Hello. As you can probably figure out by my many recent questions, I'm very new to Hammer. I've been tweaking this map in Hammer for about three days, and I'm finally at a point where I'm satisfied with the result...except for one thing.

http://imgur.com/TZHXD

That ugly thing is completely blocking the player's view of the cube that's supposed to be right there. All I did was add a trigger_once in front of the laser field, and then that thing appeared. Even after I deleted the trigger_once, it STILL didn't go away. I tried compiling it with all of the different kinds of lighting/visiblity options, and still this thing poisons my puzzle. What is it? What caused it? How do I get rid of it?

For those of you who may want to take a look at it, here's the workshop link:

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/f ... d=76267883

And for those of you who may want to poke through the .vmf file to see what the problem is, here's the link to that too:

http://www.mediafire.com/?gvjtf0g0617fal4

I downloaded and quickly scanned through the vmf. I couldn't see anything that would cause your white blobs. On further inspection, however, I discovered this, with the help of the irc channel. For some reason, that brush is tied to a func_dustcloud. What is that? Why is it there? Haven't the foggiest. But there you have it.

On another note, the chamber is enclosed within a huge nodraw box - this is usually considered bad practise, for a myriad of reasons. Also you have a paint dropper in the floor. To find it, turn off the World Geometry visgroup on the right-hand side of hammer.

EDIT: I mis-typed; the entity was func_dustcloud, not func_dustmotes

Thank you so much! I feel really stupid, now; I distinctly remember binding that brush to something while experimenting with triggers. It never occurred to me to change it back at the time XD

EDIT: Yes, it is surrounded in a nodraw box. For some reason, whenever I try to move a paint dropper in Hammer, it creates a leak. No matter what I did, I couldn't seem to fix the leak. So, I decided on doing it the cheap and tacky way. Don't worry, though, I'll take your advice.

Also, I can't seem to find that paint dropper in the floor. Do you mind telling me what its name is so I can find it?

It's paintdropper19. For leak detection, don't forget about Map -> Load Pointfile. It will draw a red line which 'traces out' the leak. Hope that helps.

Load your pointfile and fix your leaks. Putting your map in a giant open box is completely unacceptable.

Does a func_dustmote work in Portal 2? I remember I used then to make dust looking particles in sunshine previously in a HL2 map.

I don't think that func_dustmotes work in Portal2... I remember I tried to use that entity a while ago trying to create volumetric light to no avail. The good news is that I found out there a guy who created an awesome volumetric light model that can be used in Portal2. I'll have to check out in my computer where I saved it. If anyone is intereted I can post it.

josepezdj wrote:
I don't think that func_dustmotes work in Portal2... I remember I tried to use that entity a while ago trying to create volumetric light to no avail. The good news is that I found out there a guy who created an awesome volumetric light model that can be used in Portal2. I'll have to check out in my computer where I saved it. If anyone is intereted I can post it.

YES PLEASE

I definitely need this.

OK, let me arrive home and find it (will take me around 8 hours though as I'm at work and here it's 10:00h in the morning!)

***EDIT:***

Hmmm... after all, I wouldn't really say it's awesome. You have to use it very carefully as the volume is only good in 2 directions, but if the player enters the volume in the other directions or stops into it to watch around, it is noticeable how this model is made: by several thin layers placed in a row one after the other.... Anyway for this to look really good you have to set a really good ambience and lighting. Check it out and let me know if you really like it... Download it from the description of the creator's tutorial, and follow the tutorial!