To prevent mappers from crashing while in Hammer or testing maps in Portal 2, I thought I could list a few things that are the source of the crash. Anyone else that knows any ways that causes crashing though Hammer or testing maps in Portal 2 should post them here.

Here's my current list:
-Checking the model animation for prop_tractor_beam (Excursion Funnel)
-Checking some of the model animation for the Turret
-Prop_dynamic_override Turret with 3penny_hi, 3penny_mid, or 3penny_lo animation will crash Portal 2 (when testing the map) when the animation starts or during the loading screen.

Some entities will crash the portal 2 authoring tools. I'll post some ones that have crashed mine later today.

Turning on mat_wireframe while in-game can crash Portal 2 sometimes.

Two of the same instances in the same position crashes Hammer.

Thinking, "I'll save, after doing this one last thing." crashes hammer.

Forgetting to save can also have that effect. Just generally using the prgram does it too. Just cause.

Got one to the list: Making a physbox enable/disable using buttons. Not exactly crashes, but it is glitchy.

satchmo wrote:
Turning on mat_wireframe while in-game can crash Portal 2 sometimes.

Is there a solution where it doesn't risk to crash?

Konke wrote:
satchmo wrote:

Turning on mat_wireframe while in-game can crash Portal 2 sometimes.

Is there a solution where it doesn't risk to crash?

My wild guess is because the game tries to draw too many lines at once because the scene is really complicated. So I would guess the fix would be optimizing your map a little better, and try not to look have a lot of complex stuff on the screen when mat_wireframe is on.

I've never had it crash on me though, so I wouldn't know.

quaternary wrote:
Konke wrote:

satchmo wrote:

Turning on mat_wireframe while in-game can crash Portal 2 sometimes.

Is there a solution where it doesn't risk to crash?

My wild guess is because the game tries to draw too many lines at once because the scene is really complicated. So I would guess the fix would be optimizing your map a little better, and try not to look have a lot of complex stuff on the screen when mat_wireframe is on.

I've never had it crash on me though, so I wouldn't know.

Excellent! And I think I might agree to your guess. Now that I've optimized the map even more I recieve less, close to none, crashes. Perhaps this is a good way to check if the map is well optimized or not.

One thing that will crash VBSP is mixing up the delimiters in instance inputs (instance:entity_name;InputOrOutput).