how does one find the cause of a zero area patch child when you have no lead? - Developers

no doubt facepunch has enough of these threads but its strange and i want to get to the bottom of it. i have had the zero area patch child error before in the past but usually they have an error show up in the problem detector or at least something in the compile log right? wrong. every time i add a few more brushes or entities i run the map and make sure theres nothing wrong. so naturally, the second i got the zero area patch child show up i just deleted everything i did since the last successful compile but even then i still got zero area patch child in the log. i pasted the log on interlopers but the only error was where it spammed "zero area patch child" with no additional information on it. basically, i know i have a zero area patch child but have no track on where its coming from or what the hell is causing it. and why is it getting this when the map is identical to the last one that compiled successfully? my new course of action is to save a backup every time it does a successful compile so i can revert back to that one when it gets meaninglessly fucked beyond repair. in the mean time, im stuck trying to fix the only copy i have :/ not much point in a compile log but heres how far it gets: [QUOTE] materialPath: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\GarrysMod\garrysmod\materials Loading C:\Users\Evan\Desktop\source addons\gm_neo_evanland\maps\gm_neo_evanland.vmf ConVarRef mat_reduceparticles doesn't point to an existing ConVar Entity 1466: func_areaportal can only be a single brush 8 threads reading c:\users\evan\desktop\source addons\gm_neo_evanland\maps\gm_neo_evanland.bsp reading c:\users\evan\desktop\source addons\gm_neo_evanland\maps\gm_neo_evanland.prt LoadPortals: couldn't read c:\users\evan\desktop\source addons\gm_neo_evanland\maps\gm_neo_evanland.prt [Reading texlights from 'lights.rad'] [45 texlights parsed from 'lights.rad'] Loading c:\users\evan\desktop\source addons\gm_neo_evanland\maps\gm_neo_evanland.bsp 33059 faces 36 degenerate faces 48489060 square feet [6982424576.00 square inches] 0 Displacements 0 Square Feet [0.00 Square Inches] 33023 patches before subdivision zero area child patch zero area child patch zero area child patch zero area child patch zero area child patch zero area child patch zero area child patch zero area child patch zero area child patch zero area child patch zero area child patch zero area child patch zero area child patch zero area child patch zero area child patch zero area child patch zero area child patch 471369 patches after subdivision 1973 direct lights 0[/QUOTE]

In your compile log you have [QUOTE]Entity 1466: func_areaportal can only be a single brush [/QUOTE] you can either you the entity report tool and check the func_areaportal entites in your map or open the .vmf in notpad++ and search for the entity number i.e "id" "1466" make sure to put "id" in because that how it'll be typed in the vmf then just delete the whole entity section, save it and remake the entity in hammer

what the hell!? that definitely wasnt in there last time. well spotted i will see if that fixed it.

If that doesn't fix it, usually stupidly huge brushes cause that issue.

Have you actually encountered any issues in the map, other than the one caused by the area portal? The compiler spouts a lot of messages that aren't necessarily harmful.

actually the area portal has been my only error so far. im proud to say this is the cleanest map i ever made. :smile:

[QUOTE=Stiffy360;51138619]If that doesn't fix it, usually stupidly huge brushes cause that issue.[/QUOTE] i might have made a map with 8 brushes (2 brushes cut into 4 peices) that were func_water_analogs heh yeah sources tiny butthole couldnt take it. (at least not very good)