Buildcubemaps Crashes Game

Avatar
ChickenMobile
2,460 Posts
#55933
Posted Oct 13, 2011
As soon as I wanted to build the cubemaps in my map the game crashes.
Error opening <source to map file>.bsp It does say that it is looking for the map inside the portal_dlc1 folder. Has Valve broken cubemaps when they released the DLC?...
Discuss.
0 0 0
Advertisement
Registered users don’t see ads! Register now!
Avatar
josepezdj
2,386 Posts
#55934
Posted Oct 13, 2011
Replied 13 minutes later
Yeap.

It seems that is broken since the latest update. I was aware of that by Nyskrte. It's like if they would established the DLC folders by default to do all testing, but then they forgot to change that back again after testing. I've put a copy of the map also in the DLC folder but also crashes....

0 0 0
Avatar
Marise
249 Posts
#55935
Posted Oct 13, 2011
Replied 36 minutes later
Me too. It's preventing me from updating a map here.

I'm going to see if verifying the integrity of the game files fixes it. (Edit: It did not)

0 0 0
Avatar
Brainstone
401 Posts
#56038
Posted Oct 14, 2011
Replied 22 hours later
OK, it also occurs to me, just checked it.
Is Valve aware of this?
0 0 0
Avatar
Brainstatic
219 Posts
#56039
Posted Oct 14, 2011
Replied 6 minutes later
Valve seems to have screwed up a bunch of things with recent updates. VPK files currently won't work. Sv_allow_mobile_portals is now considered a cheat, which broke the neurotoxin sabotage level and probably a few custom maps. There have been reports of game crashes that weren't happening before the DLC. And now the broken cubemap generation...
Hopefully these are all fixed in the near future.
0 0 0
Avatar
spongylover123
944 Posts
#56042
Posted Oct 14, 2011
Replied 23 minutes later
Me too. It crashes the game completely, sent in a support ticket.
(if they fix this, it wouldn't be very soon)

P.S
Actually the neurotoxin map, didn't use actual portals instead they used a portal detector on a wall model
(look it up, the wall is actually a model, if it wasn't it wouldn't regenerate) and when shot at, a particle then another then the model (fakeportalring.mdl)
They used the power of something to emulate smooth moving portals.
Sv_allow_mobile_portals when shot at, sometimes, the portal ring will disappear, that's how you know that's a real portal.

0 0 0
Avatar
ChickenMobile
2,460 Posts
#56045
Posted Oct 14, 2011
Replied 20 minutes later
I noticed that the normal SDK isn't launching hammer either. Valve updates = more things broken.
0 0 0
Avatar
Marise
249 Posts
#56051
Posted Oct 14, 2011
Replied 24 minutes later
I posted about this on the Steam Portal 2 forums bug reporting thread. I don't know how much attention they pay to that, though.
0 0 0
Avatar
Nyskrte
125 Posts
#56432
Posted Oct 18, 2011
Replied 4 days later
Just to reiterate what I said in my map thread, in order to buildcubemaps I put a copy of the map into the DLC folder as well as the standard map folder, load the map, buildcubemaps, then overwrite the map in the standard maps folder with the one from the DLC.
0 0 0
Avatar
MasterLagger
1,695 Posts
#56487
Posted Oct 18, 2011
Replied 9 hours later
What exactly do cubemaps do?
0 0 0
Avatar
Vordwann
767 Posts
#56488
Posted Oct 18, 2011
Replied 15 minutes later
I would have thought that you had known, but each cubemap takes a picture in all 6 directions around it. Up, down, left, right, front, back. Then, it makes an envmap texture out of those pictures that makes the reflections in the map. Whichever cubemap is closest to "X" brush is what determines what that brush reflects. So Source has static reflections and lighting. Which needs to change. They already have liquid simulation with Portal 2 and cloth simulation in Dota 2, so I have high hopes for whatever they can do in HL2 ep3.
0 0 0
Avatar
MasterLagger
1,695 Posts
#56489
Posted Oct 18, 2011
Replied 9 minutes later
So let me get this straight: Cubemaps make surfaces have a reflection? But I've seen goo and a couple of textures with reflections without cubemaps used.
0 0 0
Avatar
iWork925
1,080 Posts
#56490
Posted Oct 18, 2011
Replied 59 minutes later
its will use the default cubemap... which looks like some soft of skymap or something...
because of its orangeyness, it haves metal a brass look. Makes the robots look steampunkish.
0 0 0
Avatar
Vordwann
767 Posts
#56508
Posted Oct 19, 2011
Replied 7 hours later
The goo doesn't have cubemaps only if you have a graphics card with DX9 capabilities or greater. Otherwise it will need cubemaps for reflections.
0 0 0
Avatar
Robdon
204 Posts
#56511
Posted Oct 19, 2011
Replied 1 hour later
So, am I right in saying that Cubemaps are for only 'old graphics' cards... and pretty old if DX9 is the requirement.

If so, that explains, why I've never been able to see ANY difference to my maps if I include/build cubemaps or not.

Is there some way to make my 'good' card simulate the 'bad', so that I can test it? otherwise I will never know if I have it right or not.

Rob.

0 0 0
Avatar
Nyskrte
125 Posts
#56542
Posted Oct 19, 2011
Replied 7 hours later

Robdon wrote:
So, am I right in saying that Cubemaps are for only 'old graphics' cards... and pretty old if DX9 is the requirement.

If so, that explains, why I've never been able to see ANY difference to my maps if I include/build cubemaps or not.

Is there some way to make my 'good' card simulate the 'bad', so that I can test it? otherwise I will never know if I have it right or not.

Rob.

-dxlevel 90
in the launch options.

0 0 0
Avatar
Robdon
204 Posts
#56546
Posted Oct 19, 2011
Replied 56 minutes later

Nyskrte wrote:
Robdon wrote:

So, am I right in saying that Cubemaps are for only 'old graphics' cards... and pretty old if DX9 is the requirement.

If so, that explains, why I've never been able to see ANY difference to my maps if I include/build cubemaps or not.

Is there some way to make my 'good' card simulate the 'bad', so that I can test it? otherwise I will never know if I have it right or not.

Rob.

-dxlevel 90
in the launch options.

Ok, thanks.

Still cant see any difference in my map though :sad:

Maybe I'm not looking for what I need to see. It should be making my reflections in the water better, yes? They seem just the same (and fine) whether I build them or not. (Yes, I realise that building them is crap at the moment and you need to copy them back/forth from the dlc folder)

Can someone post 2 screen shots, with and without cubemaps... so I can see what I'm supposed to be looking for?

Thanks,

Rob,

0 0 0
Avatar
Vordwann
767 Posts
#56547
Posted Oct 19, 2011
Replied 19 minutes later
You should be able to see difference in your maps. For example, any reflections on textures or models that have reflective surfaces look very out of place and unnaturally white with the default cubemap, before you build them.
0 0 0
Avatar
Marise
249 Posts
#56567
Posted Oct 19, 2011
Replied 2 hours later
I never notice a difference on water or flat glass. However, you will really see it on cube droppers and glass tubes.
0 0 0
Advertisement
Registered users don’t see ads! Register now!
Avatar
iWork925
1,080 Posts
#56570
Posted Oct 19, 2011
Replied 1 hour later
Instead of pointlessly argueing on wether it is neccessary or not (which it is), any work on a work around or possible fix?
0 0 0
< Return to Hammer and Modding