Alright, been playing around with mapping for a while, but i have some problems.
alright, so it compiles, but then gives me this
qrad.exe encountered a problem +typical microsoft error report. Then hlaf life starts and goes, but i end up staring at a big gray line-marked wall, like something you used to get if you screwed up loading something. I know it's vague, but any help at all is appreciated.
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Could you post the compile log? It should be a .txt file simply called "mapname" that saves to the same folder that you've compiled to.
So, How do I fix leaks?
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Think of your mapping space as . . . outer space. That is, your map needs to be completely "airtight" if you want it to compile right. Many games use a subtractive method for mapping (that is, cutting rooms, hallways, etc from a giant cube). Half-Life and its ilk is all additive - which means that you need to enclose the playing area completely from the "Void" (or, the places where you have not built).
You can't compile a map with light (rad) if there is a hole anywhere (the engine won't understand what to light and what not to light, so it will render the map completely in fullbright) Also, you can't have an entity outside the map, for much the same reason.
Basically, a leak can be many things. It can be a giant hole in a wall, it can be one of those aforementioned entities. I think what you're describing as the visual error is what's called the "hall of mirrors" (meaning only that, when looking at the 'Void' the engine doesn't understand what to draw, so each pixel just repeats the last thing it drew ad infinitum.) You're probably staring straight at your leak - the Hall of Mirrors is a good indicator of a leak.
First, an example of a proper corner:
(http://www.applepics.com/52/userfiles/4249f735e35e4.gif)
And an example of a giant leak (the "void" is the gray):
(http://www.applepics.com/7/userfiles/4249ef8d5de8e.gif)
All that said, could you post some screenshots?
Put boxes and boxes around your map to fix any leaks!
... never listen to me for mapping advice again.
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Ineed.
and dubbilex, making a quick example map is no excuse for having tragically missaligned textures. Expecially when your room is just a box.
Alright, I managed to fix the leak, but I'm having some trouble when it loads it.
It says to me:
Unknown Command: VModenable
What does this mean, and how do i fix it?
Also, screenies won't be a great idea right now, as the room is a box with a purple light and no textures. Maybe later
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Mostly, I meant screenshots of the specific error (your "big gray line-marked wall"). But seeing as how you've fixed it, it's all good.
Second, from what I hear the error you've gotten this time doesn't mean anything other than that there's a command in config.cfg that isn't in the server dll. Compiling with zoner's Tools fixes it - which brings me to my next point:
Use zoner's tools - they're basically just the four compile programs (CSG, BSP, VIS, RAD) only optimized for half-life rather than Quake (they will be called hlcsg.exe, hlvis.exe, etc etc). You can get them HERE (http://collective.valve-erc.com/index.php?go=mhlt) and they're really easy to install.