So I've finally plugged all the leaks in my map, but now I get this error when I go to compile:

http://imgur.com/r9kAtW7

What is a degenerate edge and how do I prevent it? 

"Argh, alright, I had to surround the map with a big box for the skybox to be drawn on, that's that fixed, thanks for the help."

The map was not sealed. If you look at the output from QBSP or check its log file, you will see it say LEAKED at some point. Although "boxing" the map will work to fix this, it's usually not the best way. 

 

"Pointfile Is Your Friend..."

In this case though, it wasn't a problem of finding a small leak. It appears to me that the basic concept of a "sealed" map had not yet been understood. 

... he basic concept of a "sealed" map had not yet been understood...

wow... so the advice to read aguirRe's Holy Mapping Bible is more than relevant in this case:

http://web.comhem.se/bjp/tooltips.txt

repent sinner... repent ! 

Is there any significant downside to creating a box around the map to simplify sealing? Only thing I can think of is that when you run vis, external surfaces that would never be seen will end up as being considered potentially visible which could hamper performance on larger maps compared to properly sealing everything off (just guessing here based on a loose idea of how vis works).

I'll have a look at the mapping bible, thanks! 

That's basically it. People still like to play quake on their potato computers, so lazy vising like that or no vising at all will make them grumpy. It's best practice to properly seal maps. 

Last thing I can think of at the moment, but what's a good way to make rock walls look good? Creating a wall out of small blocks and mangling them with the vertex editor works reasonably well but it's kinda labor intensive and its easy to overdo it. 

Perhaps try making one large wall, then cutting it into 8 or so pieces (using the clip tool and keeping both sides after the cut), then selecting all the pieces at once and using the vertex mode to drag some of the vertexes where the pieces join. That way they naturally conform to the shape of each other and hopefully its a quicker way to get natural looking rock. The more you cut up the wall, the finer the detail you will get. 

I think I found a good method, make a kind of "palette wall" that I work on to ensure it looks good, then duplicate chunks of it to make other walls. The first result was too angular but a repeat with smaller brushes should turn out well. 

I use hexenmapper's method and I'm quite proud of the rockwork I can build. I usually use either 16x16 or 32x32 (i think - going off memory here) brushes. It does take a loooong time but in my mind the results are well worth it. It would definitely be quicker if you used larger brushes, which would be fine depending on your aesthetic. 

Got a pretty decent looking wall this way: https://s31.postimg.org/wv6wbz3d7/spasm0000.png 

looks decent, but take care with light.

The dark blends show the lightfall is crossed creating the dark blur.
Changing the light to one "light40 wait 0.04" and another "light 200" could result in a more blended effect. 

Kim if youre using:

http://ericwa.github.io/tyrutils-ericw/

...turn that wall into a "func_group" and add "_phong" as a key with a value of 1.

This will smooth out the lightmaps on that specific wall. 

http://simonoc.com/pages/articles/rockwall1_1.htm

Looks like a good start, I'd try to stick with quads rather than triangles and maybe make the scale a bit bigger 

Hey everyone, I'm doing some BSP2 mapping for hexen 2 and I ran into a little snag that's driving me crazy.

I have a fairly decent sized level, and the amount of detail requires I use bsp2, but I'm getting "reached occupant at <coords>" whenever I try to add this new area

http://i.imgur.com/FPsiXoR.jpg

There's nothing different about it construction wise, it's not off grid, it's connected to this main area here:

http://i.imgur.com/rd3OGON.jpg

The cliff wall on the left, I cut the brush in two and started making a hallway.

Now it throws reached occupant and points to an entity on the other side of the level, and loading the pointfile it does not draw a line to any hole.

At first i thought i was just missing the hole, but if i move the new room away from there and section it off and put the wall back together, it compiles fine!

I tried making a smaller cave-type entrance in the same spot with there being more wall, and that compiles fine too!

It's literally if i just connect the path using the same sky, and I'm really confused as to why this is happening 

 

...by making this cliff face on the other side of the map a func_wall

http://i.imgur.com/a2UU7WL.jpg

???

Could it be the way the brush was constructed and the verts were positioned were causing qbsp to shit itself? Early today I got a couple QBSP crashes too randomly until i restored a backup 

QBSP shitting itself would not be a big surprise. I've had brushes that should be fine cause issues before, although that's often because I got too ambitious with stretching them out to thin points and other bad ideas... 

TB's Vertex editing makes it easy to create invalid brushes. Might be a very short edge or just too many faces. Make sure to check the issue list, too. 

What's a better way to construct an irregular outdoor area? Starting as a box room and adding in rock brushes and func_details over it to produce the illusion of a round area? Or cutting up your brushes that are touching the void and modifying their shape directly?

Or is it down to preference? I've been doing it both ways but I'm not sure which is better 

Func_detail shouldnt touch void. Throw a brush behind any that do. 

My Method is to start by grouping each brush to keep things workable and then cut them in half longways (http://i.imgur.com/iqJiGyt.png), make one side into a func_detail and then cut like so: http://i.imgur.com/CyZOHmx.png

and then etc. etc. for your detailing. I make sure my floor/ceiling brushes extend out to meet the outer walls.

It takes a bit of practice to make stuff look good but effects like phong with the lighting go a long way to a good looking finished product. 

Trying to compile a test map in Jackhammer, getting the following error:

************ ERROR ************
Error opening C:\Quake\Id1\cb_deco.wad;C:\Quake\Id1\cb_obj.wad: Invalid argument

Bullshit, invalid -- the files are in the directory. There was something you had to do to link the .wads to a map back in the Radiant days, wondering if it's needed still? 

Try "wad" "\quake\id1\cb_deco.wad;..." maybe.