Okay I made a trigger for a prop dynamic that when the player walks up to it, it 'fizzles' the portal gun. I couldn't do a no-draw texture over top of the trigger, so I thought I would just make the texture of the trigger one of the fizzler textures.

Can anyone explain why the map isn't loading?

I don't know what's going on here
It might be helpful to upload your vmf file so we can take a look at it :3

Sry for double Post

So you made a trigger with a fizzler texture? I would just change it to a trigger texture and see how that works. Also, check if the dynamic prop's origins are in the map, sometimes with animations the origin is actually lurking outside the map boundaries.

metroid101 wrote:
I made a Trigger_portal_cleanser

Just texture all sides of the trigger_portal_cleanser with the Trigger Texture and set "Visible" & "Use Scanline" to "No". ^^

Tmast98 wrote:
So you made a trigger with a fizzler texture? I would just change it to a trigger texture and see how that works. Also, check if the dynamic prop's origins are in the map, sometimes with animations the origin is actually lurking outside the map boundaries.

Yeah basically, a trigger_weapon_strip with a fizzler texture (so that the player loses their portal gun when they walk past it) I want it to look like a regular old fizzler too
Nothing in my maps is to be trusted >=3

anyway here's the map: http://www.mediafire.com/?wknagzn4acyqrpz
sorry if it's ugly, but I've barely just started working on it XD
I like to test every little thing each step of the way to make sure I dun mess anything up.

The map loaded just fine for me. Perhaps you just need to be patient?
There are a few improvements I'd make, though. I have attached an updated version to this post. Basically, having the brush textured with the fizzler texture is a bad idea because triggers are invisible anyway, so the fizzler wouldn't show up when played. Instead, you'll want to make that brush a func_brush with Solidity set to Never Solid. (If you want to make the field act like a normal fizzler, you'll want to make this brush a trigger_portal_cleanser with Visible set to Yes.) The trigger_weapon_strip, then, is a trigger-textured brush placed right next to the func_brush.
One last little pet peeve I fixed was the fizzler size/texturing. I can't remember if Snap To Grid is a map property or if I just had it shut off for some reason, but make sure everything is snapped to as large of a grid as possible. Also, fizzlers should be one unit thick, with everything except the front and back textured with nodraw. Finally, when making fizzlers, the "Fit" button in the Texture Application tool is your friend. There should be no "blank space" in the fizzler. Finally, the 128x128 area closest to each side of the fizzler should be a separate brush, and textured with the fizzler_l or fizzler_r textures. You'll see what I mean in the attached map. These last little gripes are very minor but they help make it look a lot better.

Good luck!

Hmm just tried it :/ it wouldn't run the map >_<
Maybe I'm using an outdated version of Hammer?
Has Hammer been updated recently?

Not that I know of. Have you tried validating both Portal 2 and the Authoring Tools?

wrathofmobius wrote:
Not that I know of. Have you tried validating both Portal 2 and the Authoring Tools?

how do I validate them? o.o
Also I think I found an easy workaround.
I'll just make the fizzler function like normal.
And have the trigger right underneath the fizzler beam.

Oops, I said "validate", I meant "verify." You can verify your game files by right clicking on the game in your Library and selecting Properties. Then, in the Local Files tab, click the "Verify Integrity of Game Cache..." Do this for both Portal 2 and the Authoring Tools.

wrathofmobius wrote:
Oops, I said "validate", I meant "verify." You can verify your game files by right clicking on the game in your Library and selecting Properties. Then, in the Local Files tab, click the "Verify Integrity of Game Cache..." Do this for both Portal 2 and the Authoring Tools.

Okay, I did that
and it still won't run levels
I'll try removing source SDK from my comp

this is what I get when I compile a map.
Error Opening file path file Name.bsp
...
It doesn't say what kind of error it is, or what's causing it, it just says 'error'.....

That sounds like VBSP is not running when you compile, so the other compile steps can't pack their data into the BSP. Make sure in your Compile Options menu that "Run BSP" is set to Normal.

