536 0/3670016 ( 0.0%)
origfaces 6337/65536 354872/3670016 ( 9.7%)
leaves 5218/65536 166976/2097152 ( 8.0%)
leaffaces 12774/65536 25548/131072 (19.5%)
leafbrushes 6723/65536 13446/131072 (10.3%)
areas 35/256 280/2048 (13.7%)
surfedges 73200/512000 292800/2048000 (14.3%)
edges 47054/256000 188216/1024000 (18.4%)
LDR worldlights 111/8192 9768/720896 ( 1.4%)
HDR worldlights 0/8192 0/720896 ( 0.0%)
waterstrips 1109/32768 11090/327680 ( 3.4%)
waterverts 0/65536 0/786432 ( 0.0%)
waterindices 19695/65536 39390/131072 (30.1%)
cubemapsamples 112/1024 1792/16384 (10.9%)
overlays 33/512 11616/180224 ( 6.4%)
LDR lightdata [variable] 3414036/0 ( 0.0%)
HDR lightdata [variable] 0/0 ( 0.0%)
visdata [variable] 1417171/16777216 ( 8.4%)
entdata [variable] 155753/393216 (39.6%)
LDR leaf ambient 5218/65536 125232/1572864 ( 8.0%)
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] 1/55034 ( 0.0%)
pakfile [variable] 9834976/0 ( 0.0%)

Level flags = 0

Win32 Specific Data:
physics [variable] 883995/4194304 (21.1%)
==== Total Win32 BSP file data space used: 18916066 bytes ====

Total triangle count: 28089
Writing c:\games\steam\steamapps\XXX@juno.com\sourcesdk_co ntent\dod\mapsrc\dod_rouen_b2z27.bsp
12 minutes, 2 seconds elapsed

at a quick glance, nothing seems outrageous in the compile log. any entity or i/o work recently? thats what usually does it for me

funny you should mention that, jake, I did try to make a respawnable exploding fuel drum, but when this crash happened, I deleted the drum, point_template, and env_entity_maker and recompiled, but it still crashes -- could the vmf be messed up even after these things are deleted?

I opened up the vmf to try find the "Error loading studio model ""! problem, (supposedly a prop without a world model assigned), but no joy.

Guess I could compare teh good vmf with the crashing vmf in notepad and see if there is something glaring? that or start doing cordon compiles?

hehe, I might just start copy and pasting stuff from the bad to the good, until the good stops working!

Hmm... well, I don't want to create any panic here, but today a definately flawless version of one of my maps crashed DoD back to desktop, too.

Might this by any chance be caused by Steam...?

;D

First thing I'd do is do a BSP only compile, see if that still crashes, then again with BSP and VVIS, then only add VRAD. I wouldn't be surprised if this was just a compile error.

For example, sometimes my compile will crash when starting the HDR process. Vrad doesn't like to be called again for late shifts I presume. Sometimes it works sometimes I get a vrad crash error

Try restarting hammer (or Steam) before doing the HDR run - it works almost every time for me. When starting the compile process after a few hours of work on the map, vrad almost every time crashes in the second run.

Albatros]... today a definately flawless version of one of my maps crashed DoD back to desktop, too.


I have seen this too once in a while, but my map does it consistently, so am thinking it is the map.

... First thing I'd do is do a BSP only compile, see if that still crashes, then again with BSP and VVIS, then only add VRAD. I wouldn't be surprised if this was just a compile error.

Mon Ami, I will try that, the map does not crash during compile, though, and I am not doing an HDR compile, but will try the baby step approach to see where it is choking.

I have noticed that it is showing about 1000 additional faces than the previous version that works, that works out to about 160+ additional 6-sided solids? I don't think I added that much stuff between versions -- maybe I inadvertantly copied a bunch of brushes and they're buried inside some other brushes causing a problem?

Thanks for the help, guys!

small update -- tried bsp-only compile but still crashes.
If I run the map from Hammer, I get the message "STEAM validation rejected" -- this may be just a red herring. I am testing in off-line mode, but have seen the crash in on-line mode, too (on separate PCs).

Have also tried compiling with displacements, tools, func detail, props, unchecked, but still crashes.

onto cordon compiling -- good news, axis spawn checks good!

If you don't find the cause, please send the vmf over, I'd love to find out what it is :)

update...cordon compiling progressing, almost to the plaza with no crashes......one thing I have noticed is I need to have sv_lan "1" set in my cfg for the map to run....otherwise, I get the STEAM validation error...funny, never had this before and this is the only map that this setting seems to matter?

aaah crashes are just toooo hard to stand for!!

I've had exactly the same problem with my map.... the only good way of preventing this is to make loads and loads of copy of your map.... always make a new copy when you change something....

this helps when it crashes... I didn't do this myself and had to "cordon" my map to find out the problem.... took me 3 hours but found out: 1 small model... got rid of it and all worked again...

good luck! ;) you'll find it for sure..... this is obviously a model problem.... cause your map seem to work...

Found it!

It was an env_fire entity where I had checked the flag "visible from above" -- unchecked that flag and (as they say in France) voila!

That's what I get for checking flags and not knowing what they really do!

Thanks, everybody, for the help.

Now onto the fun work!

That bug hunting sux!

It was an env_fire entity where I had checked the flag "visible from above" -- unchecked that flag and (as they say in France) voila!

What shall I say - stupid me, I've hat the same problem.

Too stupid... or two stupids? Lol.

Cheers!

Albatros;1053393']
Too stupid... or two stupids? Lol.



LOL

There are so many little gotcha's it's hard to keep track of all of them...

Try saving many many different versions of your map to avoid this. Whenever I add a building or two, I bump my build version from "MyMap_05" to "MyMap_06". This applies to triggers, entities, etc.

This is where you will save yourself alot of time troubleshooting crashes.

Found it!

It was an env_fire entity where I had checked the flag "visible from above" -- unchecked that flag and (as they say in France) voila!

That's what I get for checking flags and not knowing what they really do!

Thanks, everybody, for the help.

Now onto the fun work!

That bug hunting sux!

Thank you so vary vary much, I had given up on a map due to crashing like this and this was the reason. That flag should be removed or fixed :(

Someone needs to make a list of known and possable reasons for maps crashing like this. Save us alot of work trouble shotting.