Contructor crashes
by Andrew Brady · in Constructor · 06/04/2007 (6:15 am) · 8 replies
Hello,
I have acouple issues and was hoping that someone might be able to shed some light.
First, I have been using the legacy to dif TGEA export without issue, until now. What happens is, within 2 seconds of the export process starting, it crashes contructor. I know (or at least I think I do) that it is being caused by the portals I have implemented in the mock level I made for testing. I think this because if I remove the portals entirely, it exports fine. I am new to this engine's usage of portals, so it is quite possible I am doing somthing wrong in their contruction and or placement. Here is a pic of how I "think" they should be placed to stop draw from one area to another:
A second issue not necessarily related is about 50 percent of the time, when I open up a map that already has lights in them, the lights in perspective view do not appear functional. I have to delete every light entity and start anew for this issue to be fixed. Is this semi-normal or am I missing somthing?
I have acouple issues and was hoping that someone might be able to shed some light.
First, I have been using the legacy to dif TGEA export without issue, until now. What happens is, within 2 seconds of the export process starting, it crashes contructor. I know (or at least I think I do) that it is being caused by the portals I have implemented in the mock level I made for testing. I think this because if I remove the portals entirely, it exports fine. I am new to this engine's usage of portals, so it is quite possible I am doing somthing wrong in their contruction and or placement. Here is a pic of how I "think" they should be placed to stop draw from one area to another:
A second issue not necessarily related is about 50 percent of the time, when I open up a map that already has lights in them, the lights in perspective view do not appear functional. I have to delete every light entity and start anew for this issue to be fixed. Is this semi-normal or am I missing somthing?
About the author
www.andrewjbrady.com
#2
relight does nothing when I click it (at least visibly)
:(
06/04/2007 (9:42 am)
I'm using version 1.0.2, though I have had portals before without issue. Maybe its the portals and the lights.. dunno.relight does nothing when I click it (at least visibly)
:(
#3
A portal should only slightly overlap the brushes it is sunk into and should never be coplanar with another brush surface.
In general you are also going to run into problems when you use portals that are as thick as your walls.
06/04/2007 (11:59 am)
It is really hard to tell in that picture but it looks like some of your portals are sticking all the way outside of some walls while others go all the way out to the outside surface of other walls. Both of the those situations could cause major problems.A portal should only slightly overlap the brushes it is sunk into and should never be coplanar with another brush surface.
In general you are also going to run into problems when you use portals that are as thick as your walls.
#4
06/04/2007 (1:32 pm)
Thanks Matt, I think I have examples of everything you mentioned in my level concerning portals. I'll fix them as you recommended and post back if it was it.
#5
Matt, i think you were correct. I changed the thickness of my portal brushes as well as adjusted them to fit just inside the walls of my interiors and it stopped crashing, so thank you very much!
Having said this, I am experiencing other things though once I load them. First though, I better state that I have every brush face coated with the Null texture besides the faces that are visible when playing in the dif interior level. I then tested the level and it plays fine.. no issues. I then decided to test the portals so I add them in the positions shown in the above picture(except adjusted to follow Matt's advice on their usage, but still in the same places in the level). Exporting goes fine now, and I can load it alright as well. But visually things take place. Sometimes, I can see the actual portal brush.. and sometimes it disappears depending on which direction im looking. Some times entire sections of hallway's I can see, and sometimes if I turn the camera slightly, they are invisible. Sometimes even, the entire level is there, but not visible.. and also at times it crashes.
Any ideas of what I may be doing wrong? Im exporting using the legacy to dif TGEA.
~LK~
(edited for spelling)
06/07/2007 (7:42 am)
Alright,Matt, i think you were correct. I changed the thickness of my portal brushes as well as adjusted them to fit just inside the walls of my interiors and it stopped crashing, so thank you very much!
Having said this, I am experiencing other things though once I load them. First though, I better state that I have every brush face coated with the Null texture besides the faces that are visible when playing in the dif interior level. I then tested the level and it plays fine.. no issues. I then decided to test the portals so I add them in the positions shown in the above picture(except adjusted to follow Matt's advice on their usage, but still in the same places in the level). Exporting goes fine now, and I can load it alright as well. But visually things take place. Sometimes, I can see the actual portal brush.. and sometimes it disappears depending on which direction im looking. Some times entire sections of hallway's I can see, and sometimes if I turn the camera slightly, they are invisible. Sometimes even, the entire level is there, but not visible.. and also at times it crashes.
Any ideas of what I may be doing wrong? Im exporting using the legacy to dif TGEA.
~LK~
(edited for spelling)
#6
Above, is what I see standing directly infront of a portal(one step away).
Above, is what happens when I step into the portal. This effect lasts for the entire area between the portal I stepped through, until I move through the next one. (at no time is this area visible)
Above, I am standing in a long hallway that contains two portals in it to keep the entire hallway from being rendered when standing in adjoining halls. If I step forward afew feet, it crashes.
So, I still am trying to figure out what I am doing wrong. Any help or wild thoughts would be appreciated. :)
(please excuse my quickly made test level, needed somthing to test with :) )
06/07/2007 (6:28 pm)
I thought it might help if I added pics of what I referring to.Above, is what I see standing directly infront of a portal(one step away).
Above, is what happens when I step into the portal. This effect lasts for the entire area between the portal I stepped through, until I move through the next one. (at no time is this area visible)
Above, I am standing in a long hallway that contains two portals in it to keep the entire hallway from being rendered when standing in adjoining halls. If I step forward afew feet, it crashes.
So, I still am trying to figure out what I am doing wrong. Any help or wild thoughts would be appreciated. :)
(please excuse my quickly made test level, needed somthing to test with :) )
#7
I solved the invisible areas as shown above. What was causing it was, if you look at the pics above you will see a mock vent shaft and two mock pipes traversing the ceiling. I had these set as detail brushes, and they all went through a portal or two. So, by making them structural it solved the issue. Lesson learned, a detail brush can not be in, or go through a portal or bad things happen lol.
Now, I still can see my portals depending on the angle of my camera in the level.. they appear and disappear as I turn. I'll take any suggestions.
06/07/2007 (8:48 pm)
Sorry if I'm posting to much on this issue, but I thought keeping a record might help others some day with similar issues.I solved the invisible areas as shown above. What was causing it was, if you look at the pics above you will see a mock vent shaft and two mock pipes traversing the ceiling. I had these set as detail brushes, and they all went through a portal or two. So, by making them structural it solved the issue. Lesson learned, a detail brush can not be in, or go through a portal or bad things happen lol.
Now, I still can see my portals depending on the angle of my camera in the level.. they appear and disappear as I turn. I'll take any suggestions.
#8
06/09/2007 (10:04 am)
Anyone?? 
Torque Owner Anthony Abrams
Version 1.0.1 had a bug where the portals crashed constructor on export.
Version 1.0.2 has fixed this problem.
As for the lights issue, I think that Scene->relight all should handle that problem.
Hope this helps.