Edit: Nope, can't reproduce that error when not running VBSP. Is this when compiling or when launching it in-game? I'm relatively sure this is caused by the BSP not being created. Could you upload your compile log? It should be in Portal 2/sdk_content/maps/<mapname>.log.
Basically the line we're looking for is:

Writing C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\portal 2\sdk_content\maps\<mapname>.bsp

wrathofmobius wrote:
That sounds like VBSP is not running when you compile, so the other compile steps can't pack their data into the BSP. Make sure in your Compile Options menu that "Run BSP" is set to Normal.

Edit: Nope, can't reproduce that error when not running VBSP. Is this when compiling or when launching it in-game? I'm relatively sure this is caused by the BSP not being created. Could you upload your compile log? It should be in Portal 2/sdk_content/maps/.log.
Basically the line we're looking for is:
Writing C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\portal 2\sdk_content\maps\<mapname>.bsp

The map fully compiles(at least it appears to)
then it closes and doesn't launch.
The only reason I know what the error even is is because I clicked 'wait for keypress before launching' so I could see what was wrong.

I will check and see if that option is up or not.

Edit(Yes I'm making an edit before I make the post, so sue me xD): I finally got it working!
Basically at the run menu I went into expert mode and made the configurations to Run Map-full screen.

So, until I figure out what's bugging up the regular old compile, I guess that'll do?

Okay...
I give up...
I tried resetting Hammer to factory defaults (Through Reg-edit which thankfully I know how to use properly) and it STILL gives me the same freaking error <_<
And when it does run, it only loads the portal gun and the player and the map, NOTHING ELSE
This is really starting to piss me off...

Are you hiding anything maybe using vis groups, custom ones or the default ones?

Run Map - Fullscreen doesn't compile the map, it just launches the game with the most recent compiled version of the map. That's why there's no error (and probably why stuff is missing) What we need to do is figure out why VBSP is crashing. The compile log would be fantastic to have for this very reason. I'm guessing it's a problem in your config, maybe it's looking in the wrong folder for your bsp. To be sure though, I'd have to see the compile log.

wrathofmobius wrote:
Run Map - Fullscreen doesn't compile the map, it just launches the game with the most recent compiled version of the map. That's why there's no error (and probably why stuff is missing) What we need to do is figure out why VBSP is crashing. The compile log would be fantastic to have for this very reason. I'm guessing it's a problem in your config, maybe it's looking in the wrong folder for your bsp. To be sure though, I'd have to see the compile log.

I looked in the directory you were talking about, and I can't find a .log file anywhere...
NVM I searched for .log in the directory and found it.

this is what the.log has in it...

4 threads
reading c:\program files (x86)\steam\steamapps\common\portal 2\portal2\maps\portalchamber.bsp
Error opening c:\program files (x86)\steam\steamapps\common\portal 2\portal2\maps\portalchamber.bsp

4 threads
reading c:\program files (x86)\steam\steamapps\common\portal 2\portal2\maps\portalchamber.bsp
Error opening c:\program files (x86)\steam\steamapps\common\portal 2\portal2\maps\portalchamber.bsp

4 threads
reading c:\program files (x86)\steam\steamapps\common\portal 2\portal2\maps\portalchamber.bsp
Error opening c:\program files (x86)\steam\steamapps\common\portal 2\portal2\maps\portalchamber.bsp

There is no BSP file....only vmf.......so is that why it's not running after compiling?

metroid101 wrote:
There is no BSP file....only vmf.......so is that why it's not running after compiling?

Yep. Since VVIS and VRAD need a BSP file to function, if VBSP doesn't generate a BSP file, you're going to have a problem. I was able to get the same output by pointing to the wrong executable for vbsp in the config. Try checking your config in Tools > Options... > Build Programs and make sure the BSP executable looks like this: $SteamUserDir\portal 2\bin\vbsp.exe
Just to double-check, make sure the others look somewhat like that. If that doesn't work, post all the filepaths in both that tab and the Game Configurations tab.