Game Development Community

Crippling Portal errors any suggestings

by LAZ · in Technical Issues · 02/12/2004 (10:00 am) · 6 replies

I have successfully exported a building with 4 room and connecting halls. Each room has a total of 4 windows, but when I increase the window count to 8 to mimic a school it suddently gave me portal errors.
This is what it looked like before.
-----This is what the file looks like before I added the extra windows-----

Successfully opened map file:
Parsing mapfile...done.
Creating BSP...done.
Marking active zones...done
Creating surfaces...done.
Lightmaps: Normal...Alarm...done.
Resorting and Packing LightMaps...done.

STATISTICS
- Total brushes: 183
+ structural: 159
+ detail: 0
+ portal: 24
- Number of zones: 8
- Number of surfaces: 658

Errors exists in this interior. Please use the debug rendering modes
to find and correct the following problems:

* Ambiguous brushes: 0
* Orphaned Polygons: 361

*** ** WARNING WARNING WARNING ** ***
** *** WARNING WARNING WARNING *** **

Exporting to runtime...done.

----this is what I get with the new building9the one that has the extra windows----
Parsing mapfile...done.
Creating BSP...

then a seperate error pops up....

It says Fatal-ISV: (D:\home\projects\torque\tools\map2dif\bspNode.cc @ 972)
Error, bad assumption (pEntry->windings.size()++ 2, not 1) Go smack DMoore (portal 12)

Thats exactly what it says and this is my third version of this building... It also works fine with out the window portals... but the polygon count or overdraw is not going to work for the project i'm working on. And to make it even worst the portal number changes in the error when I begin turning them off one by one. I wonder if any one else has had this problem. Is this error connected to some thing like over lapping brushes? Is there a limit to how many portals a room or zone can have? I've ripped this building apart 3 times this week and I'm just wondering whats going on?

I got files if you want them and I'm using
Build 1983 of Valve Hammer editor 3.4 sdk
on an amd platform with window 2000

If any one has any more info on the map2dif program or any know propblems they have with each other It would help alot. Portal info would be great.... So far I think I've read every thing but if you have links that would help also.

Sorry about the long post but I wanted to give you any info that is problably connected to the problem.

Thanks
LAZ's profile picture
Torque Owner LAZ

About the author

Recent Threads

NextNext Thread
PrevPrevious Thread
More from Technical Issues


Torque Owner Alex Swanson
#1
02/12/2004 (10:27 am)
I get this error quite a bit. As best I can tell, it usually happens when the portal brush gets split by the brushes it is intersecting. This causes map2dif to freak out because a portal can only be one brush.

I usually use Quark, but I imagine the problem is similar. Make sure that the outer edge of the portal is intersecting 4 solid brushes, even if other brushes intersect the portal for detailing. If there are too many seams along the edge of the portal it is more likely to be split.

If your map design allows it, try not to have any brushes intersecting the portal, except at the 4 edges.

Torque Owner LAZ
#2
02/12/2004 (10:58 am)
Hey thanks Alex... Good advice. I understand you completely now. Hey I got a solution then. I'll try it out but it envoles framing the portals and prefabing them so that you can have complicated objects surrounding them. O yeah The detail brushes don't count as solid brushes do they.. Becuase then I could use them as the portal frams and then reduce the poly count at the same time.

Ok I think I'll try this out later tonite. But hey thanks. You saved me another two weeks...LOL

I'll post what I find if you don't beat me to trying it out.

Associate Matt Fairfax
PopCap
#3
02/12/2004 (11:11 am)
I don't think detail brushes can be used to seal a zone so you would end up with a "gap" around the portal thus rendering it useless.

Torque Owner LAZ
#4
02/12/2004 (11:54 am)
Hey thanks Alex... Good advice. I understand you completely now. Hey I got a solution then. I'll try it out but it envoles framing the portals and prefabing them so that you can have complicated objects surrounding them. O yeah The detail brushes don't count as solid brushes do they.. Becuase then I could use them as the portal frams and then reduce the poly count at the same time.

Ok I think I'll try this out later tonite. But hey thanks. You saved me another two weeks...LOL

I'll post what I find if you don't beat me to trying it out.

Torque Owner LAZ
#5
02/12/2004 (12:42 pm)
Hey it works... I also found that making your portals as thin as possible helps also then it will not have a chance to intersect more than two faces. The framed portals work. Your right the detail brushes wouldn't do me any good, Ecept for their normal use. Just trying to use all the tricks...

Again thanks, my building is all portaled up now.

Parsing mapfile...done.
Creating BSP...done.
Marking active zones...done
Creating surfaces...done.
Lightmaps: Normal...Alarm...done.
Resorting and Packing LightMaps...done.

STATISTICS
- Total brushes: 1036
+ structural: 948
+ detail: 0
+ portal: 88
- Number of zones: 15
- Number of surfaces: 4751

** *** WARNING WARNING WARNING *** **
*** ** WARNING WARNING WARNING ** ***

Errors exists in this interior. Please use the debug rendering modes
to find and correct the following problems:

* Ambiguous brushes: 0
* Orphaned Polygons: 127

*** ** WARNING WARNING WARNING ** ***
** *** WARNING WARNING WARNING *** **

Exporting to runtime...done.

Thanks... hopefully I'll be posting some screens of it...

Torque Owner Alex Swanson
#6
02/13/2004 (11:00 am)
Cool, glad it worked for you.