Cracks start forming, possible problem with constructor
by Meyou · in Constructor · 05/05/2008 (8:35 am) · 16 replies
I'm not trying to build anything fancy just a square, two story house..I have all the windows and doors cut out and it's almost ready to move in but...I've been tweaking on the window framing when I noticed a continuing problem occurring from a few of my other builds, a long story short.....Constructor at some point in time decides to form cracks in the build.
elaboration.....I'll export (I usually switch from .dif/legacy.dif those are the only two I ever do). when I export I go to game, no cracks, I go back to constructor to the next window frame, export, go to game...there are cracks now. I'm not tying to do anything out of my learning curve or advanced, this seems to be a problem. When I was doing the log cabin a while back I noticed the same thing but I ignored it, now I'm sure it's constructor.
When this happens I'm not even working in the area that gets cracked, and I don't have to do much for the cracks to form, I'm just creating a frame around one window. I can't move to another window without forming cracks. I have a few options left so I'll deplete them but they are going fast....thanks.
elaboration.....I'll export (I usually switch from .dif/legacy.dif those are the only two I ever do). when I export I go to game, no cracks, I go back to constructor to the next window frame, export, go to game...there are cracks now. I'm not tying to do anything out of my learning curve or advanced, this seems to be a problem. When I was doing the log cabin a while back I noticed the same thing but I ignored it, now I'm sure it's constructor.
When this happens I'm not even working in the area that gets cracked, and I don't have to do much for the cracks to form, I'm just creating a frame around one window. I can't move to another window without forming cracks. I have a few options left so I'll deplete them but they are going fast....thanks.
#2
05/05/2008 (10:58 am)
It is just a guess, but I am thinking that what you are seeing is the geometry being broken up by your edits during the export process because of structural brush connections. Try changing the frames to detail brushes and see if it goes away.
#3
http://www.deanguitars.tv/userpics/lib9/cracks.jpg
this is the cracks...not a real good pic of the cracks but you can see them
http://www.deanguitars.tv/userpics/lib9/cracks2.jpg
I've tried several methods on the window frame...as of right now I have gone through all of my options and I can't, for the life of me, do anything else on this structure without causing cracks. Everything else I do will cause a crack somewhere in this structure and it will hardly ever be in the same place, there is no telling where the split will happen..
05/05/2008 (11:13 am)
This one is the area I'm working on...http://www.deanguitars.tv/userpics/lib9/cracks.jpg
this is the cracks...not a real good pic of the cracks but you can see them
http://www.deanguitars.tv/userpics/lib9/cracks2.jpg
I've tried several methods on the window frame...as of right now I have gone through all of my options and I can't, for the life of me, do anything else on this structure without causing cracks. Everything else I do will cause a crack somewhere in this structure and it will hardly ever be in the same place, there is no telling where the split will happen..
#4
05/05/2008 (11:16 am)
David..that will be a negative on changing just the frames, I'm changing all brushes to detail now..
#5
05/05/2008 (11:21 am)
David...I have successfully completed two windows without cracks by changing all structures to detail....thanks man...I should thank Ryan Mounts as well, he suggested the same thing on another problem I have had before...so far so good..
#6
Edit:
Oops! Sorry, I hadn't refreshed before posting after lunch! Glad everything is working!
05/05/2008 (11:30 am)
Did you set the frames to detail brushes?Edit:
Oops! Sorry, I hadn't refreshed before posting after lunch! Glad everything is working!
#7
05/05/2008 (11:33 am)
You shouldn't have to set everything to detail. Just the things you don't want to break up. Usually walls and the like do not matter. However, the more detailed you get, the more it will break up geometry (especially if you use non-cubes as your shapes.
#8
05/05/2008 (12:30 pm)
Ok..thanks for the heads up. In this particular case the walls were the real culprit, I couldn't do anything without them breaking. Let me play with it a while longer and hopefully I can continue... 
#9
05/05/2008 (12:37 pm)
Meyou, i don't know if you model in 3ds max , but Ryan Mounts has made a very powerful script called "max3Ctor" which exports a max scene to constructor. I had similar problem with these cracks before. Since using max3ctor i haven't had any.
#10
Picasso...that sounds very useful I wish there were more programs that could do that with more things than just interiors...No I don't have 3ds max. We're in the process of finding a .dts exporter for animations from Fragmotion. We've been using Milkshape for exporting. I don't want to be asking for too much but I wish there was just one program that could do what it tells you it does. As for building interiors, I don't have many problems with Constructor at all, it is by far the best one for navigating around and just overall building, until you get into what I got into today, but, I can look past that kind of stuff considering I'm only a beginner. After Tim Willits and John Romero show me a few things then I might move on to extreme builds but until then I'm pretty happy with constructor....
05/05/2008 (1:33 pm)
Brian/David...I meant to say this much earlier but you guys responded real fast and that is awesome, thanks so much....Picasso...that sounds very useful I wish there were more programs that could do that with more things than just interiors...No I don't have 3ds max. We're in the process of finding a .dts exporter for animations from Fragmotion. We've been using Milkshape for exporting. I don't want to be asking for too much but I wish there was just one program that could do what it tells you it does. As for building interiors, I don't have many problems with Constructor at all, it is by far the best one for navigating around and just overall building, until you get into what I got into today, but, I can look past that kind of stuff considering I'm only a beginner. After Tim Willits and John Romero show me a few things then I might move on to extreme builds but until then I'm pretty happy with constructor....
#11
05/05/2008 (5:58 pm)
When I try to select detail, it won't select. What's up with that?
#12
05/06/2008 (6:21 am)
Make sure that you have the brush selected and are in brush mode. If you couldn't tell, I'm really good at trying to do things to faces and having to undo my mistakes.
#13
Edit: Just thought of something. I'm using a modded copy of the entities.cs, maybe it was accidentally removed from it? If so, could someone who's good at this stuff add the coding for it in? I'm no good at that stuff =p
05/06/2008 (3:07 pm)
Yup, am doing it in brush mode with it selected. Collision, portal, and vehicle collision don't seem to work either. Any ideas?Edit: Just thought of something. I'm using a modded copy of the entities.cs, maybe it was accidentally removed from it? If so, could someone who's good at this stuff add the coding for it in? I'm no good at that stuff =p
#14
Do you mean entities.db? Yeah, that could cause a problem. Portals, Collision, Vehicle Collision are all entities behind the scenes. You may want to grab an unmodified entities.db from a virgin install and start over with your modifications.
05/06/2008 (7:41 pm)
@Perishingflames:Do you mean entities.db? Yeah, that could cause a problem. Portals, Collision, Vehicle Collision are all entities behind the scenes. You may want to grab an unmodified entities.db from a virgin install and start over with your modifications.
#15
05/07/2008 (6:54 pm)
Okay I'll try that. Just wondering, are there any drawbacks to detail brushes? They show up as normal brushes? Are they supported by Quark as well?
#16
07/02/2008 (7:11 am)
I always forget to follow up on my threads when I have a fix. I fixed this problem not long after I started this thread. I told myself I would always follow up when I have "informative information". A very good fix for this problem is to put a texture on the faces you can't see that match the textures you see. I know about the knull texture but I personally like this method better because it doesn't create holes and leaves the build original. I'm not sure if they are actually cracks as I haven't noticed light or particle leaks. What actually causes the cracks to show is mismatched textures.. 
Torque Owner Brian Wilson