DarkRadiant questions

[Netos]

Hi, since I am trying my hand at DarkRadiant again, I have started a thread here for questions.

My first is: when I have created a room, how can I play it in the game? I would like to look at the map from the inside. It has a player start, and the skybox has no leaks so it should work

[Dragofer]

The minimum for a map is a player start, an ambient_world light and a room made out of brushes. Once you have that you can use the ingame console commands "dmap" and "map" to compile and then load the map.

Should definitely take a look at Springheel's video tutorial series:

There's another series by Sotha, too.

[New Horizon]

You need to compile the map from the ingame console

ctrl alt ~

You'll have to then use the console to navigate to the folder you saved the map.  type dir and the folder path

Then type dmap nameofyourmap.map

Then if everything compiled, type map nameofyourmap.map

 

My next best advice is to go to the help section in the editor and read through the online tutorials.

[Obsttorte]

https://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php?title=A_-_Z_Beginner_Full_Guide_Start_Here!

The article series is a bit outdated in some points, but a good starting point to get the fundamentels.

[Netos]

Thank you very much, all of this is very useful.

Another funny question: 

there is a mysterious black cube in my Room n.1, close to where I spawn. 

What could be the reason for its presence, and how can I remove it?

Edited August 21, 2022 by Netos

[Obsttorte]

dmap

Black cubes mean a model for an entity couldn't be found. So unless you use custom models the most likely scenario is that you turned something into a func_static and forgot to dmap.

[snatcher]

Thanks Dragofer for having posted that video.

@Springheel, wonderful series. It will take me some time to check them all but thanks for your professional work.

[Netos]

On 8/21/2022 at 8:20 PM, Obsttorte said:

Black cubes mean a model for an entity couldn't be found. So unless you use custom models the most likely scenario is that you turned something into a func_static and forgot to dmap.

Ehm, even if I dmap before mapping, the cube does not disappear. And I have no way to solve this unless I take out each and every entity and recompile the map

How do I search for "func_static_31", for instance? It tells me there is a leak there

Edited August 22, 2022 by Netos

[Dragofer]

3 minutes ago, Netos said:

Ehm, even if I dmap before mapping, the cube does not disappear. And I have no way to solve this unless I take out each and every entity and recompile the map

You could check the console to see whether a particular entity complains about a model it couldn't load, then look up that entity in the entity list (J) in DR to select and delete it.

[Obsttorte]

1 hour ago, Netos said:

How do I search for "func_static_31", for instance? It tells me there is a leak there

That's a different matter. Leaks can be found via the pointfile. In DarkRadiant goto File->Pointfile. A red line appears that starts at the entity that is pointed out in the console (in your case func_static_31, but that doesn't matter actually) and will lead you to the leak. Note that every area that contains entities needs to be sealed against the void via worldspawn brushes (that's mainly a prerequisite for the pathfinding to work).

[schabernack]

Hi,
after nearly playing through all available missions in TDM, I finally decided to return the favor. However, after running through many tutorials, I still struggle with leaks in my maps.

From what I understand it's just about sealing my environment and preventing the player from seeing the void. If that were to be the only cause, you could theoretically seal any leak by just creating a bush that wraps everything. Unfortunately that doesn't work.

What are your strategies, when approaching leaks?

Here's what I did so far:

• search for gaps from inside and from void perspective
• filter all entities and check again
• sealing like crazy using additional brushes
• deleting rooms in question (my trouble usually starts after creating a visportal

Unfortunately, I've never been able to get rid of a leak and ended up going back to an older version just to run into a similar issue again later on.

[Frost_Salamander]

What type of leak is it?  Is it an entity that leaks to the void, or a visportal being dropped?

Have you tried looking at the pointfiles (File -> Pointfile)?  Then CTRL+SHIFT+k to follow them to the leak.

Also, this is the thread people usually use for help (ignore the 'newbie' in the title, everyone uses it): 

 

 

[schabernack]

Wow, quick response. Thanks!

So far it's always been an entity leak.

I've had a look at the pointfiles. Still I wasn't able to detect whats wrong.

Could it be that leaks can only be resolved by dmapping? Because thats what just happend. It seems to me that once a pointfile was generated it stays no matter what I do. I typically change something, then save and turn pointfile off and on to see if it still complains, which it always does. I'll try to reproduce this to confirm my assumtion.

CTRL+SHIFT+k was also new to me. Seems like I still have some reading up to do. 

[thebigh]

Often old and obsolete .lin files will remain in the maps directory even after you've sealed the leak that caused them. You can delete those; dmap will produce new ones for actual currently existing leaks.