CTD Question for map makers

[Phlookian]

This is a question for any old school mappers out there:

I've finally found some time to dust off my modding PC and get back in the saddle, and am working on my (half finished) urban map.

The map itself is very complex and I'm sure the engine has difficulty drawing the collision map.

However, I have hit the same issue for the 2nd time now (and I'd like to understand the fault so that I can avoid it in future)

I have created a series of buildings and am working towards creating enterable spaces within these.

The buildings in question use many cloned parts (the walls and doorways are all cloned and built so that I can easily add corridors and apartments as I go).

When ever I try to add an enterable space to any of these buildings the game crashes upon drawing the .sht file

I have rebuilt the rooms and inner and outer doorways, used different naming conventions, rebuilt the portals, made all meshes non 2d collidable & used non rendered collision planes instead, varied the size of the doorways, removed and rebuilt each piece until I've finally lost the plot.

As an experiment I exported a version with the new room as part of room 01 (negating the need for a portal) and it worked without issue (although it can't stay that way for reasons of lighting etc), there are no other portals anywhere near this building.

This has happened before in this map and I ended up abandoning the whole structure and building something else.

This time, however, I would have to erase a whole corner of the map (as the buildings in question cover a large area and represent many, many hours of work)

If anyone has encountered a similar issue and overcome it I would very much appreciate it if you could share the solution.

Until then:

[H-Hour]

Glad to see you're back in the saddle.

I can't say I have any idea what's going on, but if you'll email me the 3DSM file I'll gladly take a look for you.

Just so that I'm clear about what's happening: The crash occurs while attempting to generate the .sht file in Igor? And this happens when you have exported after adding a second room (ie - one other than the outdoor "room")?

If this is the case, here would be my initial checklist in case there's anything you haven't done:

1. Check my roomlist.txt file

2. Check that the mod is activated in Igor

3. Check that any pre-existing SHT file has been removed.

4. Make sure you're loading Igor with -buildbinary, ie - "\path\to\Ghost Recon\igor.exe" -buildbinary

5. Try to load the map in Igor NOT by loading your pre-existing mission. Instead create a brand new .env file and create a new mission that loads the .env file.

6. Try to create a second room that has no portals, but is just a cube somewhere outside your existing map, to test whether it is related to your specific geometry or the existence of a second room.

That's all that comes to mind. If I think of anything else I'll let you know. And send me the file. I'll try compiling and running and see what happens.

[Tinker]

4. Make sure you're loading Igor with -buildbinary, ie - "\path\to\Ghost Recon\igor.exe" -buildbinary

No need for this, was only used before GR was patched up. I`ve certainly never used it.

Always happy to have a look also if needed.

Good luck.

[H-Hour]

4. Make sure you're loading Igor with -buildbinary, ie - "\path\to\Ghost Recon\igor.exe" -buildbinary

No need for this, was only used before GR was patched up. I`ve certainly never used it.

Good to know!

[Phlookian]

Thanks for getting back to me guys,

As for looking over my map, it's no simple thing, there are approximately 200 portals and sherman transitions and 99 rooms (although many of these are just parts of the same staircase), as well as 6 map levels

In short I wouldn't wish it on anyone (especially as you guys have a mod to beta test )

Just to clarify, I think adding a new room or portal is the issue, I deleted the existing .sht,the roomlist file is good, I tried creating a collision file both in igor and by firing up a mission in game. the sht seems to be created but it has a fault which crashes the game

If i remove the new room, I can export a working version of the map

Since posting I have been working like mad to find an answer and I now find that I cant add any more new rooms without a CTD when making the collision map.

I have tried making little test buildings at various places around the map and using different room names but all ctd.

Just in case 100 rooms was a cut off point for the engine, I even deleted an existing room but this still ctd'd when adding a new one.

This is pretty dissapointing if it means that I cant add any new enterable buildings (as the spread of the existing ones is biased towards one end of the map)

I am now testing to see if I can still add new sherman transitions (these are essentially a portal and I don't know whether I've hit a cap on rooms or portals or on the size of the .sht file)

Sheesh

[Tinker]

Just to clarify, I think adding a new room or portal is the issue

Just in case 100 rooms was a cut off point for the engine, I even deleted an existing room but this still ctd'd when adding a new one.

