inconsistent leak finding

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face4radio
7 Posts
Posted Dec 15, 2011
I'm observing some inconsistent finding of leaks that seems to be a bug in Hammer. I'm wondering if anyone recognizes this behavior.

I recently added a new section of the map, and upon compiling I was warned that an object was located in the void. I checked carefully, and, because it was a small area, I'm quite confident there were no leaks. Nevertheless, I blocked off this new area by expanding an existing brush to seal it off. Now the map compiled. Confused, I undid this change (control-Z), and tried to compile again. To my surprise, the map compiled!

summary:
original state -- complained of object in void
sealed new area -- compiled
undid seal -- compiled

Although the Undo command has some issues, I'm willing to believe it can handle as simple a change as extending a brush. So the same map sometimes has a leak, and sometimes not.

Has anyone seen this before? Do you know what's going on?

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Lpfreaky90
2,842 Posts
Posted Dec 15, 2011
Replied 3 hours later
no idea what went wrong.
But the easiest way to find leaks is after a failed compile go to map -> load point file and just follow the red line! That's the easiest way!
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Mr. P. Kiwi
97 Posts
Posted Dec 15, 2011
Replied 6 hours later
Brush entities have an 'origin point' (the purple dot in the middle of them); If, for some reason, you accidentally dragged that origin point outside the map it'll be considered as a leak, and if you accidentally dragged it back in then it won't leak.
Select all your brush entities and see if their origin point is not in the brush.
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wrathofmobius
216 Posts
Posted Dec 15, 2011
Replied 2 hours later

https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Leak
This article might help. There's a few common causes of leaks there. Maybe you accidentally moved an areaportal?

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face4radio
7 Posts
Posted Dec 16, 2011
Replied 11 hours later
Good suggestions, but I'm afraid they haven't resolved the issue. The error is that an object is located in the void, so loading the point file shows a red line indicating a random object in my map. I checked my brush entities, and both have origin points located squarely inside. The leak article is a nice summary, but my core problem is a bit different.

My problem is that exactly the same map sometimes has a leak, and sometimes not. The workaround I'm currently using is what I described above (seal off the new area, compile, undo, compile again). It's a little tedious, but gets the job done. I guess I just wanted to vent about that. :boring:

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PortalCombat
306 Posts
Posted Dec 16, 2011
Replied 2 hours later

face4radio wrote:
My problem is that exactly the same map sometimes has a leak, and sometimes not. The workaround I'm currently using is what I described above (seal off the new area, compile, undo, compile again). It's a little tedious, but gets the job done. I guess I just wanted to vent about that. :boring:

I had the some problem with one of my first maps.
I was able to move or rotate the camera inside 3D-view to make it compile or not compile.
So I did not even try to fix the "invisible" leak, I just used different camera angles.

In my case, I was able to fix that problem with "center origins" command.
Since I know how to prevent leaks like this, I never got them again.

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Spam Nugget
492 Posts
Posted Dec 16, 2011
Replied 25 minutes later
I know at one point I had some trouble with a corrupt entity (an invisible, unselectable, unwanted entity) causing leaks. I dont know if this is also the cause of your problems, but the way to fix it was to select everything in the map and copy it to a new map, which then worked perfectly. I hope this helps.
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Robdon
204 Posts
Posted Dec 16, 2011
Replied 34 minutes later

Spam Nugget wrote:
I know at one point I had some trouble with a corrupt entity (an invisible, unselectable, unwanted entity) causing leaks. I dont know if this is also the cause of your problems, but the way to fix it was to select everything in the map and copy it to a new map, which then worked perfectly. I hope this helps.

Yep, I've had this also.

Hammer gets confused sometimes :smile:

If you wanna post your .vmf file, I or someone can take a look for you if you cant find it...

Rob.

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baca25
342 Posts
Posted Dec 16, 2011
Replied 18 minutes later
This happens to many many people, and the problem 80% of the time is they have that button that hass a R with a red circle around it enabled. Its on the upper middle toolbar. Make sure that it isnt enabled. I think its called culling???
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ChickenMobile
2,460 Posts
Posted Dec 16, 2011
Replied 47 minutes later

baca25 wrote:
This happens to many many people, and the problem 80% of the time is they have that button that hass a R with a red circle around it enabled. Its on the upper middle toolbar. Make sure that it isnt enabled. I think its called culling???

I was going to say the same thing. And it is called the 'radius culling' button, a cousin to the cordon tool.

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iWork925
1,080 Posts
Posted Dec 16, 2011
Replied 3 hours later

chickenmobile wrote:
baca25 wrote:

This happens to many many people, and the problem 80% of the time is they have that button that hass a R with a red circle around it enabled. Its on the upper middle toolbar. Make sure that it isnt enabled. I think its called culling???

I was going to say the same thing. And it is called the 'radius culling' button, a cousin to the cordon tool.

Its a bit of a double edged sword in inexpirenced hands.

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baca25
342 Posts
Posted Dec 16, 2011
Replied 7 hours later

iWork925 wrote:
chickenmobile wrote:

baca25 wrote:

This happens to many many people, and the problem 80% of the time is they have that button that hass a R with a red circle around it enabled. Its on the upper middle toolbar. Make sure that it isnt enabled. I think its called culling???

I was going to say the same thing. And it is called the 'radius culling' button, a cousin to the cordon tool.

Its a bit of a double edged sword in inexpirenced hands.

Agreed.
Now you and Chicken... Go play my new map.

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ChickenMobile
2,460 Posts
Posted Dec 17, 2011
Replied 17 hours later

baca25 wrote:
Agreed.
Now you and Chicken... Go play my new map.

NEVAA! (only if you say please)

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x6herbius
11 Posts
Posted Dec 23, 2011
Replied 6 days later
Just in case this is any help, I sometimes find Hammer has replaced my nodraw textures on some brushes with nodraw_glass_footsteps. This retarded cousin of a material has flags that cause it not to seal leaks if it's placed on any brush, but a simple global find/replace with nodraw fixes that up.