What compilers are you boys using? 

aguiRe's txqbsp + vis, and Tyrann's Tyrlite. 

all of aguire's utils 

I rewrote the code for the dog and the enforcer. That was relatively easy, as all the code is already there.

Adding a monster is changing the code, so I am hopefully comparing the rat's code from
Malice.
But as they are both different progs.dat, I have something as a rat.qc This has already all the rat's actions in it, but then the ai.qc starts recalling the rat.qc...
Frikqcc gives an outcome, but doesn't spawn the monster_rat. So I'm compiling, but it's kind of a hard carrot for me poor coder. 

I was asking necros + madfox what qc compiler they were using. 

Frikqcc don't sound compiler?
then my spagetti codes macaroni... 

LTH: i use proqcc. i know frikqcc is newer but they are all the same to me. :P it's not like it takes five days to compile code, so speed increases don't mean anything. ;)

HeadThump, Inertia: how's the testing coming along? 

Dunno what could be causing this, but for some reason water textures aren't making it to my .bsp files. The .wads are compiling properly afaik (in other words, all the other textures of the same .wads as the water textures appear in the finished map), but no water textures are present. The only thing that I could come up with is that the .jpg files used in Radiant to represent the textures aren't capable of using an asterisk (*) in the filename, but use a hash (#) instead -- but that wouldn't affect the compile, would it? 

Though the vising isnt completed, its smooth enough now for a second run. I wasn't sure if I had to cheat the first time because of system crunches (scags being able to catch me on the fallow through spit when they normally would not) or because it is a difficult level. Probably both, but I'll get a more specific update before I crash in bed around 1:00 am EST tonight. 

I keep water, teleport, lava and slime textures in a pak that do not have the '*' in front of the name, and a seperate wad of the original Quake textures with the asterik that I use for compiling manually.

When I'm ready to compile, I open the map with Notepad and replace 'water1' for example with '*water1', save and then compile. 

<nt> 

Thanks, Thump =D 

The version of Mapcon that I use has a -chars switch that automatically converts the # symbol in texture names to *. That's version 1.3.0. 

I'm trying to add rocks to an outdoor section of my map, and my attempts so far are really bad looking.

any advice for a rock n00b? 

Hello,

I fixed my TOTAL_CHANNELS = MAX_CHANNELS , but now, near the same location (in the map, during the game) a door sound is not audible... The func_door entity have its sound effect set, but it can't be heard during the game: what's the problem ???
I also have a PACKET OVERFLOW<b/> message apearing during the game... what's this ???

Thanks 

http://www.planetquake.com/QuakeLab/problems.htm

Several of your recent problems seems to be listed there. Packet overflow errors generally means that you have too many things happening at one time. The server part sends too many messages to the client part which overflows.

This can cause missing sounds and entity flicker; the engine is choking.

Running fast/fullvis on the map (so less things are visible for the player) will probably help, but might not cure the problem completely. 

Thanks a lot for the link... it gives me some cool and usefull informations...
About my problem, it seems that packet_overflow and sound disappearance are linked... Well, I know where to look for now: there is too juch entities in this area... grrr... I will make some tries reducing its number, hoping it solves the problem... So, the big challenge will be now to preserve the map difficulty I'm looking for... hmmm...
Do you think it will be helpfull to finish the map without any monsters (removing all of them if necesssary), and adding it gradually to avoid this kind of problems ??? What would be the good method ??
Bye 

About my problem, it seems that packet_overflow and sound disappearance are linked... They usually happen together, when you're in a really big fight with lots of corpses / gibs / nails / grenades / voreballs / etc. all in one place. 

... of course, if you were to use a newer engine... 

... I apology for my poor english, but I'm not really sure to understand what you mean.... 

Have you fullvised the map to see if the problems persist? Many maps expose these problems when not vised, so the engine must render too much.

Try also enabling the r_speeds cvar in GLQuake and check out the epolys value, this indicates how many entity polys that are visible. If too many, you might have to consider reducing visibility.

My suspicion is that this is your basic problem. You can also run Win/TyrQuake, enabling r_draworder and see how much of the map that suddenly becomes visible.

Try also a Google search of "packet overflow" quake and see what turns up ... 

the Quake executable. You wont get packet overflows with DarkPlaces because entity management is handled by a higher bit extension then Quake was originally built in. So you could have several thousand models in a single level if you so desired. 

Hello,

Yes, I made the try running full process (BSP + VIS + LIGHT)... and the problem remains....
So, considering all previous advices, I will try to enable r_speed cvar in FitzQuake in order to check out epolys value, but, what is the maximum value value I must reach.. some says 800, others 2000 (If I remember correctly, Vondur said that in a previous post...)... but what's the good one according to your experience???
And, if I need to reduce visibility, how can I do ??
Thanks a lot..

Bye 

certain recommended values to aim for (especially in DM maps), but I doubt they're still valid today.

What I meant was to use these numbers and methods to quantify your current situation, which seem to choke the engine. When you see the numbers go down, you know you're making progress.

Reducing visibility can be done by using vis blockers, i.e. donut designs, walls etc. Think of a large open arena with many small objects (faces or entities) as the worst possible scenario for vis or the engine.

Look at many older Q1 maps and you'll see that most of them have a layout and entity amount/placement that prevents the arena situation.

I believe one of the challenges in Q1 mapping is to make interesting and fun maps while still keeping them playable in most engines. 

Hello,

I did it last night, I mean trying r_speeds value... after a full process (bsp + fullvis + light) there seems to be some very big value... As you felt, in the main big area, the r_speeds number increases up to 10000 (more or less..) I achieved to reduce it down to 1500 by an additional wall that cut the visibility....
But still remaining the problem of packet_overflow and sound disapperance... so I tried removing all monsters... packet overflow error disappear, but sound is still "inaudible"... and other problem, a big HOM problem appears at the beginning of the map while it doesn't exists before .... (and no errors/warnings occured during compilation...)
It's very discouraging to see these problems incoming while the map is almost achieved...
Anyway, I will try removing back all groups, one by one, to find where is located the problem... with a bit of luck, it can work...

Bye