Well them two don`t add up to me. You deleted an existing working room, built a new 1 and crash. Have you reached 256 portals maybe also?

[Phlookian]

Well I'm only pushing that limit if I add the sherman transitions too

So I just did a quick test, I made a staircase and added 5 Sherman transitions, game plays fine

I suppose if I've reached the rooms limit, I'll just have to be more creative with my open spaces.

I'm not licked yet, but I am done for the day

Thanks for everyones input

[H-Hour]

Maybe Oso will chime in here if he ever checks the forums, but one of the big performance enhancements he recommended for me was reducing excessive rooms in HH - Airport. Having so many portals in view can be a big drain on resources and often (if it involves multiple interior rooms) is pretty much useless.

You can have a door between two "rooms" without actually making them separate rooms (and thus requiring portals, etc). For instance, if you have an apartment block, every apartment doesn't need to be it's own room. If you've got lots of interior spaces, you might look at ways you can reduce the room count without actually reducing the availability of interior spaces.

Anyway, I'm still happy to take a look, either at a 3DSM file or the compiled map, to help come up with ideas to modify the map without losing all it's hard-won complexity.

[Phlookian]

Actually, you're right.

i can probably lose about 20 rooms if I put my mind to it.

A lot of "rooms" are parts of staircases which I've split up to avoid too many complex sherman boxes.

You don't realise how difficult it is to make a realistic staircase work if you want to get up to a high roof

I'll package up my map tomorrow and PM you the link

I need to take out all the little tests I've been carrying out & put things back the way they were earlier

Thanks once again for the offer

[Phlookian]

PM Sent

[H-Hour]

You don't realise how difficult it is to make a realistic staircase work if you want to get up to a high roof

Oh, yes, I do. In the circular stairway to the tower in HH - Airport, the AI still won't go all the way up to the top, after rebuilding and adjusting and tweaking tons of times. I finally just gave up...

[Phlookian]

You don't realise how difficult it is to make a realistic staircase work if you want to get up to a high roof

Oh, yes, I do. In the circular stairway to the tower in HH - Airport, the AI still won't go all the way up to the top, after rebuilding and adjusting and tweaking tons of times. I finally just gave up...

Well if you ever plan on re-visiting it I'd be happy to return the favour and take a look

[H-Hour]

PM Sent.

Let us know what happens with the crashing one way or the other. Would be nice to know if there is a room count ceiling, what it is and how you found your way around it.

Map is pretty ambitious...

[Phlookian]

OK, mate.

Thanks for the help

[Phlookian]

OK, well, H-Hours idea seems to have done the trick

By reducing the room count I have managed to over-come the ctd.

I now have the laborious task of gradually merging rooms, and repairing the pathing that seems to be a victim of this process.

But it's definitely better than the alternative, so no biggie

BTW, it would seem that 100 rooms is definitely the ceiling (I guess I'm the first one to ever hit it)

[Tinker]

BTW, it would seem that 100 rooms is definitely the ceiling (I guess I'm the first one to ever hit it)

there are approximately 200 portals and sherman transitions and 99 rooms

Just to clarify, I think adding a new room or portal is the issue, I deleted the existing .sht,the roomlist file is good, I tried creating a collision file both in igor and by firing up a mission in game. the sht seems to be created but it has a fault which crashes the game

If i remove the new room, I can export a working version of the map

As this still makes no sense.

Random question:

Are you using a room 100 ?

Room 100 should not be used in the creation of a map. Room 100 is used for creating and exporting a scene for behind the soldier in the MP game screen.

Ghost Recon\Mods\Origmiss\Map\main_menu

mainmenu.map

level builder states _100 causes a problem in the game code.

Modding the soldier screen

*Edit*

Today I took 1 of my maps and cloned the rooms. All fine up to 99, then same as you CTD on the 100th room, regardless of room names.

So indeed it is a hard limit as you first suspected. Oh well.

[Thumper1518]

So, what was this map? I am always looking for fun maps to play.